The Constitution hasn’t changed; have Republicans?

January 30, 2007

It’s a familiar scene: an unpopular war, talk of a quagmire, a debate about what role, if any, Congress has in shaping military policy and/or checking the president’s management of the conflict. Of course, it’s not Iraq in 2007; it’s Somalia in 1993.

Glenn Greenwald did the political world a huge favor and reviewed the opinions of Republican lawmakers when it was a Democratic president and a conflict they disagreed with.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for example, on Oct. 19, 1993, argued that Congress had the power to force Clinton to begin an “immediate, orderly withdrawal from Somalia.” He added, “[I]f we do not do that and other Americans die, other Americans are wounded, other Americans are captured because we stay too long — longer than necessary — then I would say that the responsibilities for that lie with the Congress of the United States who did not exercise their authority under the Constitution of the United States.”

If a Senate Democrat used the exact same words today, McCain and his colleagues would label him or her a cut-and-run defeatist who fails to understand that these powers rest with the Commander in Chief, not Congress.

Of course, it wasn’t just McCain. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) said Congress should “force the administration to find a way out of the quagmire.” Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho) said it was up to the Senate “to get the American troops home.” Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) said, “It is time to retreat now…. It is time to leave and for this body, it is time to debate this issue.” Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) said, “I cannot continue to support … the continuing endangerment of Americans in the service of a policy that remains absolutely mysterious and totally muddled.”

What about what the message these comments sent to American enemies around the world?

How did these GOP lawmakers think troops in the field would react? What about potential rivals, watching lawmakers, seeing if they have the stomach to see a mission through to the end? What about the notion that military policy can’t be shaped by committee; it rests solely with the leader in the Oval Office?

Please. The Republican view of war powers seems entirely dependent on which party the president belongs to. In 1993, Congress had every right, in their eyes, to force the president’s hand and get U.S. troops out of an unpopular conflict. In 2007, Congress shouldn’t even debate a non-binding resolution, for fear that it might embolden U.S. enemies.

The Constitution hasn’t changed, the law hasn’t changed, so why is it the Republican view of congressional powers and responsibilities has changed? (The first Republican to say this is “pre-9/11 thinking” permanently loses all credibility.)

Something to keep in mind when debate begins in the Senate on a resolution opposing escalation. If the GOP wants to argue the merits of escalating the conflict in Iraq, terrific; let’s have the debate. But the moment you hear someone argue that Congress has no power over the president in matters of war, and that the very idea of congressional criticism of a conflict while troops are in harm’s way is inherently dangerous, remember that some of these same people were arguing the opposite not too long ago.

CB – i hope when the arguments begin, that some democrat will pull out glenn’s column and start reading it out loud. and start with the mccain quote cause he’s the noisiest right now.

  • They are like a girl I used to go out with, everything she did was righteous and done to perfection, when I did the same stuff, I got, “that’s different”.

    It was pathetic, and of course this war is different, but the underlying principles are the same, but I was and we are not dealing with logic, just judgmental sociopaths who are never wrong.

  • Well that kind of judgement is pretty common. I find myself excusing acts by Dems that I would have howled at Republicant for. But this is a matter of life and death literally and their hypocrisy is killing people.

    Often scenes of the Clinton Impeachment years flash into my mind and it amazes me the pettiness of the Republicants then and now.

    McCaint the Republicant

  • Actually, Captain, I think this should be the lead item on McChameleonMan’s “Oh-shit-I’ve-been-shot-down-again” list….

  • No, Steve. Republicans *never* change. It’s always okay if you’re a Republican, and it’s *never* okay if you’re a Democrat. IOKIYAR. Period.

    They have no rules, no principles, no vision, except for an unshakable conviction that they are always right, and should be in power.

  • No, Republicans will never change. They’ve been simple minded hypocrites since 1854. The only thing they hate more than Social Security is that pesky Constitution that keeps biting them in the ass from time to time.

  • Similiar to just bill’s idea:

    Is there a *recording* of that McCain’s quote? It would be nice if someone played it in the Senate, cold, without saying which war and which president he was talking about. Then let him protest

  • Funny, I was thinking about this last night. Were it a Democratic president pushing this insane policy, the right-wingers would be screaming at the top of their lungs that it was unconscionable to sacrifice Americans to stop Muslims from killing each other. (This is exactly how they’d put it.)

