The Post-Rhetorical Legacy of George W. Bush
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On December 30, 2005 President George W. Bush was nearing the end of a weeklong vacation at his Crawford, Texas ranch. Late that afternoon he took time away from celebrating the holidays to sign 14 congressional bills into law. On that day, among other actions, President Bush authorized the federal government" to rehabilitate the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial"; authorized monies" to support relief and reconstruction efforts related to the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico"; and authorized" provisions [to] reaffirm the values we share as a Nation and our commitment to the rule of law" by prohibiting" cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of" captured terrorists" either" at home or abroad." 1 The last bill specifically contained a ban on torture. The so-called McCain anti-torture legislation, named after Arizona Senator and former POW John McCain, was a bitter pill for the Bush Administration to swallow. President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney and the rest of the Bush Administration had opposed the torture ban by arguing that such a ban tied the hands of America: it prevented President Bush from fully acting as Commander in Chief; it prevented the American military from fully interrogating potential sources; it prevented the American intelligence community from fully protecting American lives from terrorism. According to Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage," The White House tried hard to kill the McCain amendment. Cheney lobbied Congress to exempt the CIA from any interrogation limits, and Bush threatened to veto the bill, arguing that the executive branch has exclusive authority over war policy." 2 In short, the Bush Administration
