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David Addington, Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff
Several years ago, Paul Krugman came up with a label to describe the phenomenon of far-right loyalists who are "assured of decent employment, no matter how badly they perform." He called it "wingnut welfare."
The system features countless examples of conservative lawmakers or Bush administration officials who, after embarrassing themselves through the course of public service, land in a cushy and well-paid job, usually at a far-right think tank. Here's a classic of the genre.
David Addington, whose name became synonymous with an expansive view of executive power during President George W. Bush's administration, is taking over the legal division of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The foundation announced Thursday that Addington, 55, a former counsel and chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, will head up Heritage's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies starting Feb. 1.
And what will Addington do, exactly, at Heritage? That's the funny part -- Orin Kerr noted that Addington "will focus on combating excessive claims of federal government power and overreaching claims of the executive branch."
No, seriously. The Wall Street Journal reported that Addington is concerned about President Obama taking "some 'questionable' steps" when it comes to expanding the powers of the White House.
It's reassuring, I suppose, to know the right has not lost its dry sense of humor.
For those who may have forgotten about his antics as one of Dick Cheney's chief lieutenants, Addington was an enthusiastic proponent of "Unitary Theory of the Executive" (or "Unitary Executive Theory") which is a philosophy that grants a president extraordinary -- an extra-legal -- powers, especially in matters related to national security. It's one of the main rationales that led the Bush/Cheney team to use torture -- because "criminal statutes are not read as infringing on the president's ultimate authority" in overseeing a war, as one of the torture memos argued.
Addington also participated in discussions of destroying CIA video footage of detainee torture, and was comfortable arguing the vice president's office is not part of the executive branch.
Let's also not forget that Jack Goldsmith, an Assistant Attorney General in the Bush/Cheney administration, considered Addington a bit of a nut.
[Goldsmith] shared the White House's concern that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act might prevent wiretaps on international calls involving terrorists. But Goldsmith deplored the way the White House tried to fix the problem, which was highly contemptuous of Congress and the courts. "We're one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious [FISA] court," Goldsmith recalls Addington telling him in February 2004.
Their debate over the Geneva Conventions was even more striking.
When Goldsmith presented his analysis of the Geneva Conventions at the White House, Addington, according to Goldsmith, became livid. "The president has already decided that terrorists do not receive Geneva Convention protections," Addington replied angrily, according to Goldsmith. "You cannot question his decision." (Addington declined to comment on this and other details concerning him in this article.)
Goldsmith then explained that he agreed with the president's determination that detainees from Al Qaeda and the Taliban weren't protected under the Third Geneva Convention, which concerns the treatment of prisoners of war, but that different protections were at issue with the Fourth Geneva Convention, which concerns civilians. Addington, Goldsmith says, was not persuaded.
Months later, when Goldsmith tried to question another presidential decision, Addington expressed his views even more pointedly. "If you rule that way," Addington exclaimed in disgust, Goldsmith recalls, "the blood of the hundred thousand people who die in the next attack will be on your hands."
The deterioration of conservative scholarship in the 21st century is an important development, and the Heritage Foundation's decline as a place for credible, substantive work is a symptom of a larger issue. This was evident when the group tapped former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to serve as Heritage's new president, and the addition of Addington only adds weight to the institutional concerns.
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"will focus on combating excessive claims of federal government power and overreaching claims of the executive branch."
Really? LOL! No seriously, this guy needs to be hauled up with his buddies in front of the Hague - he's got a lot of nerve and so does the Heritage Foundation! The fact that this guy still has a license to practice law just shows the blind eye being turned toward the wing-nuts and America as a nation really needs to question itself on the level of immorality & illegality that we have allowed to go unchecked & unfettered that are in positions of "leadership" and the public trust!
Like coddling murderers that set off bombs in the market square killing Men,Women and Children indiscriminately INSTEAD of waterboarding them? These people that kidnap and behead journalists? The Left always seems to have really Putrid judgement when it comes to common sense matters.
Scott- let's ask the shoe on the other foot question. Say there are some US surgeons at a Doctors without Borders tent treating an individual in the republic of Georgia. The individual is a French citizen that the KGB suspects is running guns to Chechen rebels inside of Russia. A Russian drone "takes out" the "terrorist" as reported in Putin's mass media. In the French and US press, there are complaints that the Russians are engaging in executing non citizens outside their border based on suspicions, against people who have been convicted of no crime in a court of law.
