A New "King George"

The Nation: President Bush's Handling Of The War Recalls Warnings From Founding Fathers

(The Nation)  This column was written by Robert Scheer.

---

George W. Bush is the imperial president that James Madison and other founders of this great republic warned us about. He lied the nation into precisely the "foreign entanglements" that George Washington feared would destroy the experiment in representative government, and he has championed a spurious notion of security over individual liberty, thus eschewing the alarms of Thomas Jefferson as to the deprivation of the inalienable rights of free citizens. But most important, he has used the sledgehammer of war to obliterate the separation of powers that James Madison enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

With the "war on terror," Bush has asserted the right of the president to wage war anywhere and for any length of time, at his whim, because the "terrorists" will always provide a convenient shadowy target. Just the "continual warfare" that Madison warned of in justifying the primary role of Congress in initiating and continuing to finance a war — the very issue now at stake in Bush's battle with Congress.

In his Political Observations, written years before he served as fourth president of the United States, Madison went on to underscore the dangers of an imperial presidency bloated by war fever. "In war," Madison wrote in 1795, at a time when the young republic still faced its share of dangerous enemies, "the discretionary power of the Executive is extended ... and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force, of the people."

How remarkably prescient of Madison to anticipate the specter of our current King George imperiously undermining Congress' attempts to end the Iraq war. When the prime author of the U.S. Constitution explained why that document grants Congress — not the president — the exclusive power to declare and fund wars, Madison wrote, "A delegation of such powers [to the president] would have struck, not only at the fabric of our Constitution, but at the foundation of all well organized and well checked governments."

Because "[n]o nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare," Madison urged that the constitutional separation of powers he had codified be respected. "The Constitution expressly and exclusively vests in the Legislature the power of declaring a state of war...the power of raising armies," he wrote. "The separation of the power of raising armies from the power of commanding them is intended to prevent the raising of armies for the sake of commanding them."

That last sentence perfectly describes the threat of what President Dwight Eisenhower, 165 years later, would describe as the " military-industrial complex," a permanent war economy feeding off a permanent state of insecurity. The collapse of the Soviet Union deprived the military profiteers and their handsomely-rewarded cheerleaders in the government of a raison d'être for the massive war economy supposedly created in response to it. Fortunately for them, Bush found in the 9/11 attack an excuse to make war even more profitable and longer-lasting. The Iraq War, which the president's 9/11 Commission concluded never had anything to do with the terrorist assault, nonetheless has transferred many hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars into the military economy. And when Congress seeks to exercise its power to control the budget, this president asserts that this will not govern his conduct of the war.

There never was a congressional declaration of war to cover the invasion of Iraq. Instead, President Bush acted under his claimed power as commander in chief, which the Supreme Court has held does allow him to respond to a "state of war" against the United States. That proviso was clearly a reference to surprise attacks or sudden emergencies.

The problem is that the "state of war" in question here was an al Qaeda attack on the U.S. that had nothing whatsoever to do with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Perhaps to spare Congress the embarrassment of formally declaring war against a nation that had not attacked America, Bush settled for a loosely worded resolution supporting his use of military power if Iraq failed to comply with U.N. mandates. This was justified by the White House as a means of strengthening the United Nations in holding Iraq accountable for its WMD arsenal, but as most of the world looked on in dismay, Bush invaded Iraq after U.N. inspectors on the ground discovered that Iraq had no WMD.

Bush betrayed Congress, which in turn betrayed the American people — just as Madison feared when he wrote: "Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it compromises and develops the germ of every other."

[jswilliams451]

There's not much more I can add to what this fellow is saying. Maybe "Bullseye"?

I will add this, however.

We now have a President that was not elected by The People's popular vote the first time. And bullied and played on the fears of The People to get elected for a second.

Not a shock that such a man would embrace perpetual war to maintain power.

[doctor--o]

Imperial - yes.
Anti Democratic - yes
Anti 'American values' - yes

It will always be easy to rally a certain segment (not small enough) of the population to war - endlessly.

The Bush administration's behavior is completely consistent with contemporary Republican thinking. That's the even bigger problem.

