More Dissenters From The Right

I already mentioned George Will. Here’s some more:

Former Rep. Bob Barr (from paper edition of WaPo):

The American people are going to have to say, ‘Enough of this business of justifying everything as necessary for the war on terror.’

David Keene, Executive Director of the American Conservative Union, on today’s Diane Rehm Show:

Keene: […] Having said that as a description of their justification of it, the claim that in trying to protect Americans and pursuing his powers as commander in chief that a President has power that inherently trumps the rest of the Constitution is a sort of exaggerated claim of power on behalf of this President or any other President for that matter […]
Rehm: How do you see this action in using a branch of government such as
the NSA to spy on American citizens?

Keene: I think its Presidential overreaching and I think most Americans would certainly oppose it. Just as we have been at the forefront of the call for reform of the Patriot Act, the reauthorization.

Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General under Reagan, on today’s Diane Rehm Show:

Fein: It’s more power than King George III had at the time of the revolution in asserting the theory that anything the President thinks is helpful to fighting the war against terrorism he can do. That was why he claimed he can ignore the torture convention […]
Rehm: Bruce Fein, why couldn’t the National Security Agency do exactly what the President wanted if they had simply gone to this special secret court?

Fein: It could have, the secret court is inclined to ratify virtually every warrant that has ever been asked by the executive branch.

Rehm: So why didn’t the President go to the court?

Fein: Because I think the President believes that he is the only unit of government capable of running a war.

RELATED: Alan Dershowitz, who defended the Administration’s use of torture, isn’t even buying the Bushies here. From Crooks and Liars: