Precedence Day

On Wednesday, John McCain voted "no" on a bill to outlaw waterboarding and, as the reading clerk says, for other purposes.

What was his reason, one might ask. Was there an earmark for a monorail from DC to Ted Stevens's house? No. He said it was because the prohibitions were firmly in law already.

As Gail Collins reminded readers Saturday, the Detainee Treatment Act (McCain's authorship) was superseded by one of those George W. Bush specialities: the signing statement which reverses, not merely clarifies for history, the wording in the attached law.

This, I find, is the most preposterous change to his office which Dubbya has wrought and it really hasn't created widespread alarm. Scary. Well, not much beyond the Rich, Olbermann, Savage types I like reading.

I would have thought Supreme Court cases or Judiciary Committee proceedings by now.

There are no nuisance laws, unless you intend to be a criminal. You shouldn't need workarounds to the law, if you are a constitutional office holder.

And John McCain calls this chain of uncontested precedents from the Bush administration "DONATE TODAY." (Hang on a minute - perhaps I needed to go a little deeper into the website.)

Searching the site for Bush references yields many among his campaign staff resumes and a string of articles from the likes of the National Review which mostly mention, in passing, McCain's loss in 2000 (hence the search result) and then go on to be rather favorable to some re-born McCain.

An example from Byron York a few weeks ago:  "In the end, the same South Carolina Republican establishment that killed John McCain's presidential candidacy in 2000 saved it in 2008. And when you say 'establishment,' you're not talking about some faceless organization -- no, the same people who supported George W. Bush and worked hard to sink McCain in 2000 are here tonight, at the Holliday Alumni Center on the campus of The Citadel, celebrating McCain's victory in the South Carolina primary. Things change."

There are no issue-specific search returns which link McCain to Dubbya, presumably because the same brain trust which chose to go after Obama's "platitudes" is determined not to let this contest be about George W. Bush's impact on the state of things today.

There was a declaration of independence, a war, a trial run, a final draft called The Constitution, more than two hundred years of bedrock principles and common case law interacting to create the chain of precedents which continue to ensure that even a doofus can be elected president, arriving with CliffsNotes speed at the current one who flips everyone off and implies through his words and deeds that he doesn't want or have to play by the rule of law. "Things change," as York describes it, doesn't cut it when we're not sure if it's the insider (doubtful) or the candidate (more likely) in this Republican nomination who has changed.

Another trouble with this litany of once illegal activities perpetrated by the administration (to the point of hybridized acceptability) is that they start up and get shut down (if ever) by executive fiat.

Ergo, whenever a high official testifies that we currently do not waterboard or make wear panties or play games involving electrodes, it might well be that an executive order suspended the practice for the duration of the hearing. Because while lying to the press is de rigueur, lying to Congress is certainly still a crime, right?

And what makes it all better, what kisses the boo-boo away, is that the Bush legacy isn't what this election is about. It's about a genuine war hero and true American patriot. Feel good, wave your flag. What more does anybody need to know?

John McCain voted "no" to banning waterboarding by statute.

Happy Precedence Day.

Next week: Hooked on Phonies

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