Bush Quips He Might Stay in Power (Threat Level Plays Along)

At a press briefing this morning that touched on issues like the White House's extrajudicial wiretapping program and torture policies, the president was asked a question about Vladimir Putin's plan to hold on to power when his term as Russian president runs out.

Reporter: Mr. President, following up on Vladimir Putin for a moment, he said recently that next year, when he has to step down according to the constitution, as the president, he may become prime minister; in effect keeping power and dashing any hopes for a genuine democratic transition there ...

Bush: I've been planning that myself.

Ahahahahaha. That's funny. It's a great comedian who can give voice to what everyone else is just thinking.

Despite the president's occasional contempt for the law, THREAT LEVEL doesn't believe that he's going to declare a state of emergency and cancel the 2008 election. But in July, we filed some FOIA requests anyway. We asked five Justice Department offices for documents produced or revised after August 2001 "addressing the feasibility, advisability or lawfulness of deferring, rescheduling or canceling a U.S. national election."

The Office of Legal Counsel responded in nine days: It has no documents fitting that description. This is the office specifically tasked with advising the president on legal matters, and which infamously belched out a memo sanctioning torture in 2002.

This was, by the way, the fastest FOIA response I've ever gotten -- the speed suggesting the proposition was so ludicrous that it demanded swift repudiation. (Or that the office wanted to dispose of the FOIA before the White House went and asked for election postponement options). The Office of the Attorney General responded late last month (.pdf), also reporting no records found. Ditto the Office of the Associate Attorney General.

Only two offices haven't given the all-clear: The Office of the Deputy Attorney General is still looking into it. The National Security Division says it can't even estimate when I might get a response, because there are 14 unrelated FOIA requests ahead of mine.

That means I'll probably hear back sometime in late 2009, by which time Bush won't even be in office any more. Unless he is. Ahahahahaha. Just kidding.

wired.com

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