On Wrecking Our System of Government

Former Vice President Walter Mondale has accused current Vice President Dick Cheney of wrecking the American system of government.  Here's a quote:

Former Vice President Walter Mondale today accused the current vice president, Dick Cheney, of a wholesale assault on the Constitution, the balance of powers, and the system that evolved since World War II to coordinate intelligence and defense policy.

"They wrecked that system," Mondale said this morning at a University of Minnesota scholarly conference on the vice presidency.

This isn't some academic difference of opinion over the proper balance between branches of the federal government, Mondale said, during a question and answer session after his prepared remarks:

"I think this was a brutal, deliberate policy to ignore a wide range of written laws and constitutional principles and the legitimate powers of Congress…It's different than anything we've seen in American history and I think it ought to be seen not as two responsible positions, but ought to be seen as a dramatic challenge to American's system of government."

Anyone who had an opportunity to watch "Bush's War" on PBS's Frontline last night (to be continued this evening) has ample documentary evidence to support Mondale's assertion.