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Quote of the Day: Vice President Is a "Barnacle" on the Legislative Branch
Between David Addington failing to submit testimony, and John Yoo forgetting his words, not a whole lot was cleared up by the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay.
But on the bright side Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), did manage to clarify a very important question. Just what branch of government is the Vice President in?
Cohen: Mr. Addington, what branch are we in?Addington: Ah, sir, perhaps the best that can be said is that the Vice President belongs neither to the executive nor to the legislative branch, but is attached by the Constitution to the latter. That's from two legal opinions issued by the office of legal counsel to the Department of Justice dated March 9th, 1961, and April, I believe, it's 18th, 1961 by, I believe, Mr. Katzenbach if I remember. . .
Cohen: So he's a member of the legislative branch?
(cross talk)
Addington: No. I said attached by the Constitution to the latter. He is not a member of the legislative branch because the Constitution says that the Congress consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Constitution further says that the Senate consists of Senators and the House of Representatives consists of Representatives and he is neither a Senator nor a Representative.
Cohen: But he is attached to the legislative branch?
Addington: That's the quote I read you.
Cohen: So he's kind of a barnacle.
(voice off camera): Kind of a what?!
Addington: He is attached. . . the word was attached by the Constitution to the latter. I don't consider the Constitution as a barnacle, Mr. Cohen.
Cohen: No, the Vice President. Since he's really not fish or fowl, he's just attached to something.
But don't take our word for it:
Damn, that's funny! 8^)
I think there may be a bumper sticker in that quote somewhere...
-- ARG
June 26, 2008 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Insults barnacles everywhere.
Perhaps leech is more appropriate, they too attach, but suck blood.
June 26, 2008 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cheney's a barnacle on Uncle Sam's ass.
June 26, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clarification.
that would be a hemarroid.
June 26, 2008 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
My new favorite person on the Web: pajarito. I'll bet Cheney'd love to take him on a hunting trip.
June 26, 2008 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cheney is like dog poop on the legislative branch's shoe.
June 26, 2008 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Barnacle on the legislative branch...sort of like a "cancer on the presidency" (John Dean).
June 26, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
"sort of like a cancer?" Yeah, he is the biggest malignant tumor in history!" We just can't seem to cut him out!
June 27, 2008 7:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
"herpes sore" perhaps?
June 26, 2008 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
ahahaha....had a good laugh guys,
I like this one best:
"Cheney is like dog poop on the legislative branch's shoe.
Posted by tbhull"
the blokes running the country are going to interpret the Constition by the letter, so, if Cheney is just attached the taxpayer should de-fund his office, maybe they would then agree he belongs somewhere. Common sense, decency,are not in the vernacular of these weasels, only foolishness if they think the American people don't see through all this.
GWB is now at 23% approval.
June 26, 2008 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Addington's body language screams "bullshitter."
I wonder if he could sigh between every sentence, fidget with glasses some more, and ruffle some more papers dismissively to convey his complete disdain for lawmakers and their inability to grasp his nuanced and rather unique interpretation of the Constitution.
June 26, 2008 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just noticed he's terrified. He knows exactly how full of shit he is.
One minute into the video he pushes his glasses up with his right hand. Notice: it's trembling violently.
Both Addington and Yoo authorized the most egregious acts exactly because they're moral cowards and lickspittles, and the Administration counted on it.
As bad as these two proto-nazis are, it shows the deliberate malicious intent of the Bush Admin to use them. Historically tyrants always surround themselves with amoral sycophants.
June 26, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Also notice about 0:30 into the video he adjusts his glasses, and the hand is not trembling whatsoever, but is calm.
What's the difference?
0:30 in he's still bullshitting, trying to run out the clock.
1:00 in he's already treading water, neck deep in bullshit.
June 26, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
That may be due to a slow frame rate of the video. He doesn't look like anything makes him tremble. He's completely confident that he is Doing the Right Thing all the time in the service of Dick Cheney and his junta.
June 26, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
A "slow" video frame?
He's clearly trembling one minute in when adjusting his glasses while being questioned. His hand is shaking all over the place. And earlier, when he's just reading his statement, he adjusts his glasses and his hand movement is very smooth and calm.