If the executive branch has a strong case that someone must die, then it has nothing to fear from both congressional and judicial oversight of the Whack a Mole kill list. Right?
Does the track record with individual countries track record on human rights come into consideration? Take, say...China and Russia's record of defending human rights at the UN come into consideration?
we don't have to be better than our enemies, but when we win a conflict doing things humanely, we have a much better chance at effecting change among our enemies than if we beat them using deplorable tactics.
Scott- maybe you believe in war that you should do whatever it takes to win, but what value is winning a war if it costs us our humanity. (I don't claim those words as mine, but seriously, let's be better than our enemies in every way possible.)
Putting war criminal David Addington in charge of this is like putting Adolf Eichmann in charge of the welfare of the Jews.
So, Scott, since we're "at war," how come you haven't volunteered for the infantry long ago, get your chance to go kill a zipperhead for Christ? Oh, I forgot, you're the standard-issue wingnut patriot - a scared little COWARD. Big brave man behind your anonymous computer screen, little sniveling brat when it comes to getting chased home from school again for snitching.
You are attempting to sidestep the central question about due process. The response it so simply shift the hypothetical to avoid your "shining hill" canard.
Swap India for Russia. An Indian drone makes a missile strike on a Doctors without Borders camp in Bangladesh, and the target is a person suspected of funneling arms to HuJI terrorist operations against India. US and European citizens dead. No due process.
The Whack A Mole Kill List policy of the Obama administration has a number of similarities with Sharia law:
Sharia law does have the advantage over current US assassination policy in that the suspects do get their day in court.
Note that, quite apart from optics in the foreign press, our behavior makes it problematic to even make logical claims of the moral high ground. We have killed more non suspects than those who died in 9-11. Do these non Americans have any rights? Does our respect for principles of Law such as due process only extend to US citizens?
Again, if the executive branch has strong enough evidence to order an execution, then why should it fear checks and balances over that suspension of US law from Congress and the Judicial branch?
Scott - in addition to what John M. wrote you also need to recognize what "our government" does in "our name". Some of which would probably make the hair on your head stand on end, and much of which has inflamed many Muslim nations and far East nations peoples. And which may be part of the reason why 9-11 happened, none of which is a "reason" or a reasonable explanation, but it should be enough to make one think. See I think if "operatives" from other nations were here in America fomenting dissent, assassinating people, helping to usurp our democracy - all of which Americans would be up in arms about - yet because it's happening in other nations Americans can & do turn a blind eye to. And yet we have the nerve to claim the "moral high ground" - really?!? Think again....This nation invaded Iraq because of lies - is that really the "moral high ground" you want to defend?!
What the Heritage Foundation really needs is a ton of Thorazine and huge locked iron gates. DeMint? Addington? hahahahahahahahahahaha. Not credible in any sense...not even in that documentary about republicans, "Idiocracy".
The sad part of this is the fact that Addington, Yoo, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and W should have all been put on trial. The Republicans convinced then newly elected President Obama to ignore the violations of the Constitution somewhat like Ford did with Nixon. "For the betterment of the country".
That's great until the next President who does the same thing and justifies it on "precedents" set by W, etc.
Cheney and Rumsfeld, who both worked for Nixon were supporters of unlimited Presidential (read Republican only) powers. As Nixon famously said, "If the President Does It, That Means It’s Not Illegal"
Are you kidding me? Obama has taken everything Bush/Cheney did and expanded it. Google "Obama civil liberties" for an education. Even Bush didn't put himself above the legal doctrine of Habeas Corpus.
As always IOKIYAD.
Braking my rule of wrestling with a PIG but....
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/habeuscorpus.htm
It was Bush that suspended Habeus Corpus for the fist time in the US since the Civil War.
Even if, for the first time in recorded history, you had just said something that was true, it would still have nothing to do with the fact that hiring David Addington to "monitor executive overreach" is like putting Bernie Medoff in charge of monitoring excessive fees in the wealth management business.
Which is just another way to say, another day in Shooterland.
Well....at least all the batsh@t crazies are ending up in the same 'foundation'...we can mark the Heritage Foundation as totally irrelevant.
I agree but while destroying themselves they're doing a lot of collateral damage.
Unfortunately, it will take some time for the Washington Press Corps Village to realize that the Heritage Foundation has gone from a place of reasonably serious policy analysis (like coming up with the idea of health care reform via individual mandates).. to an intellectually unserious, purely partisan, political actor that is parroting talking points to influence the beltway discussion.
