Throughout the Bush presidency, he toiled in secrecy deep within the White House, a mysterious and feared presence who never stepped into the sunlight of public disclosure.
Until yesterday.
There he sat, hunched and scowling, at the witness table in front of the House Judiciary Committee: the bearded, burly form of the chief of staff and alter ego to the vice president -- Cheney's Cheney, if you will -- and the man most responsible for building President Bush's notion of an imperial presidency.
David Addington was there under subpoena. And he wasn't happy about it.
Fuck him. We're damned happy about it.
He had the grace of Gollum as he quarreled with his questioners. [...]
I can only wish for the same end for him as Gollum...
Think of Addington as the id of the Bush White House. Though his hidden hand is often merely suspected -- in signing statements, torture policy and other brazen assertions of executive power -- Addington's unbridled hostility was live and unfiltered yesterday.
Sounds like he's a little twitchy at his criminality being close to exposure. Good.
Cheney's Cheney continued to dole out the scorn ("You asked that question earlier, today, and I'll give you the same answer") until Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), the last questioner, inquired about waterboarding. "I can't talk to you -- al-Qaeda may watch these meetings," Addington said.
"I'm glad they finally have a chance to see you, Mr. Addington," Delahunt joked.
"I'm sure you're pleased," Addington growled.
This prick is the poster boy for what we need to get rid of in the halls of power. Please read the rest.
Update:
More at Slate.
Addington also gets in a little fear-mongering: When the torture memos were written, he says, "the smoke was still rising" from 9/11. Actually, by 2003, that was no longer the case. But never mind: Addington's point is that things were different then, "but not as different today as a lot of people may think. … No American should think that we're free, or that the war is over. Because that's wrong." He's the teacher. That's the lesson. Now, go copy it onto the blackboard 500 times, Congress.
"No American should think that we're free." Fuckin' beautiful, asshole, but you know this administration as well as anyone. We'll be a lot freer when we're free of them and you.
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