“The Republican Supreme Court determined Bush broke the law and said the president’s criminal behavior must stop.”

I got it.
Simple message.
Wet dream for Democrats.
How long before somebody snags defeat from the jaws of victory?

At least one source thinks it is a way for the president to toss a hot potato back to Congress, extricating himself from the Gitmo tarbaby at the same time. I think he's smart enough to make it happen. Don't misunderestimate the boss.

We'll see.


Charles Swift, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy, Military Defense Counsel, was today's guest on C-SPAN's Washington Journal. Very, very impressive. He is not a representative from the lunatic fringe. He is an American military officer of the highest calibre who defended his client in the lower courts. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme court.

The court decided in favor of his client, who will now receive a fair trial. That is all he was seeking.

When the link becomes available it is worth watching. All I saw was the last few minutes and that was all it took to win me. Lt. Commander Swift is cut from the right fabric. Or, as they say in the street, he knows what time it is.

Look for Washington Journal for July 1.

Update Sunday: The link is available. The entire program is three hours long. To watch the segment with Lt. Commander Swift advance the control to 49:00:00. He is on just under an hour to about 1:50:00. If you don't have time to see the whole segment, be sure not to miss the last four or five minutes. He ends with a great anecdote. This man is a really good lawyer. If I were in trouble I would hope to be represented by someone like him.

This column by Paul Shukovsky of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift is apt to lose his job now that he has done it so well.

Despite his spectacular success, with the assistance of attorneys from the Seattle firm Perkins Coie, Swift thinks his military career is coming to an end. The 44-year-old Judge Advocate General officer, who was recently named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the country by The National Law Journal, was passed over for promotion last year as the high-profile case was making headlines around the world.

"I may be one of the most influential lawyers in America," the Seattle University Law School graduate said, "but I won't be in the military much longer. That irony did strike me."