We’ve been at war for almost his entire presidency. Guess those commander-in-chief powers get a little heady. I think they were ready to go to war from day one. I’m not saying they caused 9/11 but they certainly were eager to go to war after. O’Neill and Tenet claim that Bush and Cheney wanted to invade Iraq from the beginning of their presidency.

The Imperial Presidency.

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.’s The Imperial Presidency gave the term its currency. He traces its growth from George Washington to Richard Nixon, showing how a presidency never contemplated by the founders has evolved. As a basis for their authority, presidents typically cited their role as commander-in-chief — an undefined constitutional term — and “inherited powers” other presidents had used before them.

It is a powerful precept and it is and has been Dick Cheneys dream to reinvigorate the Presidency as he stood helplessly by while congress striped the office of the president of traditionally granted powers.

After six and a half years of Bush as president, you believe that the problem is that the president does not have enough power?

Actually, I think Cheney and Bush have done things that Nixon only dreamed about.

Well, we must give him his due: he got there by dint of hard work and dogged persistence. You have to give him that.

Reagan is the only president to my knowledge who admitted to treason!

July 8,1985. President Reagan denounces Iran as part of a “confederation of terrorist states.” He states that Iran committed “outright acts of war” against the United States.

August 1985. President Reagan sells anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles to Iran.

Is it treason to aid an enemy that has already committed “acts of war” against us, or isn’t it?

His actions are a direct result of the congress removing a lot of power from the office of the Presidency after Nixon resigned. Cheney if you recalled worked for Ford. He was as is many politicians on both sides of the isle furious over the congress taking upon themselves the reactionary view of curtailing historically granted rights to the president because of one abuse by one president.

His goal has always been to restore to the presidency that which he and many, many others believe were wrongly removed from the presidency. This is his goal, his motivation and his aims. The war on terror actually allowed him to do more of that then Im sure even he believed was possible.

Cheney is not restoring to the Presidency that which other presidents did not have. He is only restoring that which was taken from the presidency by the Congress after Nixons resignation.

That will be his legacy and that will be what history judges him on. Not how the antiwar sees him in some warped context of having more power then he should.