And Then Magic Fairy Puffbears Ate The Constitution…

As Jack Balkin points out in a fantastic interview with Scott Horton, the most recent ranty op-ed from John Yoo has a number of tells.

And a huge dose of self-destruct button:

Yoo, however is unrepentant. Today in the Wall Street Journal he lashes out at all of the inspectors general of the intelligence agencies for daring to disagree with him. He defends his actions on the grounds that FISA is “obsolete,” which suggests that he well understands that the programs were inconsistent with FISA. He repeats his claim that FISA wasn’t designed to restrict the President, even though FISA was passed at the height of the Cold War, when the national security threats we faced were at least as grave as those we face today. And he has the gall to accuse the inspectors general of the intelligence agencies of playing politics instead of following the law. It’s a pretty amazing performance.

Honestly, Marcy’s already parsed the op-ed, and Anonymous Liberal took it further still. But I’m just baffled by Yoo’s inability to be honest with himself, although after all this time, I shouldn’t be given the utter lack of good faith on so many levels of all of this.

But good heavens, the man failed to mention Youngstown Steel. "Hellloooo?!? Deliberately obtuse lawyering hotline?"

The entire op-ed reeks of a failure to comprehend the true nature of justice and an utter lack of respect for the rule of law. All rolled up in one fetid, self-serving unrepentant package.

Ugh.

Christy Hardin Smith | Friday July 17, 2009 10:25 am 1

Yeppers. It’s all a great big IG conspiracy to shut down the man. And by “the man” I mean whatever Dick Cheney wants his minions to promote in the CYA of the moment.

It is to laugh.

EvilDrPuma | Friday July 17, 2009 11:25 am 2

Yoo said it.

Kitt | Friday July 17, 2009 01:15 pm 3

Since Yoo is so clearly and provably not just wrong but lying, what is his motivation continuing to have op-eds published that are packed full of his lies? He stands a chance of being investigated, indicted and prosecuted, and he certainly stands a chance of being disbarred. So it seems it would be a gamble for him to be lying on record, as he has been doing, again and again.

He’s probably not stupid enough to believe that his lies would hold up in a court of law, so isn’t it foolish for him to be putting his eggs into the basket of winning over public opinion, especially since he’s also losing in that forum anyway and will continue to lose due to the indefensible lies and contortions he is jamming into op-eds in the WSJ . Maybe Cheney, Bush and others are stupidly paying him big bucks for continuing to put his lies and CYA’s out there?

james | Friday July 17, 2009 02:37 pm 4

I think he intentionally ignored Youngstown because acknowledging it would weaken his stand.

RevBev | Friday July 17, 2009 02:53 pm 5

Some of these folks (W) are narcisstic to the point of delusional….as in, they can’t be touched. I pray they are wrong this time, but Dick, W, Rummy et al have had alot of cover.