Documentary filmmaker Michael Kirk discusses his PBS Frontline specials The Dark Side and Cheney’s Law, Cheney’s attempt to consolidate power in the presidency and break the law, the importance of the hospital room shakedown of former Attorney General John Ashcroft, the conflict between John Yoo and Jack Goldsmith’s interpretations of presidential power and the role of Cheney lawyer David Addington.
MP3 here. (15:00)
Michael Kirk, a former Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard, was Frontline’s senior producer from 1983 to 1987, and has produced more than 100 national television programs. He was online earlier this season to talk about “The War Behind Closed Doors” and “The Man Who Knew,” and during the 2001-2002 season to discuss “Did Daddy Do It?“; “American Porn“; “Gunning for Saddam“; and “Target America.”
Michael Kirk is to be much admired. On the other hand, not so, Jack Goldsmith. I invite you to read a stunning condemnation of Goldsmith in an article by a Massachusetts law school dean, which I found this week on Counterpunch.org.