John Dean Challenges America: Fix This Broken Government

They think the president should be down to single digits if he's doing things right, because he's such an authoritarian figure, he's not going to be terribly popular. Well, Bush looks like he's trying to fulfill that image for them.

Bush is not a theorist; he is not a long-visioned man. It's Cheney who is trying to get these powers in fast while they can, pushing the envelope constantly to build this enormously powerful presidency. He's been convinced, even before 9/11, that we need a dominant president, this unitary executive theory. It doesn't matter that they may well not have a Republican in power. In that case, they will then turn to the tactic of trying to see if they can destroy the person who's actually there, while keeping those powers.

BuzzFlash: So if a Democrat gets in, they bring the Democrat down, as they tried to do with Clinton, beginning with the Arkansas project (see below) that resulted in the impeachment process.

John Dean: That's exactly the game they play.

BuzzFlash: Even if a Democrat wins, the idea is to weaken them to the point they can't use the powers we've created for the presidency -- but the power will be there for when we return...[Open in new window]
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The Arkansas Project is the general name of a series of investigations (mostly funded by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife) that were designed to damage and end the presidency of Bill Clinton.^[1] Scaife gave $1.8 million dollars "to unearth damaging information about President Clinton."^[2] Some reports and investigations connected to this project focused on questions about the suicide of Vincent Foster, the Clintons' investment in Whitewater, and Troopergate...[Open in new window]
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