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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsthe moment barack obama gave congress back its testicles
Ah, remember when the Syrian drums of war were beating? When all the talk was about red lines and consequences? When the beltway media was sure, just sure, that the bombs would start flying soon and were ordering up snazzy new graphics? Fun times.And then a weird thing happened. President Obama interrupted my Saturday morning Premier League football match (damn you, Obama!) and did something no president since Franklin Roosevelt had done. He averred that on his own he had the authority to strike against Syria for using chemical weapons against its civilian population; but then he pivoted, and gave the braying Congress what it said it wanted: a voice in the decision. There would be no strike against Syria unless approved by Congress. In one press conference, he moved to undo the Imperial Presidency, where presidents could send the legions anywhere by fiat.
Suddenly the cries were of weak and Neville Chamberlain and leading from behind. But, another funny thing happened: it worked. It spooked Vladimir The Impaler Putin enough to push legacy hire Bashar al-Assad to join him in a rousing rendition of Uncle. Syria joined the convention against chemical weapons. Inspectors went in. And in the new year, all of the regimes chemical stockpiles will be destroyed. All because, as Ride or Die Joe would say, Obama waved his big stick. No trillions spent, no dead Americans, no new quagmire in the Middle East. And the sight of emoprog dudebros licking authoritarian Putins nethers served for signal entertainment and revealing psychology.
http://theobamadiary.com/
Bravo Mr President!
Response to sheshe2 (Original post)
Post removed
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Otherwise, spot on. Revisionist bullshit makes me sick.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)But oh look - I'm being "mean!"
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)care to answer my post on calling out fellow DU members? The BOG in particular?
I thought that a call out was frowned upon DU...
So in the season of joy.
I wish to you and yours a happy holiday. Me, I am the better person here, for love always overcomes hate.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)As noted.
Similarly I am also repelled by the rage and hatred expressed at your "fellow" DU'ers over their opposition to such efforts. To be accused of "liking to see people die" by someone advocating a new war on top of an existing civil war is staggeringly offensive. But that is exactly whatyou and your fellow swamp trolls were all about at the time.
I find your efforts to reverse and re-write reality so that you and your fellow war pigs were the "good guys" in your failed efforts to win others over to the idea of bombing the fuck out of Syria to "send a message" to be repugnant in the extreme. especially when it contains complaints of someone "pounding the war drums" and throwing terms like "Chamberlain" about.
That latter one reminds me - did you forget that when Kerry was trying to sell this war to the European Union, he accused them of facing a "Munich moment" when they demurred, not only comparing them to Neville Chamberlain, but also likening Assad to Hitler? You must have forgotten, since that's awfully inconvenient in light of your efforts to cast him as the great diplomat and you as his peace-loving devotees.
If this makes me "mean" or "nasty" then at least I can rest easy knowing that mean and nasty are pale insults indeed compared to whatever the fuck you are. Because at the end of the day, I wasn't the one howling for the blood of Syrians, who is now pretending to be their saving angel.
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)Provide me all the links that the BOG posted on advocating war. You said that we swamp trolls ( I assume you mean BOG members)
Okay, you called the BOG war pigs and swamp trolls, that we like seeing people die. Ya know something Scoot... you have not one clue about the members of the BOG. You do not understand this president and you sure as hell have lost all faith in the goodness of the American people. That is a sad very sad story of your life.
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)I can attest that callouts are perfectly A-OK.
frylock
(34,825 posts)and then go cry to mommy? how the fuck can you do that with a straight face?
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Truly disgusting.
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)Are you calling me out on DU?
Other Duers too? Seriously?
The beltway media is being named, I think you doth protest to much. This was a post from The Obama Diary, it was not an editorial of mine.
Ease up Scootaloo... your hate of the BOG is transparent.
Your post is down right nasty!
Cha
(297,100 posts)playground bully mentality has taken a dump all over your thread.
Poor little bully/victims.. they're more to be pitied than censured as me ol mum use to say.
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)To tired to keep responding to the hate...the blatant call outs!
Gotta go soon. Work in the morning~
Cha
Cha
(297,100 posts)stomp around all by themselves.
Have a good day at work tomorrow, sheshe..
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)You tried to foist this giant pile of shit on everyone here, and now you're trying to rewrite the history we all remember. You are the textbook definition of a war pig, and you deserve nothing in the way of common courtesy. Just as Scootaloo said, you wanted these people slaughtered, then you turned on a dime, and now you're cheerleading in an effort to make Obama into a hero in regards to Syria. All you're left with is lame bleating about personal call outs. What's worse: Scootaloo's personal call out of you, or the fact that you wanted to start a US war in Syria and then tried to cover your tracks when the President changed tack? These infractions aren't even measured on the same scale. Scootaloo was impolite. You're ghoulish.
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)Excuse me?????
I deserve no common courtesy? I wanted these people slaughtered?
Would one of you that are trying to beat me up post one FUCKING thread where I said all this? Just one please!
Wow just wow!
I have fallen into Faux News here. Hate 24/7 and no facts.
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)sheshe2
(83,721 posts)Yet I dare you to be truthful.
Post a thread that supports what you said. If you can not then you lied.
Do it!
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)I'll go ahead and dare to be truthful. All the text below came from you.
September 1:
Many state that this is war. It is not. The President has said there will be no troops on the ground. I have seen cry's of more "shock and awe". Again not true. This President is not Dick Cheney or his puppet Bush.
Do I want to proceed into Syria? No. Yet our inaction could be devastating and far out weight our action.
It is time for Congress to step up to the plate. They need to take responsibility for this Nation and its people. They are duly elected officials. It's time they do their job. It's past time they take up this the issues that press upon us. Stop dumping it at the Presidents feet. This Congress and Senate have a voice and a responsibility.
--
September 3:
I really think he's got it. This is the best news I have read. He plans to assist the opposition forces.
And~
The key would be hitting various Damascus headquarters as well as some of the regimes six operable airports. These airports are the regimes nervous system,
--
September 9: you celebrated Obama's victory over Assad and Putin, claiming this was the President's plan all along.
You own the words. Do you have any further commands (Do it!) to bark at me?
Cha
(297,100 posts)Stupid ignorant bullshit.. consider the source, she. End of story.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)REASON FOR ALERT:
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS:
Way OTT personal attacks.
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Dec 29, 2013, 01:17 AM, and the Jury voted 1-5 to LEAVE IT.
Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Truth is a defense
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: A personal response is not a personal attack. That said, this was about as close to the line as it gets.
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT and said: War pig is a bit much.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)Sometimes I feel bad after getting a post locked. I wouldn't have felt bad about this one. When one finds oneself advocating for war, one owes it to humanity to step back, shut up, and think long and hard before publicly advocating action that will result in the deaths of innocents. That didn't happen here, and I won't be forgetting that. Thanks for letting me know about the jury.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)sheshe2
(83,721 posts)The ones pointing at me!
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Hope it doesn't get hidden, cuz it's the fucking truth.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)You big, mean, emotarian dudebro, you.
This place is absolute comedy gold sometimes, I got more than a chuckle.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)sheshe2
(83,721 posts)And Scootaloo is calling out the BOG here!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Cha
(297,100 posts)Full transcript of President Obama's speech on Syria
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023642111
Thank you!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)*COUGH*LIBYA*COUGH*
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)with tremendous death and destruction. There is something SERIOUSLY wrong with the author of that shit blog.
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)Statement by the President on Syria
Rose Garden
1:52 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Ten days ago, the world watched in horror as men, women and children were massacred in Syria in the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century. Yesterday the United States presented a powerful case that the Syrian government was responsible for this attack on its own people.
Our intelligence shows the Assad regime and its forces preparing to use chemical weapons, launching rockets in the highly populated suburbs of Damascus, and acknowledging that a chemical weapons attack took place. And all of this corroborates what the world can plainly see -- hospitals overflowing with victims; terrible images of the dead. All told, well over 1,000 people were murdered. Several hundred of them were children -- young girls and boys gassed to death by their own government.
This attack is an assault on human dignity. It also presents a serious danger to our national security. It risks making a mockery of the global prohibition on the use of chemical weapons. It endangers our friends and our partners along Syrias borders, including Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. It could lead to escalating use of chemical weapons, or their proliferation to terrorist groups who would do our people harm.
In a world with many dangers, this menace must be confronted.
Now, after careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets. This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground. Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope. But I'm confident we can hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons, deter this kind of behavior, and degrade their capacity to carry it out.
Our military has positioned assets in the region. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whenever we choose. Moreover, the Chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive; it will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now. And I'm prepared to give that order.
But having made my decision as Commander-in-Chief based on what I am convinced is our national security interests, I'm also mindful that I'm the President of the world's oldest constitutional democracy. I've long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might, but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And thats why I've made a second decision: I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people's representatives in Congress.
Over the last several days, we've heard from members of Congress who want their voices to be heard. I absolutely agree. So this morning, I spoke with all four congressional leaders, and they've agreed to schedule a debate and then a vote as soon as Congress comes back into session.
In the coming days, my administration stands ready to provide every member with the information they need to understand what happened in Syria and why it has such profound implications for America's national security. And all of us should be accountable as we move forward, and that can only be accomplished with a vote.
I'm confident in the case our government has made without waiting for U.N. inspectors. I'm comfortable going forward without the approval of a United Nations Security Council that, so far, has been completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold Assad accountable. As a consequence, many people have advised against taking this decision to Congress, and undoubtedly, they were impacted by what we saw happen in the United Kingdom this week when the Parliament of our closest ally failed to pass a resolution with a similar goal, even as the Prime Minister supported taking action.
Yet, while I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even more effective. We should have this debate, because the issues are too big for business as usual. And this morning, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell agreed that this is the right thing to do for our democracy.
A country faces few decisions as grave as using military force, even when that force is limited. I respect the views of those who call for caution, particularly as our country emerges from a time of war that I was elected in part to end. But if we really do want to turn away from taking appropriate action in the face of such an unspeakable outrage, then we must acknowledge the costs of doing nothing.
