Joe Lieberman makes a stunning rebuke of the President and his policies paying special interest to the proven flawed Iraq war.
Lieberman takes calculated aim at this administrations unconstitutional detainment, the Office of the Vice President declaring itself outside of the law, replacing competent prosecutors with political ideologues, torture, Bill of Rights violating wiretaps, and most importantly the dangerous declaration that the administration has made that the President is no longer a servant of the republic but a limited term dictator. When he found out that the prewar evidence was completely false, the planning was 100% wrong and run by incompetents, the majority of Americans want out, and realizing that there is no good outcome to the war Joe finally directed his outrage towards those that brought us here and called for accountability when he saw the long term destruction of American government this administration is wrought.
We must recognize that, while the decisions we are making today and we are about to make seem irretrievably bound up in the immediacy of the moment and the particular people now holding positions of power in our government, these decisions will set constitutional precedents that will go far beyond this moment and these people....If we do not act thoughtfully in the weeks and months ahead, we will create precedents that future Congresses, future Presidents, and future generations of Americans will regret.
Surprisingly, he calls on the President to rethink any rash action this administration is thinking on taking in Iran as well as reexamining the proposed troop increase in Iraq. Lieberman, in no uncertain terms, outlines the powers given to the Congress to stop the executive branch from being so powerful. While he does not say it explicitly, Lieberman reminds the President that Bush does not have the support of the people and that the Congress will have to take appropriate measure to stop any more terrible policies from being implemented.
Congress has been given constitutional responsibilities...The appropriation of funds for war is (one of them).... This institution is deeply divided...that is the reality of the moment.
Instead of berating Democrats for doing their elected duty, Lieberman goes after the Executive branch, calling for them to work with Democrats by listening and implementing their resolutions since nothing the administration has done in Iraq has worked out. He warns the administration, that this dangerous confrontation that the fringe section of the minority party is keen on pursuing against the elected majority, will have devastating effects in what he calls a Constitutional Crisis. He cites the repeated steps taken by this administration to subvert the Constitution as a main aggravating force of this crisis. No longer hypnotized by this administration's arrogance, Senator Lieberman realizes that we are in this together and need to figure out a solution together rather than depending solely on incompetents who dug us into this hole to dig us out.
It is in no one’s interest to stumble into a debilitating confrontation between our two great branches of government...The potential for a constitutional crisis here and now is real, with congressional interventions, presidential vetoes, and Supreme Court decisions....We need to step back from the brink and reason together...about how we will proceed...We should not allow our divisions to lead us to a constitutional crisis in which no one wins and our national security is greatly damaged...We should vigorously debate and deliberate. That is not only our right, it is our responsibility.
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updated for clarity: Lieberman made those remarks in a speech, however the remarks were not meant to criticize the administration but rather those in Congress who question the administration. His rhetoric is so weak and vague that it can be misread very easily - a telltale sign of a baseless argument. The positions I attributed to him in the previous paragraphs are not his positions. I was having fun pretending that Joe Lieberman actually backed the Democratic party and decided to stop supporting Bush and the Republicans. Back to reality...
Those are all quotes from a speech Lieberman made concerning the debate about the non-binding anti-surge resolution. They are all legitimate concerns about problems with this administration and the detrimental long-term effect their policies will have on the future of this government....if he made that speech against Bush. The speech, however, was a concern troll attempt to berate Democrats who want to do a minutiae of what the public voted them into office to do, specifically get us out of this ongoing catastrophe that we are causing in Iraq.
Instead of blaming the people who got us into this mess, assured us of how easy and inexpensive the war would be, and continually lie about the state of the war, Lieberman blames those who understand the reality of the situation for wanting to divide the country. He blames those who are doing their elected duty, those that actually represent their people, those that care about accountability for standing up to a man who has declared himself an eight year dictator. Joe doesn't go so far as blaming the questioning Senators for the state of the war, but he seems to rest his argument next door. Rather thanacknowledging that the administration in office right now has operated an un-American government under our flag for the last six years while claiming to follow the Constitution with their perverse interpretations, he accuses Congress of attempting to unravel the government. For debating and voting on a non-binding resolution. A non-binding resolution which will change nothing. This is what concerns Senator Lieberman, not the many extra-Constitutional missteps the President has taken.
This non-binding measure before us is a first step toward a constitutional crisis that we can and must avoid. Let me explain what I mean by a constitutional crisis. Let us be clear about the likely consequences if we go down this path beyond this non-binding resolution. Congress has been given constitutional responsibilities. But the micro-management of war is not one of them. The appropriation of funds for war is. I appreciate that each of us here has our own ideas about the best way forward in Iraq, I respect those that take a different position than I, and I understand that many feel strongly that the President’s strategy is the wrong one. But the Constitution, which has served us now for more than two great centuries of our history, creates not 535 commanders-in-chief, but one—the President of the United States, who is authorized to lead the day to day conduct of war. Whatever our opinion of this war or its conduct, it is in no one’s interest to stumble into a debilitating confrontation between our two great branches of government over war powers.
His version of his "great branch of government" is a merely symbolic committee whose function is to legitimize the Presidential orders by agreeing with everything to give the government the illusion of representing the people. Along these lines, he whips out another phrase that he and this administration has perverted: bipartisan. This doesn't mean that Republicans should compromise or listen to Democrats but that Democrats, the majority party, should go along with everything the Republicans want despite what recent election results say. Has Joe ever asked Republicans to listen to Democrats or called for them to reach across the aisle? His neutral language suggests this is an open statement for everyone but since it is directed on a Democratic resolution, the implications are very clear.
If there was ever a moment for nonpartisan cooperation to agree on a process that will respect both our personal opinions about this war and our nation’s interests over the long term, this is it...let us not just shout at one another, but let us reach out to one another to find that measure of unity that can look beyond today’s disagreements and secure the nation’s future and the future of all who will follow us as Americans.
And why does Senator Joe Lieberman say this? Because he live in a delusional world completely divorced from reality represented by the following inaccuracies, distortions, lies, and confusing bits pulled from his speech.
Our troops have begun to take Baghdad back step-by-step
Right now, as the battle for Baghdad begins
We are just beginning? What have we been doing this whole time?
We are engaged, as all my colleagues know, in a larger war against a totalitarian enemy – Islamist extremism and terrorism – that seeks to vanquish all of the democratic values that it is our national purpose to protect and defend.
The mish-mashed jumble of terrorist, Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Baathists, Osama, Saddam, and Islam is astonishing. Also, it is always interesting how democracy is always invoked by people that wish to crush the democratic process.
A critical battle is being waged in Baghdad, as we face a brutal enemy who attacked us on 9/11 and wants to do it again.
IRAQ HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11!!!
sigh I give up.