I mean, look at how they still haven't caught on to David Gregory after all these years.
Really? Snooping on every woman's lady parts, listening into people's phone calls, and spying on what people are checking out at the library isn't over reach, but health care reform, which is nothing more than a few more regulations on our nation's HMOs, is over reach?
I'm beginning to think that someone is putting some funny chemicals in the water supply of the red states.
Or maybe this really is just wingnut welfare. Because of elections, you can't look towards long term employment when you're destroying the country, and you can't get a real job in the private sector if your everyone knows you suck and screw everything up, so this way, you can screw up the country for 8 years, and still be able to put food on the table after words.
Who said America wasn't the land of opportunity? :::facepalm:::
Sounds as if you have described the entire span of Hussein's wasted time in office. BTW... Welfare is at the highest numbers in American history...as is Food stamps. All the while American manufacturing contracted to it's smallest numbers since Hussein has taken office. So...what kind of water is the Left drinking? Speaking of Sucking terribly and screwing everything he touches up....Gas prices tripled under this f-up, Unemployment continues to remain at record highs 4+ years into this Jimmuh Carter clones failed experiment and yet the left are like Zombies ignoring EVERY number and stat that shows what an absolute failure this guy has been.....simply amazing.
And what position do you hold at the Heritage Foundation, scott? Fact checker?
Gee...which monthly jobs report have you missed...the last 48 months or so?
Scott, I was going to off a reasoned response to your diatribe concerning things such as the Republicans obstruction to anything the President tries to do, but your insistence on calling him "Hussein" says pretty much everything about you we need to know.
Scott, the last time the laissez-faire wing of the Republican Party screwed up the economy as bad as these neo-cons and birchers have done, there weren't such things as welfare and food stamps. And it took the threat of a 15 member Supreme Court to whip them into line. Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan all lived through that time and had some personal experience to guide them. Oh and here's your jobs reports for the last 60 months.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/04/16347906-us-economy-adds-155k-jobs-in-december-jobless-rate-unchanged?lite
Look at the trajectory of that curve. It only dips when the Republicans in Congress did something spectacularly stupid like hold a gun to the economy's head.
Wow...the trajectory on the welfare rolls and food stamp rolls is MUCH steeper.Perhaps you need to get your numbers from somewhere other than the Ray Maddow blog. @Dave Dorris....*Whew* Thank goodness you were not forced to try to come up with a sane response!
Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake actually came up with "wingnut welfare," not Paul Krugman. I'm no longer active at FDL, but I read both FDL and Krugman daily at the time, and the term definitely appeared first at FDL.
Krugman is a blind,befuddled and babbling idiot.
Scott, is your Nobel in Economics or Physics?
Krugman's is in Economics.
Actually, little Scotty spent 12 years repeating the first grade, where he consistently failed to learn how to read.
Consider the worth of a Nobel....Hussein has one. And it is painfully obvious about his knowledge of Economics...
This is true about many government jobs and even elected positions no matter the political leaning. When you have a congressman who thinks the island of Guam will tip over (exact quote is at 1:20 mark) if you add more to its population and you continue in your job, that qualifies!
(Oh, and this scientific genius is an advocate for global warming policy, too. Not the movement's best spokesman.)
Not unlike the Bawney Fwanks of the world that was a major player in devastating the American Economy with the Fannie/Freddie disaster that not unlike bad plumbing...just keeps resurfacing. Go figure....
The GOP are so special.
Nor have they lost their arrogance.
Tell me....when you see the numbers this guy has produced from the moment he took office, what is the reason NOT to be arrogant? This guy has been a complete failure and the economic numbers and unemployment numbers and Welfare and food stamp programs exploding rolls are proof of.
Scott,
Compared to whom? Let's see, presidents in office for at least a year following a financial crisis would be... most recently, Herbert Hoover.
I think unemployment at 7.7% and trending down is not great, but it is vastly better than 24.9% and trending up.
Or are you nostalgic for Hoovervilles, closing public schools for years at a time, the Bonus Army, and childhood malnutrition so prevalent that US young adults today are measurably taller than those whose early childhood was during the Hoover administration?
