Truthiness is Word of the Year

I liked Bill Clinton's stint as President. I think he did a lot for our country, channeling our energies effectively. I think he worked hard for good compromise with Congress. I believe he worked hard to make us respectful in the world community. Don't get me wrong, the man had many faults and vices and was not always straight with us. But when he uttered the immortal line "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky", it was a statement that was then replayed and analyzed over and over again in the following months. His actions and statements led to his impeachment by the House. They alleged that the President had provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony to the grand jury regarding the Paula Jones case and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky and that he had obstructed justice through an effort to delay, impede, cover up and conceal the existence of evidence related to the Jones case.

Now I am not a fan of George Bush (he said restraining his fury). I struggle to understand what good he had done for our country. I see him channeling government work to cronies and corporate sponsors. And his use of energy, Big Energy actually, or its use of him, is shameful. I do not see him working on compromises with anyone but himself. And he has done more to lose respect for America than any other individual has done in our history. So I see many faults and many vices. And I believe he has not been straight with us. What I really can't stand is the pass he is being given for the following statement he made in April 2004:

"there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution. "

And now we find that President Bush signed a secret order 30 times since 2002 to enable the NSA to wiretap domestic sources. Some say this is an illegal act since if he needs a domestic wiretap he can go to the courts with the authority of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act. The court is called Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court.

So which lie, for they both are just that, do you believe caused more harm? A President perjuring himself in a sexual harrasement case or a President acting unconstitionally (is that a word?) by not allowing due process? And if it the latter, doesn't he deserve to be brought up on impeachment charges?