In fact, all the fidgeting shows he's stressed and trying to compensate by playing it off.
Cheney doesn't actually give a shit.
Addington is a pencilneck accustomed to surrounding himself with like minded psychopaths. Same with Yoo. These guys never imagined they'd be called out like this.
June 27, 2008 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
WOW...now theres a quote...! I would pay a great deal of money to see that arrogant pr*ck, Addington, with electrodes attached to his family jewels, being water-boarded at the same time...
June 26, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
The arrogance and contempt this man has toward Congress is so obvious.
This man appears to have all the trappings of a "true believer" - cock sure of his beliefs, disdain for anyone that does not share his beliefs, and dead ass wrong on so many levels and blind to them all.
June 26, 2008 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Docudrama of "Barnacle Bill" Cheney and GW "Boop"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBKAG0ut9Ds
June 26, 2008 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
These clowns who question need to be required by law to have the constitution available to them in electronic form for quick searching since they don't know what is in the constitution. He his not "attached" to the Legislative Branch. The Vice President is identified in the following ares of Article II (Executive Branch) of the Constitution:
Section 1, Clause 1 (The f*k beginning)
Section 1, Clause 3
Section 1, Clause 6
Section 4
Clauses 1 and 3 of Section 1 speak to how the dude frigg'n gets his job.
As for the Legislative Branch, it identifies what are essentially oversight roles. By Addington's interpretation, Congress is in the Executive Branch because of their roll in Impeachment of Executive Officers.
June 26, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Vice President may be a barnacle, but Addington is a pimple on the ass of America.
June 26, 2008 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like the anal cyst that kept Rush Limbaugh out of the military.
June 26, 2008 5:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Long Memory.
I've been hit by birdshot at long range, it hurts!
June 26, 2008 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you apologize to the shooter for getting in the way of his shot?
June 26, 2008 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
So I guess this quote beat the exchange of "Al-Qaeda is watching CSPAN" and Delahunt's response of "Well if they are watching they know who you are now".
Barnacles can be sharp and a pain in the ass I must say!
June 26, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Watching Addington this morning was frightening. He encapsulates all the contempt and disdain the Bush administration has towards "non-believers". His desultory testimony exuded demagogic evil at the highest level. I can understand the committees kid glove approach with him for fear of getting singed. They practically all but ignored him during the second round. He is truly a very dangerous character.
June 26, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now I know how Rush Limpbowel got out of military duty; I think the official comment was "boil on his posterior", but now we know that it was Cheney attached to Rush's ass!
Cheney is a boil on the ass of America.
BP
June 26, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
So does this mean that "executive privilege" claims do not apply to Cheney, his aides, his emails, documents etc.?
June 26, 2008 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The LBJ/Katzenbach element was news to me. Cheney and Addington build their argument on a memo to VP Lyndon Johnson, three months into the Kennedy administration, in which Johnson wanted to be somehow bigger than Kennedy's understudy. So once, long ago, there was another Veep who wanted his own power base, on a theory barely heard from then until now?
June 26, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
(Tap-tap-tap)"Who's that tapping on my phone?"
(Tap-tap-tap)"Who's that tapping on my phone?"
(Tap-tap-tap)"Who's that tapping on my phone"
Cried the fair young maiden.
"It's only me from [undisclosed location]", says Barnacle Dick the V.P.
"I'm all [redacted]", says Barnacle Dick the V.P..
"I'll throw my weight around the place, I'll dominate the swarthy race,
And then I'll shoot you in the face", says Barnacle Dick the V.P...
June 26, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
WOO!!!! THAT'S MY REPRESENTATIVE!!! WOO!!!!
June 26, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, come to think of it, Bruce Ackerman, in The Failure of the Founding Fathers, does seem to imply that the Vice-President is a kind of barnacle. (As I recall Ackerman's explanation, the creation of the office in the first place was all tied up in trying to fix problems in the design of the Electoral College system; it wasn't because they felt they needed a vice-president.)
