All Intensive Purposes

Bob Barr and Viet Dinh debated the Administration's domestic-spying program at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The Washington Post reports that Barr found no support in the crowd, with the mood set by R. Emmet Tyrell, who said as he introduced the debate, "You've heard of bear baiting? We're going to have, today, Barr baiting." Nevertheless, Barr got right to the heart of the matter:

[T]he old prosecutor managed to elicit a crucial concession from Dinh: that the administration's case for its program comes down to saying "Trust me."

"None of us can make a conclusive assessment as to the wisdom of that program and its legality," Dinh acknowledged, "without knowing the full operational details. I do trust the president when he asserts that he has reviewed it carefully and therefore is convinced that there is full legal authority."

Article II is clearly superfluous. With a President who can determine the legality of his own actions, what do we need Article III for?



According to Wikipedia:

Bear-baiting is a blood sport that was a popular entertainment from at least the 11th century in which a bear is secured to a post and then attacked by a number of dogs.

In the most well known form, there were purpose-built arenas for the entertainment, called in England bear-gardens, consisting of a circular high fenced area, the pit, and raised seating for spectators. A post would be set in the ground towards the edge of the pit and the bear chained to it, either by the leg or neck. The dogs would then be set on it, being replaced as they tired or were wounded or killed. For a long time the main bear-garden in London was the Paris Garden at Southwark.

Bear baiting finally was banned in England in 1835, not too many years after American colonists revolted against the monarchy of King George III and established a constitutional republic.

Presumably the folks at CPAC were warming up for the fall elections.