[r9119111]

Thank you, Robert, for telling it like it is. We need more of this kind of honesty in America. I'm forwarding this to everyone.

[katg21]

Total ***

[adian1-2009]

This article is a gem. Eduardo Galeano, the world-wide respected Uruguayan journalist-writer, usually calls Bush "The President of the World". If you are able to read and understand Spanish, just go on-line, introduce "escritos de eduardo galeano" and you will be able to choose among multiple sources regarding Mr. Galeano's articles, essays, etc. This column could have been written by Mr. Galeano. Warning: Galeano is against globalization of hunger, deprivation of rights of the peoples of the world, reduction of rights of the people to less than what Athens had in its culprit of democracy (only one out of ten had rights, which Mr. Galeano finds quite generous from Athenian democracy when we compare it with our modern American and Western democracies), is in favor of Rigoberta Menchu's Nobel Prize and questions if the Nobel Prize deserves a Ms. Menchu when that same institution gave that same Nobel Prize to Henry Kissinger, etc., etc. If you do not mind Mr. Galeano's strong invitation to re-think about what has been going on regarding the war economy and related matters, go read him.

[r9119111]

Go To this Web Site:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm (copy and paste in the Web box)

Look at the signers of this document. Do any of them sound familiar?

America has been experiencing a cabal. For your convenience, here is a definition:

ca7bal

ca7bal [k%u0259 bal]
n (plural ca7bals)
1. group of plotters: a group of conspirators or plotters, particularly one formed for political purposes
2. secret plot: a secret plot or conspiracy, especially a political one
3. clique: an exclusive group of people


vi (past ca7balled, past participle ca7balled, present participle ca7bal7ling, 3rd person present singular ca7bals)
conspire as group: to form a group and plot together against somebody or something.

There never has been an exit strategy, because this bunch never intends to leave Iraq. The perpetrators of this cabal have taken over control of our government. Our military is being used to fight for their agenda. This is the reason for all of the secrecy in Washington and these strange executive powers we are experiencing. If this bunch gets away with it, a new precedent will be set so that America will never be the same as it has been in the past. Al Qaeda is their excuse to control power.

My personal guess is that before long something disastrous is going to happen that they will feel justified to impose martial law based on NSPD51, a white house presidential directive made public in May, 2007.

[jebs5]

There are people who would pay $20.00 to kiss King George's butt
at the intersection of First and Main at high noon. These are the
folks who dote on O'Really? on the Fixed Noise Channel and all of his cohorts and would believe them if they said 'The Sky is Falling'.
So, W never lied, Cheney is a prince of a man and all the rest of the gang are wunnerful, clear thinking, absolutely righteous people.
There's very little hope of changing the thinking of this kind of
unquestioning, gullible, moronic entity so you can rail at them 'til the cows come home and it won't make any impression at all.
After all, Right is Right and wazzamadayu that you don't get it?

[formrusmcsgt]

This was justified by the White House as a means of strengthening the United Nations in holding Iraq accountable for its WMD arsenal, but as most of the world looked on in dismay, Bush invaded Iraq after U.N. inspectors on the ground discovered that Iraq had no WMD.
----

The UN is responsible for imposing and enforcing it's resolutions, not any individual member nation.

We, as a country, should be ashamed that Bush/Cheney/Rice/Wolfowicz/Rumsfeld were able to seduce the minds of up to 72% of the citizens of this country with pure fabrication, self-righteousness, xenophobia, and paranoia. There is hope for us, however, in the fact that that percentage is now down to 30% and dropping.

This bunch which has prostituted the truth for idoelogical gain will soon be gone but the damage inflicted by them will be with us for decades.

And we deserve to suffer those consequences for allowing ourselves to have our baser instincts successfully employed against us.

From my perspective, America is a country with no shortage of paranoids who love to hate and are willing to employ emotion over reason.

Time will tell if we have truly learned the lesson of the dangers of electing and supporting megalomaniacal leaders.

[gkc99]

WAR IS PEACE. SLAVERY IS FREEDOM. BUSHIT IS PRESIDENT.

