Did President Bush Really Say That?

[drbrumley]

Did President Bush Really Say That?
by Chuck Baldwin
December 13, 2005



Internet news site Capitol Hill Blue (http://www.capitolhillblue.com) founder Doug Thompson wrote in his column on December 9 that in a private meeting with congressional leaders, President G.W. Bush was urged to take caution in implementing his new Patriot Act because it would potentially "alienate conservatives." According to Thompson, the president retorted by saying, "I don't give a g-d-, I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way!"

During that same meeting, Thompson quotes an aide as telling Mr. Bush, "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law [the Patriot Act] undermine the Constitution." Thompson quotes the President as screaming back, "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It's just a g-d- piece of paper!"

Thompson said he talked with three people who were present for that meeting and that they all confirmed that President Bush called the Constitution a "g-d- piece of paper."

Please understand, Thompson is a career journalist. To my knowledge, his news site only produces credible news. For the sake of this column, therefore, let's deal with the possibility that what Doug Thompson wrote was truthfully told him by people who were in attendance at that meeting. (No, Thompson did not name those persons.)

Before going further, let's acknowledge that Doug Thompson is not a fan of President Bush. In fact, he is an outspoken critic of the President. But then again, it seems to me that he is an outspoken critic of most politicians. In my opinion, that's not all bad. But that's not the point. All that matters is the truthfulness of the report. If it's not true, Thompson must bear responsibility.

However, what if it is true? What if President Bush actually said the things Thompson said he said? In that case, every American must bear responsibility!

If President Bush said the things Thompson accuses him of saying, it is monumentally important! It reveals a side of G.W. Bush that has been heretofore hidden from the public, a side of the President that should cause all true Christians and all lovers of liberty deep consternation!

If G.W. Bush said the things he is quoted as saying, it means that our President is not only the worst kind of liar but also a very clear and present threat to freedom!

Remember that President Bush twice put his hand on a Holy Bible and took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Such an oath carries with it the most sacred of intentions and the most serious of consequences.

It is one thing for a president to proceed upon the conviction that his actions are constitutionally justified even though he is criticized for those convictions; it is another thing altogether for a president to feel in his heart and to verbalize with his lips that the very document which he swore an oath to uphold is nothing more than a "g-d- piece of paper."

Americans must understand that the only reason (humanly speaking) that this country has been able to maintain a 200 plus year legacy of liberty and individual freedom is due to our respectful adherence (at least in principle) to the U.S. Constitution. To quote Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, "I don't have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it's better than anything else." Amen.

The Constitution is better than anything else! It is the most magnificent governing document ever written by man! Along with our Christian heritage and common English language, the Constitution has formed the glue which has held our republic together. Rightly did Daniel Webster say, "The hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder forever."

If President Bush truly believes the Constitution is "just a g-d- piece of paper," he is capable of any attack against it.

Yet, there is another revelation contained in President Bush's remarks, if they be true: his repeated blasphemy of God's name.

It has been long known that G.W. Bush is a prolific swearer. That much we know is true. One former congressman told me of hearing Bush repeatedly use the "f " word. Most Christians would not want their children using that or any other swear word, but probably don't mind too much (sadly) that their president, even one who professes to be a Christian, would use profanity. But what about repeatedly using God's name in vain? Is that insignificant?

To many people, swearing is nothing more than everyday communication. However, using God's name in vain is more than vulgar talking: it is blasphemy!

The Holy Scriptures are very clear on this point. The Third Commandment is emphatic: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Furthermore, Psalms 139:20 states, "Thine enemies take thy name in vain."

We need to get something settled: George W. Bush (or any other U.S. President or Congressman) is not above the Constitution or the Word of God! And while we are at it, let's settle something else: those conservative Christians who would allow G.W. Bush (or anyone else) to trample our Constitution and our Biblical values have become idolaters in their own hearts by giving to man (any man) the kind of preeminence that only the Bible and the U.S. Constitution deserve!

Did President Bush really say the things Doug Thompson quotes him as saying? I sincerely hope not. And if he did not, Mr. Thompson certainly owes his readers and the President an apology. However, if it proves to be true, will conservative Christians admit that everything they were led to believe about G.W. Bush was a lie, because indeed it would be?!

 

[drbrumley]

The article in question

Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a ********* piece of paper'
By DOUG THOMPSON
Dec 9, 2005, 07:53
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Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a *******,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a ********* piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a ********* piece of paper.”

And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the **** that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “********* piece of paper” used to guarantee.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”

Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine – in the end – if something is legal or right.

Every federal official – including the President – who takes an oath of office swears to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the Constitution a “living document.”

“"Oh, how I hate the phrase we have—a 'living document,’” Scalia says. “We now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete's sake.”

As a judge, Scalia says, “I don't have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it's better than anything else.”

President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a “union between a man and woman.” Members of Congress have proposed some 11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion.

Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss of rights.

“We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones,” Scalia warns. “Don't think that it's a one-way street.”

And don’t buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush, something that undermines the Constitution of the United States.

But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just “a ********* piece of paper.”

 

[drbrumley]

bump

 

[Chileice]

Personally, I hope it is not true. But I have sometimes wondered about his commitment to long-held constitutional values. While the constitution is a document that can (and sometimes should be ) changed, it is the document which has upheld personal and corporate rights and freedoms for generations.

But what is more damaging for the president, if true, is his rather cavalier attitude toward God himself. Obviously, without a written transcript of the meeting or some secret tape coming out, we will probably never know. But it shows the danger of Christians getting in bed with any politician, even one who claims to support all of our aspirations and desires. The need for religion and state to maintain their distance will become even more obvious. If that happens, maybe it was a good wake-up call for Christianity.

 

[BillyBob]

bump

I think you bumped your head. :chuckle:

 

[PureX]

It should come as no surprise to anyone that George Bush feels this way about the Constitution. It should come as no great surprise to anyone that George Bush is a liar. He has ignored the Constitution and lied to the American people routinely all throughout his political career. And many of those who support him support such behavior as long as they think it furthers their own agenda. What is most sad is that so many American citizens care so little about protecting the Constitution, and expect their politicians to lie and cheat and bully others to get what they want, that the politicians know they can get away with such behavior. We become outraged when the "other side's guy" does these things, but we heartily approve of it when it's "our side" doing it, or when the result of such behavior benefits us in some way.

And so we've gotten only what we deserved.

 

[BillyBob]

Hey, you just copied and pasted that from the other thread!

 

[Granite]

Nothing would surprise me.