“Accountability…is not, in every case, a virtue”

[babylonsister]

http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2008/08/accountability-2

“Accountability…is not, in every case, a virtue”
Created: August 5th, 2008 | Written By: matttbastard


Mike Allen of The Politico quotes from Ron Suskind’s new book, The Way of the World:

“After the searing experience of being in the Nixon White House, Cheney developed a view that the failure of Watergate was not the break-in, or even the cover-up, but the way the president had, in essence, been over-briefed. There were certain things a president shouldn’t know – things that could be illegal, disruptive to key foreign relationships, or humiliating to the executive.

“They key was a signaling system, where the president made his wishes broadly known to a sufficiently powerful deputy who could take it from there. If an investigation ensued, or a foreign leader cried foul, the president could shrug. This was never something he’d authorized. The whole point of Cheney’s model is to make a president less accountable for his action. Cheney’s view is that accountability – a bedrock feature of representative democracy – is not, in every case, a virtue.”

Just remember, kids: impeachment is off the table.