Bill Moyers Journal: Interview with Glenn Greenwald

December 12, 2008

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the JOURNAL.

For a fellow who's still supposed to be in charge of a country in deep crisis, President Bush has been spending an extraordinary amount of his little remaining time mounting a last-ditch courtship of the media. He's eager to tell us how he would like to be remembered.

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BILL MOYERS: For all the questions put to him about his legacy, however, the press seems strangely uninterested in his controversial treatment of the Constitution and the Rule of Law: torture, surveillance without a warrant, or prisoners of war, the Geneva Convention and the claims the president has made for expanding the power of his office. That unlimited view of authority may well be the centerpiece of his legacy.

So there are plenty of tough questions to be asked about it, and Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer, has been asking them. Visitors to the blogosphere will recognize the name immediately. His blog on Salon.com, "Unclaimed Territory," is one of the most widely read on the internet. His loyal readers describe him as "A blogosphere superstar," and "One of the smartest and most important new voices in politics." And, I would add, journalism.

The new media is his stage. But he's also written two best-sellers: HOW WOULD A PATRIOT ACT? about President Bush and executive power, and this one, A TRAGIC LEGACY, an analysis of the president's record. His most recent is GREAT AMERICAN HYPOCRITES.

Glenn Greenwald, welcome to the JOURNAL.

GLENN GREENWALD: Great to be here, Bill.