Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'

By DOUG THOMPSON
Dec 9, 2005, 07:53

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 goddamn,” 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 goddamned 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 goddamned piece of paper.”

And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned 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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”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 goddamned piece of paper.”

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml

12/10/2005 2:35:23 PM

it makes him sound so... emotional

*tear*

12/10/2005 2:53:51 PM

they got him on tape stealin boxes on his day off?

12/10/2005 3:09:02 PM

"THE BIBLE IS JUST A GODDAMN BOOK!"

that would have been much more damaging for him

12/10/2005 3:58:55 PM

Bush talks like a badass when he's in private.

He should curse more in pubilc. Then he'd be cooler.

12/10/2005 4:03:07 PM

Some people in this country place more precedence on their precious bible than the Constitution and I wish those people would move....to another planet!

12/10/2005 4:03:44 PM

^ well if they didn't it would be idolatry in some sects

12/10/2005 4:06:06 PM

True, I just don't want them in positions of power...over me!

12/10/2005 4:08:57 PM

I dont believe that article for one minute

12/10/2005 4:13:43 PM

seriously, it doesn't sound anything like our president!

12/10/2005 4:14:53 PM

"Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out."

12/10/2005 4:20:52 PM

No the article can't be varified so that pretty much leaves it up to how each of us perceives W. I could definitely see him say'n it!

12/10/2005 4:22:30 PM

Quote :

"so what the consititution says you can bear arms? That's not what it meant at all!"

12/10/2005 4:27:03 PM

no..it doesnt sound like our president...you would love it too though..keep trying

12/10/2005 4:30:30 PM

Perception. I say yes, you say no. Thats it.

12/10/2005 4:43:59 PM

no seriuosly...why would you believe that??

12/10/2005 5:00:55 PM

^^^haha, are you kidding?

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 5:02 PM. Reason : ^^^]

12/10/2005 5:01:53 PM

Bush using profanity? Never.

12/10/2005 5:08:04 PM

Quote :

"Bush talks like a badass when he's in private. He should curse more in pubilc."

12/10/2005 5:16:32 PM

wow did bush really say that?! thats incredible?*







































* For future reference posting stories from CapitolHIllBlue is a waste of my, your, and everyone else's time. Get a real source and stop reading garbage.

12/10/2005 5:20:15 PM

I think during the 2000 campaign he called some reporter "A Real Asshole" and it got caught on film.



[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 6:07 PM. Reason : .]

12/10/2005 6:06:03 PM

Sounds like the Clinton Administration's view of our second amendment rights

12/10/2005 6:16:35 PM

Yep. Guns were banned 1992-2000.

12/10/2005 6:23:22 PM

It almost looked like it might have been true until I got to the last real paragraph and everything past it.

12/10/2005 6:46:05 PM

OMG YOU GUYS KNOW THE PRESIDENT!!!!!

how do you know he doesnt act like this............stupid.

12/10/2005 6:58:40 PM

So this guy's got a few anonymous, second hand sources he says confirms one statement was made, but he has full phrases in quotes?

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 7:07 PM. Reason : lsahbdf]

12/10/2005 7:07:01 PM

I was thinking "well, maybe" up until

Quote :

"little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots"

12/10/2005 7:20:39 PM

OMG YOU GUYS KNOW THE PRESIDENT!!

HOW DO YOU KNOW HE ACTS LIKE THIS?!

12/10/2005 7:38:06 PM

umm

there are quite a few accounts of President Bush having some outbursts like this

and i've never really even seen it disputed that i can think of

12/10/2005 7:48:18 PM

12/10/2005 7:54:51 PM

well...im disuputing this one...its bullcrap

12/10/2005 7:55:06 PM

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THINGS THAT DONT MAKE ME HAPPY!

12/10/2005 8:01:09 PM

^^maybe

i'm just saying that the "i don't believe it because it's out of character" thing doesn't hold any water

i mean, it could very well be a load of shit, but i have no particular reason to believe that, based on other reported outbursts and the President's political philosophies in general

12/10/2005 8:05:26 PM

does it really matter if it's true or not?

considering how many people support him now, I don't think there is anything that you can say to convince them that he's a bad president

12/10/2005 8:13:59 PM

^

Quote :

"haha, are you kidding?"

