Reply #49: AP--Cheney Says President Has Spying Authority

[rodeodance]

The man is an idiot --pure and simple.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051221/ap_on_go_co/domestic_spying

Cheney Says President Has Spying Authority

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday called for "strong and robust" presidential powers, saying executive authority was eroded during the Watergate and Vietnam eras. Some lawmakers objected that President Bush's decision to spy on Americans to foil terrorists showed he was flexing more muscle than the Constitution allows.


The revelations of Bush's four-year-old order approving domestic surveillance without court warrants has spurred a fiery debate over the balance of power between the White House, Congress and the judiciary.
"I believe in a strong, robust executive authority and I think that the world we live in demands it," Cheney said.

"I would argue that the actions that we've taken there are totally appropriate and consistent with the constitutional authority of the president. ... You know, it's not an accident that we haven't been hit in four years," the vice president said, speaking with reporters on Air Force Two en route from Pakistan to Oman.