Bush has a sense of humor

Appearantly, Bush wants the Line-Item Veto, despite the fact that SCOTUS was pretty definative against such power in Clinton v. City of New York (although dishonest partisans like Thomas, Scalia, and Alito might change their minds). Bush's claimed reason for having increased executive powers? To cut spending.

"And I'm not going to deal myself out of the budgetary process," he said. "So my point is, they can meet the size of the pie, but I may not like some of the slices of the pie. And therefore, what do we do about it? And one way to deal with it is the line-item veto. The president could approve the spending that is necessary, could red-line spending that is not, and then let the Congress decide whether or not the president is right."

Just like how he let Congress decide whether or not to use the NSA to spy on American citizens' phone records, library records, financial transactions, and internet activity. Or just like how Bush let Congress pass a ban on torture, only to seemingly veto the bill without allowing the Congress a chance to override the veto.

Bush's signing statements violate the Constitution. specfically, Article I, Section 7, Clause 2 ("The Presenment Clause"):

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law.

This is a radical agenda by Dick Cheney and his cabal. Having already reclaimed whatever executive power presidents had prior to Watergate, Cheney, John Yoo et al are trying to use Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 ("Commander-in-Chief") to grab as much power as the Rubber-Stamp Do-Nothing Republican Congress will allow.

Right now, Specter has another Kabuki Theater effort of "reigning in the president" and being a "moderate savior of the Constitution." One wonders how many days he will keep up the charade.