[afmca]

Some of the simplest truths are shown in this article. One is that modern Republicans, led by Bush/Cheney, don't really believe in either Democracy or the Constitution. True Republicans have always gravitated towards a monarchy. They like the idea of a permanent upper class with unquestioned privileges, access to wealth and power, and answerable only to those of the same class. Like Saudi Arabia, whom the Bushes hold in high esteem, they do not fear the morality police that they hypocritically allow to set social norms because they are exempt from their rules. The middle class is the true enemy of Republicans. They demand a lifestyle that takes wealth away from them. They like a caste system of two classes. Their elite class and the poor meant to serve or be imprisoned. Both Reagan and Bush have served the interest of the super wealthy and corporations. Reagan slickly made greed acceptable and disirable.

Bush thinks he is king like. They have crown prince Jeb waiting in the wings. As much as George the Elder was clueless and George the Younger is ignorant, Jeb the Crusader would be even worse with his evangelistic ferver. They have corrupted religion for their own worldly desires.

Both parties believe that Congress is more like Britain's House of Lords where entry is an entitlement, longevity assured, and right of ascension reserved for hand picked off spring.

[formrusmcsgt]

They have corrupted religion for their own worldly desires.

Posted by afmca at 09:39 AM : Jul 22, 2007

How can a concept that is corrupt from its inception, intellectual enslavement of the masses (cults), be corrupted by someone?

Once you convince someone to believe what they are told - regardless of how bizarre and contrived - instead of being skeptical of fairy tales, you can get them to believe anything.

Bush, et. al. didn't corrupt cultism, they simply employed the "believers" gullibility against them.

[bareemperor]

Finally, someone in the 'mass media' has the b-a-l-l-s to print the truth. If only America would read these words of truth.

[formrusmcsgt]

Finally, someone in the 'mass media' has the b-a-l-l-s to print the truth. If only America would read these words of truth.
Posted by BareEmperor at 10:07 AM : Jul 22, 2007

Unfortunately, those who would most benefit from the message will be the last to accept that such is the case.

[hawksprings]

Good grief. Another whiny liberal pantywaist article. "Bush lied!! Bush lied!!"
Well, if he did, so did Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Algore, and a whole supporting cast of other Dembots who were saying the EXACT SAME THING about Hussien, Iraq, and WMDs BEFORE Bush was ever elected.

As for Margie Schoedinger, you can bet your liberal skinny buttt that all the Dan Rather and Woodward & Bernstein-wannabees would have been all over this if there was ANY truth to it, especially as Bush's poll numbers fell. Most likely this lady's story has more holes in it than a New Orleans levy.

...

[formrusmcsgt]

Good grief. Another whiny liberal pantywaist article. "Bush lied!! Bush lied!!"
Well, if he did, so did Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Algore, and a whole supporting cast of other Dembots who were saying the EXACT SAME THING about Hussien, Iraq, and WMDs BEFORE Bush was ever elected.

As for Margie Schoedinger, you can bet your liberal skinny buttt that all the Dan Rather and Woodward & Bernstein-wannabees would have been all over this if there was ANY truth to it, especially as Bush's poll numbers fell. Most likely this lady's story has more holes in it than a New Orleans levy.

...
Posted by hawksprings at 10:16 AM : Jul 22, 2007

I rest my case, BareEmperor.

[pared1]

Bush lies? Whoa....who woulda thunk it?
*LMAO*

[knyghtwolf]

Hmmm, I would consider the head bushie more like "satan sent", everyone knows that a narrow-minded christian is the devil's best soldier, and bushit is the GENERAL in that army, with D I C K cheney licking up his behind.

[sasi1-2009]

No surprises here. The vast majority of American voters have already realized just what Bush has pulled. He does think he's emperor and king all rolled into one. He does think our laws are not for him, and that he has power to over ride any law. He has consistently lied to us, and continues to do so. He professes to be a Christian, and lives like a communist distator. He is the worst president in the history of this country, and has done more to destroy us than any other president.

[naber1961]

this is one of the best articles I have read and our "King" needs to heed it. But he is such a bully and with his brain cut out in his recently colonoscopy, there is no hope of that!

[walt1944-2009]

Back in 1999, there was a lot of apprehension about the coming 1000 years that the antichrist was coming and the world would come to an end.

Ironically, the antichrist was placed into office that year (he wasn't voted in, the neocon Supreme Court put him in, remember? Gore really won the election!) and no one knew it!

And the world is coming to an end, the world we know as the United States!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!

[formrusmcsgt]

this is one of the best articles I have read and our "King" needs to heed it. But he is such a bully and with his brain cut out in his recently colonoscopy, there is no hope of that!
Posted by naber1961 at 10:51 AM : Jul 22, 2007

That colonoscopy must have been very difficult to perform considering Bush's acute case of cranial-rectal insertion, don't you think?

[jetranger7]

Well, it appears as if little ol' "Hawk-Springs" is a little up set that someone doesn't like the Fraudulent-Corrupt Bush! Whats a Matter Mr.Bush Supporter can't take the heat? Bet your one of the ones that was just jumping up and down on Clinton because he lied, NOW, this Idiot president has Lied more than once on several issues, and thinks he's above the law, and believes he runs the World, and NOW we don't hear you Fraudulent-Corrupt, Whining Cry Baby, Arrogrant, Twisted BS-Artists "Republicans" calling for his Impeachments, like you did when the other was in office, so, We are assuming that is OK for only your Republican Party to Lie, Cheat Steal, and Mislead,and act like a bunch of Arrogrant Azzes, but not ok for others, Your saying that only Republicans are above the Law, and don't have to abide by those standards. Simply put your a pure Arrogrant Moran, like the rest of your party ! IMPEACH THE IDIOT BUSH & CHENEY-NOW !

[mrhoppy-2009]

FYI - George Bush does add up to 666 when you convert using the Hebrew counting system.

Gimel - 3
Heh - 5
Ayin - 70
Resh - 200
Gimel - 3
Heh - 5
Beth - 2
Ayin - 70
Shin - 300
Cheth - 8
Total = 666

The mark of the beast is the real ID system, your finger print or retina scan - (hand or forhead)

Not a Bible thumper myself but the book of Revelations has an uncanny accuracy of what is going on now.

[kaiyo4u]

That colonoscopy must have been very difficult to perform considering Bush's acute case of cranial-rectal insertion, don't you think?
Posted by formrusmcsgt at 10:54 AM : Jul 22, 2007

It more than likely looked like another polyp to be cut out and probably was.


Very good article! It has covered points I have been discussing with friends and associates for a long time. We need to wake up America! We are being sold down the river and it will be an uphill battle to regain what was lost. Don't depend on your sold out Congress. Start discussing this with friends and neighbors. Let's get organized...

[mrhoppy-2009]

Blame Bush all you want but he is powerless without congress empowering him. IMPEACH CONGRESS TOO!

[formrusmcsgt]

Start discussing this with friends and neighbors. Let's get organized...


Posted by kaiyo4u at 11:30 AM : Jul 22, 2007

It's not that difficult. Register as an Independent as I and millions of other have.

When the two major parties see that they are in the minority, we will have a paradigm shift in our politics. Until that happens, we'll continue status quo.

[jack3213]

Somehow, I do not believe that Sudams WMD had nothing to do with terrorism and the USA Attack in 2001. I believe all are related and his move to enter Iraq has to some degree lessened the ability of the AlQueda to come again, temporarily. Wasn't Bin Laden in Iraq before moving to Pakistan? Let the media make Bush seem the worse president today, my gut tells me after many more decades we will thank him. Ok, now you can scream.

[tbweb]

President Bush asserts that he doesn't lead by Polls, but in the modern era Polls are the best way to gauge and determine the Publics will. The only other way is the actual voting itself. Politicians are suppose to be an extension of the people they serve and who put them in power and to allow the people to speak with one voice. The American people should be able to persuade and influence its leadership which includes President Bush. With 70 percent of the American people expressing the will and desire to change course in Iraq, President Bush also asserts God told him to fight the Iraq war and stay the course. I would inform President Bush that he should have made the American people aware that if he won, he would be listening to God first and not the voters on issues, because President Bush represents the American people, the American people put President Bush is office, gave him power, not God (directly).

[formrusmcsgt]

Wasn't Bin Laden in Iraq before moving to Pakistan? Let the media make Bush seem the worse president today, my gut tells me after many more decades we will thank him.

Posted by Jack3213 at 12:01 PM : Jul 22, 2007

History will judge us as an agressor nation that attacked another country that was not a threat for hegemonic drivers. Just as Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and the USSR. That's great company to be keeping historically in your opinion? Give me a break!

Bush will never be looked on by history as anything other than the ideological megalomaniac that he has clearly shown himself to be.

[one_american]

Robert Scheer is a simpleton socialist/communist that over-simplifies everything; he continues to perpetuate the lie that "George Bush lied".

Never has Robert Scheer stopped to question his own abuses of power by being a syndicated columnist, or offer anything but irrational rhetoric against any president that holds national security as a top priority, and has to face tough decisions to protect it.

In other words, Robert Scheer is completely worthless as a columnist, an American, and a human being.

Go soak you fat head, Robert Scheer.

[formrusmcsgt]

With 70 percent of the American people expressing the will and desire to change course in Iraq, President Bush also asserts God told him to fight the Iraq war and stay the course. Posted by tbweb at 12:13 PM : Jul 22, 2007

You know, bin Laden also claims to have a hotline to God....says a lot about how alike these two really are, don't you think?

In addition to their shared "hotline" beliefs, they both promote terrorism. Bin Laden through active resruitment and Bush through incompetent polices that our own 16 intelligence agencies have determined actually increase terrorism rather than deminish it.

[vet_sk]

""Wasn't Bin Laden in Iraq before moving to Pakistan?""

Can anyone else believe how ignorant these Bush folks are? Sorry Jack3213, that was Afghanistan not Iraq. ...To think that Saddam would have let someone like Bin Laden operate in his country.

And then the Bush folks still put just as much blame on Congress. I agree to the point - but the vote was 7 months before the invasion and when his poorly thought out war plans and with Scott Ritter and Hands Blix all over the TV (although being marginalized by the media) were saying there were no WMD, the antiwar folks/troops like me marching before the war - Bush then invaded. It was his final decision.

I just hope when he get out of office the Hague indicts him and he ends up in Hess's old cell at Spandou Prison in Germany. Perhaps the shoe laces will still be haning for the ceiling - all ready for him.

[jt_lancer]

Re: "Let the media make Bush seem the worse president today, my gut tells me after many more decades we will thank him."

Yes, thank President Bush (and a complicit Congress) for increasing annual federal spending by more than 50% during his tenure.

Thank him for the Medicare vote-buying prescription drug benefit scheme for seniors that will further increase the future debt obligation placed on our children and grandchildren.

Thank him for continuing the interventionist nation-building foreign policies established by previous presidents that is making enemies around the world.

Thank him for the federal government's abolition of individual privacy by allowing warrantless wiretaps, mandated govt access to private financial records, the elimination of habeas corpus, etc.

Thank him for the perpetual war machine that is costing taxpayers of the country billions upon billions of dollars with no end in sight.

Congratulations, voters. You got what you deserved.

[jt_lancer]

Re: "Robert Scheer is a simpleton socialist/communist that over-simplifies everything; he continues to perpetuate the lie that 'George Bush lied.'"

I know nothing of Sheer's political leanings, but the points he has presented in this column all ring true. President Bush has performed an endless number of constitutional usurpations during his tenure.

If it were a Dem in office doing the exact same things that Bush has done while in office, those on the right would be howling in protest while making the same points that Sheer makes here.

At the same time, if it were a Dem pres in power doing exactly what Bush has done so far, those on the left would defend 'their' guy to the end, no matter how despicable his actions are.

The American sheeple seem to equate politics with sports - as long as 'their' team wins, it doesn't matter how it is achieved.

The lack of morality when it comes to politics and political action is overwhelming. Why more people don't see this, I have no idea.

[rafterman1]

===Robert Scheer is a simpleton socialist/communist that over-simplifies everything; he continues to perpetuate the lie that "George Bush lied"===

Talk about oversimplify. Anyone who doesn't agree with you is a communist. But the continued denial of the neocons that Bush lies is pathetic. The CIA told Bush that Iraq did not try to buy yellowcake from Niger, but the a$$f*ck used it in the SOTU address anyways to justify war with Iraq. Just one of many Bush lies, but until Bush signs a confession on national TV that he lied, you neocns will continue to live in your fantasy world of the perfection of GWB.

