DOJ: We Can't Release Cheney Records Because Of Late Night Comedy

DOJ: We Can't Release Cheney Records Because Of Late Night Comedy

www.huffingtonpost.com

Justice Department lawyers told the judge that future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics who would ridicule them.

"If we become a fact-finder for political enemies, they aren't going to cooperate," Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Smith said during a 90-minute hearing. "I don't want a future vice president to say, 'I'm not going to cooperate with, ...

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OMG!

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!

First of all, they are public servants elected by the people to do their bidding in our federal government, why shouldn't we know what is actually going on!!

And then there's this part, ...

may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics who would ridicule them.

Well, first of all, I would think that a criminal investigation should be more worrying to them than having some "late-night comics" ridiculing them!

But then again, our politicians due suffer from illusions of grandiose!

But are these reasons why their testimonies shouldn't be made public reasonable?

what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics

I say NO!

If their is a criminal investigation by a Federal Judge, he should be allowed to see all pertinent information in the case!

Maybe if more of this information was made public, our politicians, who seem to be afraid of being "ridiculed" by "late night comics" and "political opponents", would think twice about what they do and say more often!

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[edit on 6/20/2009 by Keyhole]

Is that really the best they can come up with? I wonder if I could use that defense in a court room, you can't convict me because the news paper may print a story about me.... The world just gets crazier every day

The executive branch can always be given a subpoena!!!!

This is ridiculous... so the biggest threat to justice is transparency?

HOGWASH....

The masses have always had the RIGHT to satirise their nobility and government, in past ages it was the only way the public had to criticise the people in power, are they now trying to deny people another kind of freedom ?

"We used to hate people. Now we just make fun of them. It's more effective that way."

Finally, politicians are realizing that they no longer wield the power of the masses as much as political pundits who are also comedians such as Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert do! And boy are they scared! (As well as they should be!)

When we read about things in the news we get angry but ultimately we are frustrated that there is nothing that we can do about it.

However, when hear about the news in the form of comedy, we laugh, and in doing so we are able to get past our fears and frustrations and see the truth of the matter with open eyes.

When we fear something, or feel powerless to do something, we are never likely to act.

When we laugh at something, it dismisses the fear, and we are far more likely to act.

The usurpation of the incumbent powers that ran this nation for the past many years was almost entirely due to late night comedians. They are the new Revolutionaries.

Government is now precisely where they need to be! People should never fear their governments but their governments should certainly fear the people! (Especially the comedians!)

The root of the problem is that they do NOT consider themselves 'public servants.'

They feel they are a form of 'elite' or 'special class' of people who can not have their 'image' tainted. This is often due to political or 'show business' celebrity mentality that comes with their lifestyles.

Perhaps it would be wise to add a clause to the official public oaths of ALL 'public servants'...,

"I understand that if I, while in the capacity of my position, behave shamefully, I will have to face that shame, and will not place my ego, or personal agenda, above the well-being and laws of those whom I serve."

If they lived up to that standard, I might be willing to grant them the respect they so obviously will not grant us.

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Maxmars]

Cheney should be tried for war crimes. Really, I think he has it coming ...

I didn't realize that politicians had the CHOICE of cooperating or not. My God, things have really gotten upside down.

As long as Obama the Messiah refuses to release his documents listed below, I don't give a # because it looks like nothing but a witch hunt:

1. Occidental College records
2. Columbia College records
3. Columbia Thesis paper
4. Harvard College records
5. Selective Service Registration
6. Medical records
7. Illinois State Senate schedule
8. Law practice client list
9. Certified Copy of original Birth certificate
10. Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth
11. Harvard Law Review articles published
12. University of Chicago scholarly articles

Previous Presidents have released such info so why not Obama? Until then, this story is nothing but political garbage.

Originally posted by Donnie Darko
Cheney should be tried for war crimes. Really, I think he has it coming ...

Ship him to Osama.
Osama at least tried to warn us.

Looking for Osama is like looking for landers on the moon.
It will never happen.
I think there is a conspiracy of higher proportions here.

reply to post by Keyhole


We are so far through the looking glass as I read this that I am seriously doubting our ability to make it back to the real world.

If one can obstruct justice just by stating they fear ridicule by late night talk show hosts, the war is already over. Stick a fork in us as we are done. We have become idiocracy unbound.

Originally posted by yellowbeard
The masses have always had the RIGHT to satirise their nobility and government, in past ages it was the only way the public had to criticise the people in power, are they now trying to deny people another kind of freedom ?

Darn!

Reading this with sleepy eyes I thought at first we had the right to sterilise our nobility and government.

I'd trade the right to satirise them for the right to sterilise them any day.

Although I voted for Obama, this is the kind of thing he's been doing that is annoying me - now that he has become the Executive, he has done little or nothing to stop power grabs by Executive Branch agencies and legal teams.

I'm OK with his foreign policy and economic decisions so far, but he has done little to arrest the worst aspects of the Executive bureaucracy's power grabs, (legal clownishness like this, also .gov wiretapping and surveillance powers, and much more) which have been ongoing for decades regardless of the ideology of the sitting President.

"If we become a fact-finder for political enemies, they aren't going to cooperate," Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Smith said during a 90-minute hearing. "I don't want a future vice president to say, 'I'm not going to cooperate with you because I don't want to be fodder for 'The Daily Show.'"

That has got to be one of the most assanine statements that i have ever read

I seriously hope that a future vice president, during a criminal investigation would have more important things to be be concerned with than becoming some comedian's latest joke

They knew full well what they were getting into the minute they decided to run for public office. It's too late for them to say they don't want the public made privy to their doings now.

The first politcian that utters the words, i am not going to cooperate with your investigation, should immediately be held in contempt of court just as any citizen would !

Ironically this will probably end up on the Daily Show, where now the DoJ is going to be ridiculed as it rightfully should be. Although it is pretty awesome that the Daily Show was mentioned by the DoJ as an excuse, I think it's a sign that political comedy is having a positive effect.

[edit on 21-6-2009 by theyreadmymind]

Originally posted by chise61

"If we become a fact-finder for political enemies, they aren't going to cooperate," Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Smith said during a 90-minute hearing. "I don't want a future vice president to say, 'I'm not going to cooperate with you because I don't want to be fodder for 'The Daily Show.'"

That has got to be one of the most assanine statements that i have ever read

That is soooo true!!!

Why is it that they think that a "future vice president" might be more afraid of "The Daily Show" than a criminal investigation!

This is just ludicrous!

So, what they are saying is that a "future vice president" might not cooperate with a Federal investigation because "somebody" might make fun of them!

Well, let's just make the act of NOT cooperating with a Federal investigation a lot more embarrassing/uncomfortable than just being "ridiculed" by "political opponents and late-night comics"!

[edit on 6/21/2009 by Keyhole]

Wow! How silly of me! I thought we were in America or something! You know, the place where we were 'free' to choice, 'free to act', 'free to LAUGH'
shish, if Stewert and Colbert didn't bring up half the things they did Id be in a corner balled up crying! We need that release! And, oohh, poor baby, their scared of being laughed at! OMG!


I think someone should read these 'elected representatives' a list of their job descriptions. Public servant - Public - hence, they report to us,'the public' and we do as we may with their actions, words, etc. I cant believe this