At a USA PATRIOT Act rally in Buffalo in April, President Bush said this:

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

This quote has been played at least five times a day on The Al Franken Show, but surprisingly, there are some people who haven't heard this quotation before. The point of the sound bite is that, in April 2005 when Bush made that statement, he was engaged in wiretapping without a court order. President Bush was completely, unabashedly lying to the American people. No spin is possible. No backtracking is possible. He said it, and it wasn't true.

One of Al Franken's guests today was Timothy Lynch of the Cato Institute. Though a convservative think-tank, the Cato Institute is old-school conservatism, meaning it wants the government to keep its big nose out of everyone's business, and it's very upset about the president's warrantless wiretapping program. Commenting on the president's attitude that we should trust him when it comes to deciding who to wiretap, Lynch said, "The Constitution is based on the idea that we don't trust anyone in power." Wow! What a guy! Later, he acknowledged that the government should be allowed to conduct certain activities in secret; however, "one branch doesn't decide for itself what those secrets will be." Lynch demands some sort of oversight and balance among the three branches of government in matters of secrecy. Remember that Congress wasn't even informed about the warrantless wiretapping. No one knew about it except the highest members of the executive branch.

This president -- and by president, I mean Dick Cheney -- has nothing but contempt for the legislature. Even as a senator from Wyoming, Cheney tried to dilute the power of the legislature. If there's anyone who wants to be a unitary executive, it's Cheney.