From Fixing The Facts To Fixing The Laws - Subtitle: Dare We Dream of a "Republican Mutiny?"

Over at BIO, I found an interesting idea that oddly enough dovetailed right into today's press briefing by Scotty McMessage McClellan. Here's my comment posted to the BIO Diary entry:

I love this strategy - If the actions don’t comport with the law, change the laws. It’s much like their grand bait and switch on the whole illegitimate war in Iraq - If they facts don’t support your invasion, bend the facts to comport with your actions.

Either way, its a win-win for the W, Rove and Co. And over all, it’s a lose-lose for the American people. They stomp on our constitution, and get away with breaking the law. Meanwhile, the republican captians of the good ship America continue scuffing the ship’s hull on the Iraqi iceberg and we are sinking - slowly but surely, we will all end up clinging to are stars and stripe for security and only ending up with a wet blanket in some very, very cold water.

Here's what Scotty has to say about this issue (wrapped around the UAE Ports deal and the illegal domestic spying program):

Q Is this a case of where the politics has gotten ahead of the policy maybe?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, we'll continue to have conversations with Congress about this. We recognize the concerns that are there. We've stated our views, and we're all working closely together.

Q You've got a Republican mutiny kicking in right now. Does the veto threat stand, yes or no?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President's position is unchanged. But, Matt, I think what's important is that there are a lot of conversations going on. And our interest is in continuing to move ahead on those conversations and working with congressional leaders, and that's exactly what we're doing. And so that's really where the focus is right now.

Q What are you offering the congressional leaders, or what can you offer them?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, we'll continue the conversations with congressional leaders. I'm not going to do that through the media.

Q Does the White House have a deal with Senate Republicans on oversight of the eavesdropping program?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you heard from some of the leaders on the Intelligence Committee yesterday. As we previously said, we are committed to working with congressional leaders to further codify the constitutional and statutory authority that the President already has. And we've expressed to some of the leaders on the committee that we're fine with the general approach that they are taking. We want to continue to work with them as we move forward and stay open to ideas or ways that we could improve upon the legislation. The one thing we want to make sure that doesn't happen is that any legislation that is passed does not compromise the program or undermine the President's authority. And so we are moving ahead with congressional leaders on that.

And we've previously said that we're committed to further codifying the authority the President already has. He has the constitutional authority and he has the statutory authority. He also has a responsibility to do everything within his power to protect the American people. And that's exactly what he's doing. The terrorist surveillance program is a vital tool; it is critical in our efforts to connect the dots and prevent attacks from happening and save lives. And that's why the President directed the National Security Agency to move ahead with that program.

Remember, it's the -- General Hayden and others there said this would be -- this is an important tool that could help us in the broader war on terrorism, by better protecting the American people here at home. And that's why the President decided to move ahead on the program.

Of course the President likes it. It saves his ass. See my comment at the top of this post one more time.