Tell me what happened in 2007. Cheney had prepared to be able to take over the government

[rhett o rick]

Last edited Sat May 25, 2013, 12:55 PM - Edit history (1)

in the case of a national threat. He and others worked on it for a couple of decades. Tools were put in place without much push-back, during the Bush decade that gave the president major powers to spy, arrest, detain, and torture anyone they decided was a threat to the security. I believe they even had a document that could suspend Congress temporarily. There are lots of documentation of this and so so far this is not CT. Now comes the CT. Up until some time in 2007, George Bush was bold, outspoken, and egocentric. Cheney was also outspoken and obviously power mad. I was worried that they might come up with a reason to declare a national threat of some kind and authorize the Continuation of Government with a unitarian executive run government. I figured that they had the tools, George was egocentric enough and Cheney was power hungry enough to try to pull it off. But their behavior dramatically changed in 2007. What in the world could make these two sociopaths change their behavior so drastically?

They left town with their tails between their legs. Cheney was even in a wheelchair.

Any speculation? I assume that's acceptable here.

[elehhhhna]

1. why bother?

[rhett o rick]

3. Why bother what? Speculating? nm

[GeorgeGist]

2. Is that really what you meant?

Tools were put in place without impunity during the Bush decade

[rhett o rick]

4. Impunity might not be the best of words. I will welcome suggested improvements. nm

[Bluenorthwest]

5. If you want to say 'they did bad things without accountabiliity' then you want to say they acted

with impunity, not without impunity.
im·pu·ni·ty
/imˈpyo͞onitē/
Noun
Exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action.

[rhett o rick]

10. Thanks. I reworded the post. nm

[leveymg]

6. The JCS pushed back when they wanted to expand the war into Iran

The Chair and some members of the Joint Chiefs basically put a lid on the Administration's plans to "fall forward" into Iran. Gen. Pace was fired, but the Pentagon stood its ground. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/06/08/344522/--UPDATE-2-Pace-Fired-Because-He-Balked-at-Iran

This coincided with wider distribution of some details about Bush and Cheney's reckless mismanagement of terrorist threats. The CIA IG report on 9/11 was finally published in July after years of delays. See, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-archive-2007/911-ig-report-summary.html Based on what has leaked out since, the still classified parts establish top command was criminally negligent.

[leveymg]

8. P.S. - Robert Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld on Dec. 18, 2006. eom

[Ghost Dog]

14. Yes. The Generals do not generally tolerate such reckless mismanagement.

for long. I mean: A hell of a lot of people have seen behind the curtain already.

Jeez.

[leveymg]

15. Behind the curtain is the MIC/IC. Nobody f-cks with the Joint Chiefs. Nixon learned that the hard

way long before Dick and Shrub were taken behind the woodshed and had their ears boxed.

[Ghost Dog]

16. Yes. Sir. (Hi).

Such is Power. Mmmm... feels good. But, very dangerous, if you let it escape, out of your hands.

:cheeky grin:



"Joint" Chiefs, is a very interesting intelluctual concept. Of course.

[OnyxCollie]

7. The US Attorney & domestic surveillance scandals were in full swing at the time.

My guess is they were uncertain as to how things would turn out.

(Spoiler alert: They were okay in the end.)

[rhett o rick]

9. But I cant see someone advising them to back off. Bush was too egotistical

and Cheney was to powerful to back off without some kind of threat. IMHO.

[OnyxCollie]

11. I was only analyzing on a domestic level.

John Conyer's wife was being investigated by the FBI (she got 3 years for corruption) and the Dems (including Obama and Rahm) had not yet been bought off by the telecoms.

Looking at it on an international level opens up a whole bunch of variables.

[starroute]

12. I'd point to the US Attorney scandal and the fall of Karl Rove

The US Attorney scandal broke in January 2007 and became national news by March. Karl Rove resigned on August 31, 2007, and Attorney General Gonzales was out by September.

However, Rove's slide into irrelevance had actually begun in 2005, as indicated by the Atlantic article from September 2007 that I quote below. Tom DeLay's legal troubles, which began in September 2005 and culminated with his resignation as House Majority Leader in June 2006, also undermined the possibility of achieving a "permanent Republican majority" through political means alone.

I would guess that Bush administration actions from late 2005 to early 2007 -- which included both pressure on US Attorneys to disenfranchise voters and a desperate attempt to push for war with Iran -- were intended as the opening moves in a bid for absolute power outside normal political channels. And after those efforts failed, they had no more tricks left up their sleeve.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/09/the-rove-presidency/306132/

But within a year the administration was crumbling. Social Security had gone nowhere. Hurricane Katrina, the worsening war in Iraq, and the disastrous nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court shattered the illusion of stern competence that had helped reelect Bush. What surprised everybody was how suddenly it happened; for a while, many devotees of the Cult of Rove seemed not to accept that it had. As recently as last fall, serious journalists were churning out soaring encomiums to Rove and his methods with titles like One Party Country and The Way to Win. In retrospect, everyone should have been focusing less on how those methods were used to win elections and more on why they couldn’t deliver once the elections were over.

The story of why an ambitious Republican president working with a Republican Congress failed to achieve most of what he set out to do finds Rove at center stage. A big paradox of Bush’s presidency is that Rove, who had maybe the best purely political mind in a generation and almost limitless opportunities to apply it from the very outset, managed to steer the administration toward disaster.

[rhett o rick]

13. Thank you for that. But I still question the sudden change in their behavior.

It's not typical, IMO, for either of them to back off so suddenly and go out quietly. They acted, IMO, like they had been told to sit down and shut up.

[Ghost Dog]

17. I guess we should close our mouths, already.

Thanks, friends.

[rhett o rick]

18. I dont understand. Plez clarify. nm

[Ghost Dog]

19. Intelligence Community.

We appear to be teaching our children to be cretins.