The Presidential Oath reads, "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Our Constitution is the very foundation of America's freedom, liberty and moral light in the world ~ and the chief reponsibility of every President is to protect and defend it.

There is nothing in that oath of office that justifies Bush supposedly protecting America's homeland from terrorists ~ while he morally betrays his oath of office by shredding the intent of the Constitution with his ongoing blatant abuses of power.

As The Nation reports; " At stake in this standoff between the President and the Senate are legal and moral issues central to the Constitution and the character of the American people: the right to a fair trial, the use of torture, the accountability of high government officials for war crimes. It also tests the powers of Congress and the Supreme Court to rein in an errant executive." http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061002/brecher

Add to that ~ currently the U.S. military has created a global network of overseas prisons, which effectively are keeping 14,000 detainees beyond the reach of established law . http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5112/

Now, under the guise of protecting the nation ~ the White House is trying to exempt itself from war crimes laws.

At a Rose Garden press conference on Friday, NBC's David Gregory asked George W. Bush the obvious hypothetical question: How would he feel if a foreign government like, say, North Korea's or Iran's, captured a U.S. soldier or CIA officer, subjected him to torture, then tried and convicted him with evidence he wasn't allowed to see?

Bush didn't, Bush couldn't answer that question ~ because Bush has his own agenda which is totally at odds with not only the Constitution but also his sworn oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Democrats would do well to concentrate their fall campaign on protecting and defending the Constitution where they will find solid bipartisan support from a deeply concerned electorate ~ letting Bush flay away, with his drumbeat of fear, at a fictitious terrorist mob at the gates while they concentrate on the rot at the top of the Republican party and their well documented threats to our beloved Constitution.

Allen L Roland