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.
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