12/10/2005 8:18:02 PM

well...from what i know about him..and other reported things he has done and said...three unnamed people from a bleading heart liberal rag doesnt mean a thing...

this report is bullcrap...complete and total bullcrap

oh...and....I REFUSE TO ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT BUSH IS THE DEVIL!!!.......and also HITLER!!!

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 8:27 PM. Reason : asdf]

12/10/2005 8:26:31 PM

dude

i'm a registered republican (although i only voted for President Bush once)

i'm just being a realist here

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 8:35 PM. Reason : and you need to start saying "shit". saying "bullcrap" is lame and gay, and wins you no credibility]

12/10/2005 8:35:19 PM

im not saying you are a liberal...of a democrat of whatever


im saying...:OMG i have talked to three people who were in some meeting...and they said this!!"

thats crap....and i dont believe it...thats all im saying

...and cussing makes you so cool....loser

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 8:37 PM. Reason : asdf]

12/10/2005 8:36:47 PM

i don't care if you use profanity or not

but if you're gonna do it, go ahead and do it

none of this half-assed euphamistic "bullcrap" bullshit.



and i'm saying that there are tons of reports of stuff like this...not just these three people who were in some meeting

12/10/2005 8:39:39 PM

did i say anything about these other reports?...all im saying is this thing ...in reference to the constitution is bullcrap


and yes i said it again

12/10/2005 8:40:54 PM

well then i say again:

Quote :

"i'm just saying that the "i don't believe it because it's out of character" thing doesn't hold any water i mean, it could very well be a load of shit, but i have no particular reason to believe that, based on other reported outbursts and the President's political philosophies in general"

it very well could be untrue

i'm just saying that i have no reason to doubt it, other than the source

because both the content and delivery of the alleged comments are pretty much right in line with what most knowledgable people would expect

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 8:46 PM. Reason : i mean, YOU'RE the one making an argument with basically no evidence to support it]

12/10/2005 8:44:27 PM

no...the moron who wrote that story is making the argument with no evidence or support....

i mean...some i know was in that meeting and said that ll bush did was sing hymns and pray sooo....


Cd...stop being a stoll....you really are pathetic

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 8:49 PM. Reason : ads]

12/10/2005 8:47:14 PM

trikk is a squaaaaaaare

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 8:48 PM. Reason : !]

12/10/2005 8:48:06 PM

oh, i think he sings hymns and prays, too

i'm just saying that you are picking and choosing--believing the parts you want to believe, and not what the evidence indicates

12/10/2005 8:49:11 PM

ok...go ahead and say that

how about this....there is ZERO evidence that bush said that about the constitution....i didnt pick and choose that cause that is a fact....you are the one choosing to believe some liberal propagandist who three anonymous sources....and you chose to believe that cause there is no evidence at all..


and with that...im out

12/10/2005 8:53:40 PM

i don't know how i can make my point any more clearly

i don't necessarily BELIEVE this claim

i'm just saying that there is is no real evidence against it, either (certainly no more than there is for it), and based on the history of similar outbursts, poor choices of words, and political philosophies and strategies fairly characteristic of a leader who WOULD make such a comment, i'm saying that i have no real reason to doubt this claim

there is a difference

and i don't expect you to understand it

but at least i made one final attempt at conveying it

[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 9:02 PM. Reason : and i bet you'd never hear the word "bullcrap" leave the President's lips]

12/10/2005 8:59:06 PM

^ What does it matter if it is real? Odds are, it is complete fiction. Otherwise, it would have been copied by other publications that believe the accusations made. Since it is not, fiction it be by the "duplication test."

12/10/2005 9:52:50 PM

Quote :

"And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee. (....) Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs."

Now, that's funny.


[Edited on December 10, 2005 at 9:57 PM. Reason : s]

12/10/2005 9:57:20 PM

don't you guys think that if this story were really true then CNN or MSNBC or a major meida outlet would pick it up unless...... MY GOD THE REPUBLICANS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE MEDIA!!!!!!!

12/10/2005 11:24:34 PM

capitol hill blue is pretty unreliable, but they're REALLY good at publishing stories about bush that are believable from one standpoint and not from another. Bush using profanity and shunning the constitution - he's done both, just not quite so directly. Do I think this conversation happened? no, but I do think he basically thinks that way, and I definitely know he uses profanity

12/11/2005 12:21:58 AM