[formrusmcsgt]

Never has Robert Scheer stopped to question his own abuses of power by being a syndicated columnist, or offer anything but irrational rhetoric against any president that holds national security as a top priority, and has to face tough decisions to protect it.

Posted by One_American at 12:15 PM : Jul 22, 2007

Sheer can't be discredited or indicted for pointing out what's plain to see to all except the self-righteous, xenophobes, and paranoids who patently refuse to see the obvious:

That the "Emperor" has no clothes.......

[xzavierbrown]

KING GEORGE?? abuses of power?? okay let say that he is...

WHERE ARE THE OPPOSITION??where are the Democrats??


People like Sheer are the very same people that weakens our war effort, motivates our enemies to step up thier terrorist acts BECAUSE IT WORKS an effective weapon to sway our war policies (look at the overnight DNC propaganda pullout session)and to mention divides the nation

[formrusmcsgt]

People like Sheer are the very same people that weakens our war effort, motivates our enemies to step up thier terrorist acts

Posted by xzavierbrown at 12:54 PM : Jul 22, 2007

Not true. Our own 16 intelligence agencies unanimously agree that these are the causes of increased terrorism (from the 2007 NIE Assessment on Terrirism):

In the declassified excerpts on terrorism, the intelligence community found:

The increased role of Iraqis in managing the operations of al-Qaida in Iraq might lead the terror group's veteran foreign fighters to refocus their efforts outside that country.

While Iran and Syria are the most active state sponsors of terror, many other countries will be unable to prevent their resources from being exploited by terrorists.

The underlying factors fueling the spread of the extremist Muslim movement outweigh its vulnerabilities. These factors are entrenched grievances and a slow pace of reform in home countries, rising anti-U.S. sentiment and the Iraq war.

Groups "of all stripes" will increasingly use the Internet to communicate, train, recruit and obtain support.

[prairiefox1]

Bush has sent out young people to kill and be killed with depraved indifference !
This is a man that should have been removed from office soon after 911!
He is insane with hate and has gotten us in a war which will destroy the United States!
The GAO has stated that Bush and the war has bankrupted the United States!
The damage done is irreparable !

[rafterman1]

===People like Sheer are the very same people that weakens our war effort, motivates our enemies to step up thier terrorist acts BECAUSE IT WORKS an effective weapon to sway our war policies (look at the overnight DNC propaganda pullout session)and to mention divides the nation===

And people like you are the reason 3000+ American soldiers have died needlessly. You can't see what is right in front of your face and you keep the incompetents of this administrartion in power by your constant defending, no matter what the cost. Now that you neocons lost this war you should never have started in the first place, you are setting up to blame it on the Dems. But we aren't going to let you. You neocons lost this war all by yourselves. Studying even a little bit of history would have shown you neocons that this war could never have possibly succeeded. The French and US in Vietnam, the Soviets in Afghanistan, the Israelis in Lebanon - all failures because you can no longer force a political solution on indiginous peoples, especially through military action.

"...weakens our war effort, motivates our enemies to step up thier terrorist acts..."
Posted by xzavierbrown

Exactly how much this 'war' has really been waged on you? It took 20 of their most radical over a dozen years to knock down two of your buildings; and now the whole of the Muslim world is supposed to feel your wrath? Get a grip - you just want cheap oil/goods.

[ioweign]

One_American and xzavierbrown:

First Amendment

* Freedom of religion, speech, press, and peaceable assembly as well as the right to petition the government.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

You are not being FORCED to read the article or would you feel better if it was written in German!

[irishpm2]

This article is a real knee slapper. A new "King George"? I'd like Bob Sheer to come up with a few examples of someone (name them please!) in the US who has had their "constitutional rights" trampled on. I'd also like him to explain, for a matter of record, just exactly what Bill Clinton did to deter or answer for attack on or soil (WTC 1993), Khobar towers, USS Cole, etc.
Tongue tied? Thought so. You can spin the war in Iraq any way you wish but the fact of the matter is that we now have a President in office that took the fight to the enemy whether you like it or not.
With your twisted logic, you probably think that it was wrong for America to land in Normandy to wipe the Nazis out simply because they "didn't attack America". History has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was the right thing to do just like history is going to prove President Bush did the right thing by liberating 50 million people in two countries that were slaughtering their own people.
Your hatred for George Bush is something you need come to grips with (2000 election)and move on.

