Webloggin » Olbermann Suggests That The U.S. Government , Bush is More Dangerous Than Terrorists

It seems that Keith Olbermann is a little bit upset at the signing of Military Commissions Act by President Bush. In fact he is so angry that he had another one of his breakdowns last night in a “special commentary” on Wednesday’s Countdown.

I’ll give you a short rundown of some of the key points that Olbermann made according to the transcript on MSNBC.

For, on this first full day that the Military Commissions Act is in force, we now face what our ancestors faced, at other times of exaggerated crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering:

A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from.

We have been here before—and we have been here before led here—by men better and wiser and nobler than George W. Bush.

Olbermann continues his commentary with examples of Presidential power gone mad culminating with the decision to intern Japanese Americans during WWII.

When he is done with his melodramatic comparisons he continues on with his most recent bout of Bush Derangement Syndrome as he rants with typical Boston Legal style melodrama. (fart excluded). Here is a great one liner as Olbermann refers to President Bush directly.

Sadly—of course—the distance of history will recognize that the threat this generation of Americans needed to take seriously was you.

Yes, George Bush is the person all Americans should fear. He is also a liar according to Olbermann.

The Military Commissions Act specifically permits the introduction of classified evidence not made available to the defense.

Your words are lies, Sir.

They are lies that imperil us all.

“One of the terrorists believed to have planned the 9/11 attacks,” you told us yesterday, “said he hoped the attacks would be the beginning of the end of America.”
That terrorist, sir, could only hope.

Not his actions, nor the actions of a ceaseless line of terrorists (real or imagined), could measure up to what you have wrought.

Cue the music.

Any point that Olbermann made is completely undercut by the Bush lied mantra. I have yet to see proof of lies made by Bush yet this is a critical component of Olbermann’s rant. Yeah, and the Bush administration also committed 9/11.

Note that the Military Commissions Act passed with Democrat support; weak as their support was. You would think that they knew about Bush’s “lies” before they sent the bill to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

But that is beside the point. Olbermann is either lying himselfor is simply misinformed about the demise of Habeas Corpus at the hands of President Bush as Andrew McCarthy explained very clearly:

First, Congress cannot “suspend” habeas corpus by denying it to people who have no right to it in the first place. The right against suspension of habeas corpus is found in the Constitution (art. I, 9). Constitutional rights belong only to Americans — that is, according to the Supreme Court, U.S. citizens and those aliens who, by lawfully weaving themselves into the fabric of our society, have become part of our national community (which is to say, lawful permanent resident aliens). To the contrary, aliens with no immigration status who are captured and held outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and whose only connection to our country is to wage a barbaric war against it, do not have any rights, much less “basic rights,” under our Constitution.

The Federalist Society spells this out more clearly for those who still don’t get it; i.e. Keith Olbermann.

Habeas Corpus is disallowed only as to alien UECs, who ARE subject to the military commissions. Before that, all detainees are processed through an initial administrative fact finding to determine why they’re there (to separate out the grudge cases from the terrorists). It’s called a Combatant Status Review Tribunal, and includes with it a right to an appeal. It’s not a habeas writ, but it does provide an avenue for alien detainees to challenge their detention (with an appeal), which is what everyone is hyperventilating over. And it’s not even new with the new bill – that provision was passed by Congress last December. And as I understand it, the CSRTs weren’t new, either, but merely codifications (important, I think) of pre-existing policies already in place in our detention facilities.

Citizens can be UECs, but they may still bring the writ of habeas corpus to challenge their detention. Anyone who says or implies differently either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or is lying to your face. The people can decide for themselves which one Olbermann is guilty of.

Note to Keith, if you have a point to make it had better be based in fact. Otherwise the point is invalid; just like your ratings impact on television viewing trends. What a tool.

Others Bloggin’ on this Issue: