War Is Heck
Exhibit A, Andrew Sullivan re Dick Cheney on presidential war powers:
One thing you have to concede to Dick Cheney. He says what he thinks. And so we get this:
WALLACE: This is at the core of the controversies that I want to get to with you in a moment. If the president during war decides to do something to protect the country, is it legal?
CHENEY: General proposition, I’d say yes. You need to be more specific than that. I mean — but clearly, when you take the oath of office on January 20th of 2001, as we did, you take the oath to support and defend and protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
The irony seems lost on him. How can the suspension of all laws into the power of the executive branch in wartime be seen as a defense or protection of the Constitution? Perhaps for a brief amount of time in a dire emergency, after which there would be a thorough accounting to the Congress and the Courts. But indefinitely? As inherent in the office? And with jurisdiction over the entire United States as well as the world? With “enemy combatants” defined as anyone the president calls an “enemy combatant” and no distinction between citizen and non-citizen? Including the right to torture? Indefinitely?
Breathless histrionics his. Whatever alternative United States Sullivan has dwelt in for the last seven years, sounds like it’s been a living heck. All laws suspended indefinitely. Enemy combatant labels slapped on everyone, everyone tortured … indefinitely.
In the United States I’ve been living in, the president very politely sought and received authorization from Congress to run this nation’s wars; asked for and received billions of dollars in multiple appropriations from Congress to finance this nation’s wars; consulted Congress on interrogation techniques and had Democrats urging him not to pussyfoot around; and when the going got tough and popular opinion wavered, stood alone as a strong executive, pushing forward to fight and win while the legislative branch dithered, wrung its hands, and did what legislative branches and weak executives do, which is cater to popular whims, ineffectively. Thank God for the wisdom of our forefathers and a Constitution that has allowed us to survive so many assaults from so many enemies, foreign and domestic, and remain free for more than two centuries.
Hang on, how is that guy able to blog from Guantanamo, anyway? What are they running down there, a Club Med? Sheesh. Whatever. Andrew, please give my best to Glenn Greenwald, Jello Biafra, Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. I hope everyone’s bearing up under the heartless, relentless Barry Manilow treatment.
UPDATE: Turns out Andrew Sullivan not only lacks the strength of his convictions, he’s not even entitled to them. Talk about an undesirable alien. I had assumed he was naturalized, given that he lives here and blathers on about things like our constitutional business that is, it turns out none of his. Here’s some diligent blogger who has ascertained that Sullivan gave no money to his favorite cause, gay marriage … OK, maybe second favorite, after Palin-bashing. Commenters note that he’s not a citizen. He owes his allegiance to an 18th-century monarch and a form of government constitutionally designed to fall every time it gets a case of the political sniffles … make that snivels.
Here’s the Sullivan wikipedia entry, which has to be accurate as only Sullivan could have fellated himself to this extent.
Sullivan is known for his distinctive personal-political identity. He is gay, and considers himself to be a classical libertarian conservative who is often at odds with other conservatives in the U.S., a Roman Catholic, and a non-U.S. citizen who focuses on American political life.
Sullivan is sometimes considered a pioneer in political weblog journalism, since he was one of the first prominent political journalists in the United States to start his own personal blog.[citation needed] Sullivan wrote his blog for a year at Time Magazine, shifting on 1 February 2007 to the Atlantic Monthly, where it received approximately 40 million page views in the first year. He is the former editor of The New Republic and the author of five books.
Not exactly the full Greenwald* in terms of self-adulation, but that’s just the intro. Not to quibble but I think the “often at odds with other conservatives” might be an understatement, and in any case better put “often at odds with his own positions.”
Reynolds looks at the citizenship/donation issue, deems it a non-story, because non-citizens aren’t allowed to donate. Seems to me, though, that a non-citizen who claims without basis that laws and rights are being suspended wholesale, and remains at large and at liberty to do so is exercising a more fundamental variety of hypocrisy than not putting his money where his mouth is.**
Gateway with more myths vs facts on the Bush admin.
Hot Air wants to know what the Dems knew and when they knew it, or at least, whether they plan to deny it, re wiretaps.
* Speaking of Greenwald, here’s the sockpuppet talking circles around himself on the same subject.
** As an American citizen, I reserve the right to be inconsistent in slamming foreigners who mind our business, and fully support the bloviatory rights of US-resident Canadian Mark Steyn and former Canadian David Frum, who since 2007 has bloviated as a naturalized American. And is my cousin. Personal to Sullivan: It’s a free country, and a great one! Where foreigners are allowed to come here and slam our government without fear, even under the hated Cheneyite regime of Chimpy McBushitler. Glad you’re enjoying it!
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:27 am on Monday, December 22, 2008
9 Responses to “War Is Heck”
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December 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 am
[...] Jules Crittenden, in turn, takes issue with Sullivan: Whatever alternative United States Sullivan has dwelt in for the last seven years, sounds like it’s been a living heck. All laws suspended indefinitely. Enemy combatant labels slapped on everyone, everyone tortured … indefinitely. [...]
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
It’s amazing how otherwise sensible people who I know will still insist that Bush started an unauthorized & illegal war. When I point out that it was actually authorized by Congress (which should hardly be necessary - the official name of the resolution, “Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002″ says it all) they will make some comment about how they only passed it because “Bush lied.” Really? I had no idea that Bush had powers of persuasion that would put the devil’s to shame. I thought Bush was supposed to be the bumbling idiot cowboy, the dithering idiot who couldn’t put two words together without messing it up. Yet when it came to getting the AUMF passed, somehow he became a smooth talker capable of putting one over on a majority of Congress?
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Libertarian conservative, my hind end. How do you get from:
but clearly, when you take the oath of office on January 20th of 2001, as we did, you take the oath to support and defend and protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
to “the right to dissolve the Constitution permanently”?
Sullivan is a shrill, annoying drama queen (no pun intended).
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Prone to a bit of histrionics yourself, aren’t you Jules? I mean, their monarchy is 10 centuries old and has endure 2 civil wars and at one time ruled 1/5 of the people on the planet.
Japanese monarchy is even older, and even withstood you guys dropping two atomic bombs on it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
This is just cruel.
Sullivan CAN’T become a U.S. citizen because he’s HIV positive. He would like to be. From Andrew’s Facebook page:
“Sullivan has said that he would like to become a U.S. citizen but is barred because of his HIV-positive status.”
There.
He’s lived in the U.S. for decades and is a non-citizen only because of our stupid immigration laws. He has as much right as the next guy to state his opinions and he certainly knows more about the U.S. government than most bloggers do (and more than the current Vice President, too, it seems).
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
American Power trackedback with, “Jules Crittenden: The Wisdom of Our Forefathers”:
“Jules Crittenden provides a straight-up defense of Bush-era American government and foreign policy, in response to another round of Andrew Sullivan’s hysterical ravings…”
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
What? And he hasn’t been deported as a public health menace yet? He’s lucky he doesn’t have something unPC like tuberculosis.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
@parenthetical Says: He’s lived in the U.S. for decades and is a non-citizen only because of our stupid immigration laws.
Which country’s immigration laws are smarter? Countries that no one in his right mind would immigrate to don’t count.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Sullivan basically lost his mind years ago. All he has left is contrived outrage (notice that Excitable Andy, AKA Milky Loads, AKA The Last Real Conservative, doesn’t bother to mention that the Congressional leadership was informed about the terrorist surveillance program, including Dems, which probably includes Queen Nancy and Dingy Harry), conspiracy theories about Palin and Trig, slaps at people who do not approve of gay marriage, and some interesting photos. That’s pretty much it for him.