Oh, McCain.....You've done it again!!!
Posted on 09/11/2013 1:08:47 PM PDT by markomalley
A little taste of what might have been during a McCain presidency.
The senior Republican acknowledged the decision would be a difficult one, but he said he did not think members of his own party would try to remove President Obama from office if he acted in the vital national interest.
“They’re not going to impeach the president. They’re not that crazy,” he told reporters after the event…
“I think that, one, that the president of the United States should go back, if this fails, this Russian initiative, and convince the American people again,” McCain said. “Then I think the president has to decide what’s in our vital national interest.”
“If he launched an attack on Syria without the endorsement of Congress, it would be vastly more complicated if Congress had already acted. If he acted without the agreement of Congress, you could make the argument before the resolution was passed … that he is acting as other president have.”
Didn’t McCain himself disingenuously endorse impeachment if Obama decided to put boots on the ground in Syria? If he’s willing to impeach over using ground troops, which might be a logical strategic step if the U.S. launches an attack and then things escalate, why is it crazy to impeach him for defying the will of Congress and the public to launch the war in the first place?
I went to the Journal’s website to look for video of what he said but couldn’t find the bit quoted above. What I did find is Maverick saying that O either should have bombed Assad straightaway or sought approval from Congress without first stating that he’d decided as commander-in-chief that a strike was necessary. He’s quick to note, though, that presidents, among them Ronald Reagan, have been bombing first and seeking approval later for ages with little objection from Republicans. That’s his (obligatory) jab at Rand Paul, of course, which conveniently sidesteps the question of whether there should have been objection in previous cases. Presumably, by McCain’s logic, Republicans are bound to sign off on waterboarding if Obama brings it back because they’ve supported it before, after all. He also notes that the War Powers Act authorizes the president to bomb without permission for a short time before coming to Congress for authorization. That’s true — if there’s “a national emergency created by attack upon the United States.” Otherwise, per the Act, there needs to be a declaration of war or an AUMF. If McCain thinks the Act is unconstitutional because it steps on the president’s Article II prerogatives as commander-in-chief, that’s fine, but then I don’t know why he thinks it was okay for O to come to Congress before an attack. Effectively, he wants the president to decide when the country goes to war. You would think that institutional pride, if nothing else, would push a guy who’s been in the Senate for nearly 30 years to not want the chamber reduced to the level of a rubber stamp whose disapproval can be ignored if need be. But here we are.
Naturally, his sidekick Lindsey Graham is gung ho for this idea too:
LINDSEY GRAHAM: You know, there’s probably a reason 225 times presidents didn’t come to Congress. I don’t know if I’d come to talk with us. Quite frankly. The president has mismanaged this from day one about what we’re trying to do, the goals we’re trying to achieve. I think he made an unbelievably compelling case that we need to act here and compare that to the unbelievably small response we’re going to give.
So at the end of the day, if I were the president I would act after this speech if diplomacy fell apart and I wouldn’t come back to Congress.
JESSICA YELLIN: Do you think he –
GRAHAM: Because if he does his credibility as a world leader is completely shot. You can’t address the world and talk to your enemies and your friends in the tone he did and do nothing.
McCain also revealed that he’s having dinner tonight with Ted Cruz(!). Oh, and he dismissed Russia’s proposal on Syria, which has now been written up and is in U.S. hands, as a stalling tactic. Which, unfortunately, is true.
Dick....
He gets work every single day. What next? Maybe he thinks zero should declare himself king for life?
India has people that have been killing women over dowries, maybe we should bomb them too McLame?
How about in France and England where Muslims are protesting? Should we bomb them too McLame?
Where in the world does it end?
Further proof of how law-abiding the right wing and gun-owners are: Juan McCain is still breathing.
“One of America’s ‘vital national interests’ should be to rid our politics of idiots like John McCain.”
McCain; For God’s sake, “BOMB SOMEBODY!!!!!!!!”
I’ve got a proposal. I’ll agree to a regime change if we can replace Assad with McCain. That way he can have a war for the rest of his life and he will be an ally to the communist. We win and he wins.
I should have been a diplomat.
The ONLY thing I would give Obongo approval to “Bomb”are the”Same-Sex Senators”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
McLoser loves to lob bombs. He’s a hot head.
Thank You!
Don’t these two yahoos realize it’s over with Syria? Obama was totally played by Putin and we are going to do nothing.
Frankly, reading McCain’s statement, I think his senility is becoming worse
Maybe McJohn should go ahead and @#%*(&^_(*#@!
Raise your hand if you’re ashamed to have your vote for Palin in ‘08 be connected to him. Whatever will my grandkids think of me...
Can’t believe no one likes my proposal. Free Republic, where dreams are cruched
Oh, McCain.....You've done it again!!!
To think that he replaced Barry Goldwater, a true statesman.
“You know, there’s probably a reason 225 times presidents didn’t come to Congress. I don’t know if I’d come to talk with us.”
Good stuff. The patriots in South Carolina are using quotes like this from Linda Gramnesty to drive his approval rating down.
In a bit over a year, various radio ads in SC have driven Graham’s approval rating down from 71% to 42%, according to the most recent poll. It’s becoming very likely that Graham will not be in the senate after the 2014 election.
McCain and Bohner too might be the greediest SOBs in all of government.
They might be worse liars and scam artists than Reid.
Let Obama and McCain go to war against the will of the people and watch the fall out of that maneuver when the people have made it clear they have had enough.
I think Obama should resort to Drone Strikes....on McCain... However ,since McCain is his best friend with benefits , I truly doubt this will ever happen.
shut up Juan; please go some where and off your self quietly, and take Gramnesty with you.
We would be immediately convicted of WAR CRIMES by the UN at the Hague.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.