Continuing with what I’d earlier written, from Reason magazine, a libertarian outlet, come two voices agreeing that McCain would essentially continue Bush’s monarchical view and use of executive power.
Hat Tip: Sullivan
From Matt Welch:
John McCain’s flip-flops on executive power to surveil U.S. citizens no matter what the law says is a timely reminder of a common misconception: That the Republican nominee would roll back the executive branch expansions of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. With the exception of his vow to not adorn legislation with the kind of presidential signing statements made famous by his hero Teddy Roosevelt, McCain has a consistent, career-long approach to executive power − namely, that the president needs more of it.
The candidate’s books and speeches, especially those that cover the first 60 years of his life, are almost totally bereft of any interest in political philosophy or principle (an oddity, given his close friendship with Ronald Reagan and close proximity to Barry Goldwater). There is, in my judgment, one exception to this: The principle of presidential authority to wage war, conduct foreign policy, blunt congressional overreach, and act by any achievable means necessary to defend American interests.
…
if you think that any John Sidney McCain will let something like the letter of the law, or the constitutional separation of powers, prevent him from acting swiftly to defend America’s interests (however he defines it), then you probably haven’t been paying close attention.
Also Ron Bailey:
John McCain seemed to have a less expansive view of presidential authority than George W. Bush. Now the distance between them seems to be shrinking. In a recent letter to National Review Online, McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin reported that the Arizona senator believes President Bush acted within his constitutional authority when he violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by approving warrantless monitoring of international communications involving people in the United States. According to Holtz-Eakin, who was responding to an NRO post by Andrew McCarthy that questioned whether McCain was sufficiently supportive of Bush’s position on this issue, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate believes “neither the Administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the ACLU and the trial lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001.”
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this issue is not of interest only to “the ACLU and trial lawyers”; pace McCain, it is not an excuse for pointless recriminations about long-ago actions that are irrelevant to “addressing the challenge we face today.” As we ”move forward,” there are few questions more important than whether the president is bound to obey the law even when it conflicts with his own ideas about how best to fight terrorism. If McCain cannot give a straight answer to that question and stick to it, he does not deserve the vote of anyone who believes in the rule of law and the separation of powers.
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