[greybeardvet]

Wonderful article by Robert Scheer. His ability to juxtapose the thoughts of our Founding Fathers against the criminality of Bush is devastating. This is the kind of wise historical analysis that is needed to help Americans see how they have been conned by the Republican right-wing.

[formrusmcsgt]

You can spin the war in Iraq any way you wish but the fact of the matter is that we now have a President in office that took the fight to the enemy whether you like it or not.

Posted by IrishPM2 at 01:46 PM : Jul 22, 2007

How about listing some of these attacks on America by Iraq that made them our "enemy", IrishPM2?

Merriam-Webster defines "enemy" as:

a military adversary

Just how was Hussein our military adversary?

[junogoose]

"Robert Scheer is a simpleton socialist/communist that over-simplifies everything; he continues to perpetuate the lie that "George Bush lied".

...or offer anything but irrational rhetoric against any president that holds national security as a top priority, and has to face tough decisions to protect it."

Posted by One_American at 12:15 PM : Jul 22, 2007

The degree of irony and delusion here is bar none. For those who soak up propaganda not unlike religious dogma, the truth is a threat to your feeble minds. My only solace is that you're in the minority.

[xzavierbrown]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

*******

Posted by IOWEIGN at 01:14 PM : Jul 22, 2007
+ report abuse

and what religion was established??are you NOW required by law to abide to a religion??freedom of speech??WELL ASK JOHN KERRY REGARDING THAT..HE HAS A S0LUTION TO SOLVE THE DISAPPORPIRATE BALANCE BETWEEN LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE MEDIA SOURCES. Oh yeah i love this one..Did you know I cant say F AG or ni gger but I can say cracker. ***** and who should i thank for that..I do not agree with those words BUT A CLEAR VIOLATION OF YOUR OWWWWWWN RULES. there is a difference between assembly and a riot..I am sure you are refering to sheehan..well guess what sheehan is doing these days..

do you really want to experience those violations??go to iran.

[formrusmcsgt]

Wonderful article by Robert Scheer. His ability to juxtapose the thoughts of our Founding Fathers against the criminality of Bush is devastating. This is the kind of wise historical analysis that is needed to help Americans see how they have been conned by the Republican right-wing.


Posted by greybeardvet at 02:06 PM : Jul 22, 2007

Agreed, however, those who could most benefit from the comparison are the least likely to see it for what it is.

To the rest of us, it's just preaching to the choir, eh?

[BlueInWI]

Brilliant piece and right on target.

Also, whenever you hear some Christofascist claim our founding fathers were devout Christians, inform them that they are lying and point out that when Ben Franklin, as a deist but not a fully faithful Christian in his own mind, asked the Constitutional Congress to say a prayer for divine guidance the Congress REFUSED!!

Why, because even though many were Christian, or at least Universalist in their faith they abhorred mixing religion with state. Just look at the history of disasters related to religion or religious persecution mixing with government. Palestine, Israel, Nazi Germany, Iran, Afghanistan, England at the time of the Revolution, Nazi Germany, and etc. etc. etc.

Should be obvious that our founding fathers, liberal humanists most all of them, were right on target.

By the way, I am a practicing Christian that is very comfortable in the fact that when I meet my maker I can proudly say I never supported King GW Bush.

[formrusmcsgt]

Also, whenever you hear some Christofascist claim our founding fathers were devout Christians, inform them that they are lying and point out that when Ben Franklin, as a deist but not a fully faithful Christian in his own mind, asked the Constitutional Congress to say a prayer for divine guidance the Congress REFUSED!!
Posted by bflong at 02:19 PM : Jul 22, 2007

You might also ask them while you're at it why it is, if our founding fathers intended for America to be a "Christian nation" as the contend, that there is not a single mention of God in the US Constitution.

Says it all......