Letters to the Editor
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What would Hamilton think?
Federalist 69:
The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. In this respect his authority would be nominally the same with that of the king of Great Britain, but in substance much inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and admiral of the Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature.
In short, the American President would be just like King George, but for the fact that it is only the Legislative branch that can raise armies, maintain them, and declare war.
The idea that a president could open mail, listen to private communication, suppress Habeas, torture citizens and unilaterally ignore treaties--all using the justification of a vague and yet Global undeclared war would absolutely shock Hamilton. I have absolutely no doubt that he, and every one of those involved in designing our government, would view this as an executive completely out of bounds and out of control. He would no doubt remind us that this is precisely what they were trying to prevent from ever happening to the republic.
This is just one reason why the recent subsidence of "the war" ("it's just one of many important issues") as an american political issue is so very, very, dangerous. Polling indicates that it is slipping lower and lower in our national awareness. It is becoming banal.
Lack of focus on the war, and lack of understanding as to why "global undeclared war" is systemically dangerous to our form of government is a very unhealthy trend.
Reid, no doubt, would view all the above as starry-eyed idealistic fluff.
Bad things happen when bedrock is mistaken for fluff, and visa versa.
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You Said It
Reid's cloud of emptiness descended on Stewartville and never have I more wanted to punch someone so helpless. Now I can use your reasoned explanation for my rage--it's OK to want to punch an old, politically lobotomized man. After all, it’s just a war. It’s only been five years. There's something about Harry......
--thanks
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I'd like to defend Reid on the grounds of keeping control of the Senate
but if/when the Dems add to their Senate Majority, I honestly don't believe anything will change. They won't kick Lieberman off his committees or strip him of his seniority. Then we'll get a lecture about why it's so important for the Democratic party to embrace different points of view, blah blah blah.
They always have a reason not to do somethig: we need majority control; we don't have a filibuster proof majority; it wouldn't be nice and we don't want to hurt anyones feely-weelies.
I'm convinced that if the Dems had a 100-0 majority, they'd still find an excuse not to do something on the issue of the day so they wouldn't risk losing a seat or two.
It is misleading -- to put it politely -- of Reid to say that Lieberman is "with us" on everything except "the war" without Reid also pointing out that in Lieberman's worldview, "the war" requires a McCain presidency, eavesdropping, telecom amnesty, torture, the limitation or abolution of habeus corpus, etc.
Reid should also be required to explain how we pay for the war and all the social/economic programs with which Liberman is allegedly "with us".
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THEY will ultimately LOSE
THEY are those manipulating behind the scenes the political situation to the point where a cipher like Reid becomes the bright shining star hero of theirs.
THEY are fighting the whole of the human race. Hitler tried the same stunt.
That is, unless THEY exterminate us all FIRST.
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Yes, but LWM
I don't CARE how liberal Joe is on "everything else". It's all dwarfed by the war. Our economy is tanking in large part due to the war, and we are going to hell in a hand basket because of the war -- not to mention constitutional issues, torture, etc. etc.
So Joe votes the right (left) way on school lunches or some such, this means exactly diddly.
You can prove that Joe's a "liberal except for the war" all you want -- that's like proving that Jack the Ripper wasn't such a bad egg afterall cuz he was nice to little old ladies, it was "only" the youngish ones he mutilated.
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@ L.W.M.
"liberal firebrands like Barbara Boxer"
I laughed until I cried, probably because I'm old enough to remember when words had meanings.
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Try to be more subtle
It's fairly obvious that where scooter is a regular GOP consultant/employee, trolls such as Electro and ProWar work for AIPAC. They only show up to attempt to twist a discussion into innocent Jews vs Jew-haters, yet they read every comment.
The level of frothing at the mouth involved in their comments is easily visualized.
ProWar:
the professional chip-on-their-shoulder whiner class of which Glenn is so contemptibly epitomises.
There's a word for this---the "opposition."
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@ Jim White
"half the pages must be blank and the other half must list Republican talking points."
And, Coburn and McConnell have a "hold" on the last three pages of every chapter...
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Baldie McEagle
Prove it. Show me my secret Jewspiracy pay stub and decoder ring. Prove it.
Prove it.
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Arne
so he left the party.....and the near daily stoning here is because............? why again?
Oh yeah, I forgot he secretly rules America from a throne of skulls. My bad.
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Two Questions
1) How many dollars-per-second would Harry Reid have to have quoted before y'all would be willing to hold his bloodied feet to the fire on the issue of this war? (Reid cited the cost as $5,000-per-second)
2) How high does the price (by whichever measure you prefer, blood or money) have to climb before you become outraged at Reid's framing of the timing of the funding debate as a political issue? (He said the salient question being discussed is whether to fund the war until after the election or not, thereby deferring any debate until after a new president has been selected.)
It was a more long-winded way of saying it, but what I heard Reid saying was "Death to America", in so many words (and in more ways than one). No wonder he's got Osama's support...