Andrew Napolitano is one of those genuinely idiosyncratic Fox News personalities. Last year, he wrote an op-ed in the LA Times denouncing the whole “War on Terrorism” framework and calling for terror suspects to be tried in civilian courts. Yesterday, in a conversation with Ralph Nader, he said George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should have been indicted:
Napolitano: So what President Bush did with the suspension of habeas corpus, with the whole concept of Guantanamo Bay, with the whole idea that he could avoid and evade federal laws, treaties, federal judges and the Constitution was blatantly unconstitutional and is some cases criminal.
Nader: What’s the sanction for President Bush and Vice President Cheney?
Napolitano: There’s been no sanction except what history will say about them.
Nader: What should be the sanctions?
Napolitano: They should have been indicted. They absolutely should have been indicted for torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrants. I’d like to say they should be indicted for lying but believe it or not, unless you’re under oath, lying is not a crime. At least not an indictable crime. It’s a moral crime.
The trade-off is that on the right you’re allowed to say something like this every once in a while as long as the rest of the time you stay focused on “liberal fascism.”
.