One interesting point that Ackerman has made elsewhere is that when the Founders initially designated the VP as president of the Senate, they expected that the VP would actually be an antagonist of the president, not his leading point man -- because initially, the VP would have been his top rival for the office of president.
June 26, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes that is correct sir, Cheney has 2 penises,....one he uses to fuck the congress and another for the american people and their constitution.
It says so right here on this piece of paper written by Joseph E Fuckwad in 1961,....see here,...look,..those are not the same penises.
June 26, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, now I have to have the visible of moldy little wee-wees in my head!
June 27, 2008 7:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Cheney belongs to no branch of government.
Rather, he is the Root.
Of. All. Evil.
June 26, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The proper word for Cheney is not "barnacle" --
It's PARASITE.
June 26, 2008 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
So I went online to The 'Lectric Law Library's Lexicon On * Civil Officer * (http://www.lectlaw.com/def/c236.htm). It says:
"CIVIL OFFICER - The Constitution of the United States, Art. 2, S. 4, provides, that the president, vice-president, and civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. By this term are included all officers of the United States who hold their appointments under the national government, whether their duties are executive or judicial, in the highest or the lowest departments of the government, with the exception of officers of the army and navy. A senator of the United States, it was once decided, was not a civil officer, within the meaning of this clause in the Constitution."
This would seem to leave the Vice President non-barnacular with regard to the Senate.
June 26, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Tapeworm would be more accurate. Why else would Cheney be forever sporting that shiteating grin?
June 26, 2008 6:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is Federalist thinking for you. The DOJ could not find qualified "Federalist Legal scholars” because finding a Federalist Legal scholar is as easy as finding a Vegetarian butcher. It could happen, but is sure isn’t likely.
The VP is in government. The Government has three branches, Administrative, Judicial and Legislative. As Dumbington points out he can’t be legislative because he isn’t a Senator or Congress member (but he could be a functionary of senators as he is the president of the senate – but this is unacceptable to teh Bush administration and the Unitary Executive Theory because it weakens the office by making the VP a servant of the Senate). Claiming he is a member of the Judiciary is hard to do with a straight face. The Bush administration is trying to avoid having him be part of the executive branch so he can’t be an executive officer attached the Legislative branch…
So by Federalist thinking, er, huh, well... He must not be covered by the rules! Yeah thats the ticket!
And, because he isn’t covered by the rules he doesn’t have to follow the rules. It follows with school yard logic: NA-nee NA-nee na-yeah, you can’t imprison my VP, because he doesn’t have to play by your rules … so there!.
June 26, 2008 6:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I were in Congress and the Vice President's counsel told me that his boss wasn't part of any branch of governbment, I'd write legislation denying all funds to the Vice President until the matter were cleared up.
If he isn't part of a branch of grovernment, he shouldn't get any government money.
June 26, 2008 10:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
more like a pimple on the ass
June 26, 2008 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well if "Mr. Katzenbach" wrote it down 1961, jeeze, that's damn near as good as being written into the freaking Constitution right?
June 26, 2008 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nicely done, CranialRectalLoopback.
June 26, 2008 10:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've thought of Cheney as more of a boil on the country's backside, but I'll definitely take this as an official description.
It's all the better because it is now part of the Congressional Record. It's one for the ages.
June 26, 2008 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Any idea why this video is no longer available? The Yoo video from a few threads back isn't available either. I someone censoring YouTube?
June 27, 2008 12:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
What do you call something that is, like Addington, attached to a barnacle?
June 27, 2008 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
ADDINGTON IS A GUY...WITH A VERY CREATIVE LAW SCHOOL EDUCATION WHO HAS SOMEHOW fallen into DOUBLESPEAK so that....A VICE PRESIDENT can choose, within his descretion, to be either EXECUTIVE BRANCH or LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, depending upon ..................................................................................................................................................WHAT LEGAL DEFENSE IS PLAUSIBLE TO AVOID ANY SORT OF TESTIMONY on CHENEY'S MURDER CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE A PREGNANT CHRISTIAN HOUSEWIFE NAMED CHRISTINA MOORE.
June 27, 2008 3:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
addington = total fucking asshole criminal SOB
June 27, 2008 11:16 PM | Reply | Permalink