{"id":174,"date":"2007-09-09T02:53:07","date_gmt":"2007-09-09T07:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fortunecookiechronicles.com\/2007\/09\/09\/takeover-by-charlie-savage-is-now-out\/"},"modified":"2007-09-13T05:34:57","modified_gmt":"2007-09-13T10:34:57","slug":"takeover-by-charlie-savage-is-now-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fortunecookiechronicles.com\/blog\/2007\/09\/09\/takeover-by-charlie-savage-is-now-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Takeover by Charlie Savage is now out!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Takeover<\/a>This is a plug for my friend Charlie Savage<\/a>‘s book — Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of the American Democracy. I just got it today and am reading through it.<\/p>\n

One of the more interesting points is the Office of Legal Counsel — which Charlie says is “the most important office that no one outside of Washington has ever heard of.” It functions as the internal Supreme Court of the executive branch, ruling on the legality and illegality of actions, which becomes critical in questions that will never show up in a courtroom. The infamous scene of Alberto Gonzales running to Attorney General John Ashcroft’s hospital bedside was brought about in part because of a change in management in the Office of the Legal Counsel. You can hear Charlie talking about the book on Fresh Air<\/a> with Terry Gross.
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