Here's my question for every member of Congress and every member of the global community: What message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? What's the purpose of the international system that we've built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98 percent of the world's people and approved overwhelmingly by the Congress of the United States is not enforced?
Make no mistake -- this has implications beyond chemical warfare. If we won't enforce accountability in the face of this heinous act, what does it say about our resolve to stand up to others who flout fundamental international rules? To governments who would choose to build nuclear arms? To terrorist who would spread biological weapons? To armies who carry out genocide?
We cannot raise our children in a world where we will not follow through on the things we say, the accords we sign, the values that define us.
So just as I will take this case to Congress, I will also deliver this message to the world. While the U.N. investigation has some time to report on its findings, we will insist that an atrocity committed with chemical weapons is not simply investigated, it must be confronted.
I don't expect every nation to agree with the decision we have made. Privately weve heard many expressions of support from our friends. But I will ask those who care about the writ of the international community to stand publicly behind our action.
And finally, let me say this to the American people: I know well that we are weary of war. Weve ended one war in Iraq. Were ending another in Afghanistan. And the American people have the good sense to know we cannot resolve the underlying conflict in Syria with our military. In that part of the world, there are ancient sectarian differences, and the hopes of the Arab Spring have unleashed forces of change that are going to take many years to resolve. And that's why were not contemplating putting our troops in the middle of someone elses war.
Instead, well continue to support the Syrian people through our pressure on the Assad regime, our commitment to the opposition, our care for the displaced, and our pursuit of a political resolution that achieves a government that respects the dignity of its people.
But we are the United States of America, and we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to what happened in Damascus. Out of the ashes of world war, we built an international order and enforced the rules that gave it meaning. And we did so because we believe that the rights of individuals to live in peace and dignity depends on the responsibilities of nations. We arent perfect, but this nation more than any other has been willing to meet those responsibilities.
So to all members of Congress of both parties, I ask you to take this vote for our national security. I am looking forward to the debate. And in doing so, I ask you, members of Congress, to consider that some things are more important than partisan differences or the politics of the moment.
Ultimately, this is not about who occupies this office at any given time; its about who we are as a country. I believe that the peoples representatives must be invested in what America does abroad, and now is the time to show the world that America keeps our commitments. We do what we say. And we lead with the belief that right makes might -- not the other way around.
We all know there are no easy options. But I wasnt elected to avoid hard decisions. And neither were the members of the House and the Senate. Ive told you what I believe, that our security and our values demand that we cannot turn away from the massacre of countless civilians with chemical weapons. And our democracy is stronger when the President and the peoples representatives stand together.
Im ready to act in the face of this outrage. Today Im asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/31/statement-president-syria
????
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Syria is a fucking disaster.
Do you not watch the news? BBC, perhaps? Al Jazeera? Listen to Democracy Now? Do you have the slightest clue as to the suffering? The death toll? The plight of Syrians still in their country? The plight of Syrians fleeing their country, and the resultant strain on nations accepting these refugees? Turkey, Bulgaria, for instance?
Step out of the BOG bubble. You might learn something.
sheshe2
(83,721 posts)Are you always this nasty?
Step out of your own bubble. You surround yourself in hate.
Yeah, I know what is going on and have posted about it. The refugees that have fled are staggering!
What is your solution to the problem?
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)then resort to victim-ish "why the hate"? Over and over and over again. It's tedious. And considering you applaud nonsense like this:
...you do not come across as someone interested in good-faith discussion.
I'm out.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)If Cameron hadn't called a vote in the Commons on a strike against Syria (and lost), I don't think that Obama would have done the same in the US.
frylock
(34,825 posts)oh, they'll continue to rewrite history, but they sure as shit will not acknowledge that vote in parliament.
MFrohike
(1,980 posts)If you ever wonder why people make wiseass remarks about "eleventh dimensional chess," it's threads like this one. If he's so brilliantly clever that he can outmaneuver Congress into becoming independent, while doing exactly what he wants, then what is the excuse for all the difficulty he's had in passing and implementing necessary legislation? What about the loss of the House in 2010? Was he perhaps preserving the GOP so we'd be spared the horrors of a one-party state?
A thread like this really undermines the entire "evil GOP obstructionist" defense that gets trotted out every time somebody points out that the president just might not be too far to the left. Seriously, how can obstructionism defeat a man who somehow is this good?
progressoid
(49,965 posts)WowSeriously
(343 posts)I believe that was the motivation behind the President's pivot.
But I could be wrong.
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)I'm not sure he'd be thrilled to learn it was all a part of the 11-dimensional plan.
WowSeriously
(343 posts)I don't think Cameron wanted to stumble in Blair's footsteps, and it was he who pivoted.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Seems like you've accepted patriarchal rule. "Testicles" excludes half of our population, even more than half if we're only counting sentient Americans.
Women have private thingies too that do stuff.
last1standing
(11,709 posts)Whoever runs The Obama Diary should cut down on the cough syrup. The hallucinations are getting worse.
progressoid
(49,965 posts)was clearly one toke over the line.