Assuming you have followed directions, Jack Cafferty, on the 5PM ET installment of Wednesday’s “Situation Room,” used his media platform to promote another in an ongoing litany of anti-Bush rants by the gentleman from the Great Lake State (video to follow). Cafferty began:
Well, somebody has finally worked up the nerve to say it out loud. We have a constitutional crisis in this country. So says Congressman John Conyers of Michigan.
Dontcha just love the delicious irony of a Congressman with the kind of ethics problems Conyers has talking about a Constitutional crisis? Obviously, this was lost on Cafferty, who continued...with a straight face, no less:
Conyers says the Bush administration may have broken a total of 26 separate laws and regulations, including misleading Congress and the American people about the decision to go to war in Iraq; manipulating intelligence about the justification for the war; encouraging torture and degrading treatment of prisoners in Iraq; allowing inappropriate retaliation against critics; and approving unlawful domestic surveillance.
Is that all? Why the fuss, Jack?
Conyers says these things have happened because a Republican- controlled Congress has refused to do its job of providing oversight and conducting formal investigation into this stuff, thus allowing an unchecked abuse of power on the part of the White House.
Well, Jack, it sure is a good thing that the minority party has impartial members of the media such as yourself to assist them in doing their bidding.
What follows is a full transcript of this segment, along with a video link.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Wolf.
Well, somebody has finally worked up the nerve to say it out loud. We have a constitutional crisis in this country. So says Congressman John Conyers of Michigan.
He's the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. And in an upcoming report, he describes what he calls an alarming pattern by the Bush administration of operating outside the law and with no meaningful oversight by Congress.
Conyers says the Bush administration may have broken a total of 26 separate laws and regulations, including misleading Congress and the American people about the decision to go to war in Iraq; manipulating intelligence about the justification for the war; encouraging torture and degrading treatment of prisoners in Iraq; allowing inappropriate retaliation against critics; and approving unlawful domestic surveillance.
Conyers says these things have happened because a Republican- controlled Congress has refused to do its job of providing oversight and conducting formal investigation into this stuff, thus allowing an unchecked abuse of power on the part of the White House.
We called the White House for a response to all of this, but instead of addressing any of the questions that are raised by Congressman Conyers, we were told to call the Republican National Committee.
Here is the question: A top House Democrat says the Constitution is in crisis. Do you agree?
Video Link courtesy of Crooks and Liars.