    Of course, a Democratic president wouldn’t be on this course; his/her constituents never would have let it get to this point.

    With a very few exceptions–and that number is sadly shrinking–these bastards put party over country every.single.time.

  • Scott @ #2:

    Well, you know, God totally hates it when dudes have sex with other dudes. It totally squicks him out, or something. =)

  • They’re just as hypocritical on the subject of senate filibusters. If that ever arises again, here’s a useful quote: “Don’t pontificate on the floor of the Senate and tell me that somehow I am violating the Constitution of the United States of America by blocking a judge or filibustering a judge that I don’t think deserves to be on the circuit court … . That is my responsibility. That is my advice and consent role, and I intend to exercise it.”

    Robert Smith, (R) New Hampshire, 1999

  • Video clips quoting Republican politicians such as Senator John McCain concerning the constitutionally mandated powers of Congress for checks and balances and oversight over presidential actions–while a Democratic president was in power–should not only be used now by current Democratic politicians in Congress, but, also, by the Democratic Party in ads during the coming 2008 presidential and congressional campaigns.

    Such hypocrisy should be duly noted and publicized so that the American voting public would be aware of such duplicity and vote accordingly.

  • Remember, CB, you are dealing with a party that tried to amend the Constitution by banning gay marriage and prohibiting flag-burning.

    This is the party, that when confronted with an erosion of its popularity, set about debasing the Constitution, by trying to use it as a vehicle for limiting Americans’ rights and freedoms, instead of reinforcing them.

    This is the party that supports an President with an AG who does not believe the writ of habeus corpus is enshrined in the Constitution.

    This is the party that will not confront a President who does not recognize the Constitutional prohibition on unlawful search and seizure.

    And now they are arguing that the Congress’ powers in respect of war, as set out in the Constitution, don’t exist.

    Be mad, be indignant, be scathing in your criticism. But don’t be surprised. The Republican Party – which my family routinely supported through the last century, but now, bar a few dickwad in-laws, votes against – is a broken institution. It is the party shaped by the likes of Rove and Falwell, which empowers greedhead fascists like Cheney and Rumsfeld, which venerates pre-pubescent born-again clowns like Bush, and which tolerates imbecile enablers like Rice and Gonzales.

    They hate every American institution that keeps authority in check, which ultimately means they hate the American people themselves. The lying, cheating and stealing is but a symptom of the malady. The true disease is the delusional mindset of these midgets.

    When you live in denial of your heritage, in ignorance of your most valuable traditions, you live in hatred of yourself, and you live in fear those who speak the truth. The GOP is nowhere near rock bottom. And given this the plain truth, the brainless faithful will hate you for pointing this out.

  • CB – but this is their war and Somalia’s was Clintons. Therein lines the reasons for the hipocrisy.

  • OT I have a large Bose Acoustic Wave, had it for 7? years, cleaned the pickup & lower disc several times with very cool results . had a big prob tonite, cleaned both of those & still had big probs….3/4 of my discs wouldnt play…DUH clean the top pad too! Sounds as sweet as it should now

  • Once again, where are the main media outlets, in both print and on-air, with this? To me it would seem like a no-brainer, as well as a requirement or responsibility, to report these blatant contrasts or flip-flops, and to pose the question to each politician who took a contrarian view back in 1993. Our media never ceases to fail us.

  • “What Makes Obama Run?” December 8, 1995, Chicago Reader. The article was printed at the time Barack Obama was first running for state senate in Illinois:

    “The right wing, the Christian right, has done a good job of building these organizations of accountability, much better than the left or progressive forces have. But it’s always easier to organize around intolerance, narrow-mindedness, and false nostalgia. And they also have hijacked the higher moral ground with this language of family values and moral responsibility.”

    “Now we have to take this same language–these same values that are encouraged within our families–of looking out for one another, of sharing, of sacrificing for each other–and apply them to a larger society. Let’s talk about creating a society, not just individual families, based on these values. Right now we have a society that talks about the irresponsibility of teens getting pregnant, not the irresponsibility of a society that fails to educate them to aspire for more.”

    /taken from ‘Tapped’ this morning. But it’s clear as to who and what these people are.

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