Echoing the words of Richard M. Nixon, Senator Pat Roberts of the Great State of Kansas solemnly assured Tim Russert today that the president has the power to do anything he wants as long as he does it "very, very carefully."
It used to be that the government of the United States consisted of three branches whose respective powers were carefully distributed and balanced. That was until the legislative branch spinelessly handed its powers over to the executive.
It's happened before. When the sage and prudent Emperor Tiberius (he's gotten a bad rap in the history books) ascended to the newly-minted throne of the Roman Empire, so carefully crafted by his predecessor, the first emperor Augustus, he soon received a letter from the Senate telling him they would gladly draft any legislation he wanted them to.
Tiberious wrote back to them that their request was outrageous. "Suppose the emperor is ill or mad or incompetent?" He asked (his successor, Caligula, was all three). But when they sent the same message a second time, the Emperor simply observed, "How eager you are to be slaves." Not long thereafter he left Rome in disgust and took up permanent residence on the island of Capri.
The entire exchange today on "Press the Meat" went like this:
TIM RUSSERT: Senator Roberts, let me ask you a very serious question. Do you believe that the Constitution gives the President of the United States the authority to do anything he believes is necessary to protect the country?
ROBERTS: Yes, but I wouldn’t say anything he believes. I think you go at it very, very carefully. And that’s been done by every president that I know of.
As the pundits at "Think Progress" observed, this faux-legislator Roberts should stick to Nixon's version, ("If the president does it it's not illegal.") because it's much simpler
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