When Manufacturing CONTINUES to contract 4 years in and This administration does nothing but pile MORE taxes and regulation on American business, PERHAPS that is a clue to most sane people that the policies THIS administration has implemented has not worked. And when over 70% of children in US schools are on some kind of school lunch program...Not only are the Children NOT starving, But Government has decided IT has become the parent when there is NO POSSIBLE way that over 70% of school children are anywhere NEAR the poverty level but rather just indicative of the out of control social spending that is bankrupting this country in a rapid fashion.And BTW...FDR did NOTHING for unemployment with all of his Social programs, and the coming of WW2 was what ultimately lifted the US out of the terrible times it was in.
Scott,
Since US manufacturing output increased in 2010, 2011, and 2012 it is kinda hard to take your comments seriously.
Time to get your med's adjusted, bub. Fortunately for you, they are covered under Obamacare.
John, I don't think they make medication for blind hatred and bigotry.
He doesn't need meds, he needs to stop listening to Lumpbrains and Faux. Even his IQ will even go up by 10 in just 24 hours.
So Addington is in charge of wingnut reach-arounds.. What else is new?!
How about giving this grey beard some action! Obama could today, right freaking now, by Executive Order, immediately re-classify cannabis from Schedule One with heroin. This would allow legit research, and allow medical marijuana providers in certain states to live without the fear of smash and grab DEA tactics. Plus, as a bonus, it would be cheered by conservatives and liberals! Heritage would then be in quite a pickle...
Addington replied angrily, according to Goldsmith. "You cannot question his decision."
Sounds just like a Monarchy.
Addington's been upset since they got rid of the divine right of kings.
It has amazed me that the outlaws that worked in the Nixon administration are many of the same outlaws that worked to get Bush elected and then were in the Bush administration. And even then, the media refused to connect the dots.
Not just the Bush Administration - they were also the malefactors of the Reagan criminal conspiracy, er, I mean administration.
Was Addington the Cheney deputy who came up with the theory that the Vice President's office constituted a fourth branch of government, part of neither the executive nor the legislative branches, and answerable to nobody?
Yes he was. Isn't he an amazing legal scholar?
Another stellar example of Orwellian failing upwards.
You can bet that every harebrained talking point coming out of this hypocrit's tenure will be thouroughly trumpeted by the Right Wing Noise Machine and coming to you via one of the shhit-for-brains wingnut trolls very, very soon.
But the talking points of the left that has failed miserably in the last 4 years should be sounded from on high? It's amazing how far you can get your head up there....
As little Scotty just proved.
That's the problem with the wingnuts; they're content having their heads up there because they've convinced themselves that their shhitt doesn't stink.
And in other news . . . the Heritage Foundation has hired Dick Cheney to lecture on hunting safety and George W. Bush to write a position paper on what to do during the first 7 minutes after being advised that the country is under attack.
But Hussein carrying on intact the policies of the Bush Administration seems only right?
So, I gather you didn't like the Bush administration either? Which means you probably agree that Addington was a poor choice.
Actually...not unlike Hussein in this one matter....realized what living in the real sometimes means.world
Pre-supposing the blood of the (insert number) of people being on (named) hands has always been a Power Point slide used to argue or strengthen the granting of extraordinary, extra-legal or Deifying powers.
With a dysfunctional Congress unable to legislate on anything, is it any surprise the Executive Branch is filling the vacuum?
Consider drone strikes. The ability to identify terrorist cells, watch them, and hit them with a rocket from a drone is new and in many ways unanticipated by our legal structure. There should be laws addressing how the Executive Branch should use drones, but Congress can't even agree to pay the bills generated by Congress.
So the President and his advisers, in the absence of Congressional action, 'wing it'. Not the way it should be, but until grown-ups are in control of Congress I do not see another option.
It's really too bad we can't authorize drone strikes against the real headquarters of international terrorism: the NRA building, the Heritage Foundation offices, Norquist's offices, the Fox building in NYC...
TC,
Who says we can't? :) Plenty of traitors within our own borders; yours is but a partial list. Ted Nugent vowed that he'll be dead or in jail soon. We could oblige him.
Is there not a petition for Mr. Nugent's home state of Michigan to secede? Granting that one would remove the legal restrictions...
;-)
Michigan shouldn't have to secede. It also gave us Michael Moore.
Can someone call Mark Twain and tell him that irony just became irrelevant?
That's hilarious. I don't know whether to laugh hysterically or cry. But his current pronouncements will have great comedic value when juxtaposed with his previous views.