Obama-Style “Nation of Laws”

3:14 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Bush | Torture

Obama proudly declared yesterday that ours is a “nation of laws” at the same time he announced that CIA torturers would not be prosecuted for their crimes.

Life in Washington is one damn paradox after another.

Kudos to the American Civil Liberties Union for their lawsuit that compelled the disclosure of the torture memos yesterday. But these are probably only the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and supporters of disclosing Bush-era crimes will have sufficient clout to force the government to reveal far more information on the torture scandal. Obama becomes complicit for all the crimes he covers up.

I will be curious to see if the revelations of how the Justice Department tortured the law and rationality to set loose the CIA will have any broader impact on how Americans view the federal government. I ain’t holdin’ my breath.

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Tory II

Comment on Friday 17th April 2009 @ 3:48 pm

“…I will be curious to see if the revelations of how the Justice Department tortured the law and rationality to set loose the CIA will have any broader impact on how Americans view the federal government…”

Jimmy,

They love Señor Eric Holder (Mexico’s Attorney General) for his gun and drug control efforts on our border.

Thomas

Comment on Saturday 18th April 2009 @ 12:00 pm

The two statements Obama said are totally consistent. Like Bumper said, the CIA is above the law. I think Obama was afraid to say the opposite; they helped murder JFK, you know.

Anton Sherwood

Comment on Saturday 18th April 2009 @ 4:20 pm

It’s a nation of laws, not a government of laws. (You’re a law, I’m a law.) The government takes precedence over the nation, everyone knows that.

Jim

Comment on Saturday 18th April 2009 @ 9:22 pm

Excellent point on the difference between a nation and a government.

Dang, and here I thought it would all be different after the US elected a former constitutional law professor.

Tory II

Comment on Sunday 19th April 2009 @ 7:26 am

Just because we’re a nation of laws doesn’t mean the Socialists have to obey them.

Richard Durbin, Georgetown Law School
Barack Obama,.. Harvard Law School
Eric Holder,….Mexico City Law School

Will either of them obey the 2nd amendment ‘law’, given we’re a nation of laws?

Marc

Comment on Monday 20th April 2009 @ 2:24 am

Perhaps Obama was right in one sense. Unfortunately, mass produced laws are a poor substitute for manufactured goods. Apparently, they are mostly created for plebeian consumption because government officials often attempt to ignore those that they find inconvenient to obey.

Sickening, Isn’t It? « Solitary Bohemian

Pingback on Monday 20th April 2009 @ 1:20 pm

[...] James Bovard said on his blog “Obama proudly declared yesterday that ours is a “nation of laws” at thesame time he announced that CIA torturers would not be prosecuted fortheir crimes.” [...]

Dirk W. Sabin

Comment on Tuesday 21st April 2009 @ 9:12 am

Welcome to the United States of the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Except in this remake, the gold has proven too expensive for current circumstances nd so we trade in Law….Short Selling again being a primary M.O. . Laws…..Laws? we don’t need no stinken LAWS.

Jim

Comment on Tuesday 21st April 2009 @ 8:15 pm

Too bad we can’t sell short the Obama plan.

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