GOP Must Stop Bush---- Bernstein

[indigobusiness]

<snip>
Today, the issue may not be high crimes and misdemeanors, but rather Bush's failure, or inability, to lead competently and honestly.

"You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror," Bush told Rumsfeld in a Wizard-of-Oz moment May 10, as Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and senior generals looked on. "You are a strong secretary of Defense, and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude." The scene recalled another Oz moment: Nixon praising his enablers, Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, as "two of the finest public servants I've ever known."

Sidestepping the Constitution

Like Nixon, this president decided the Constitution could be bent on his watch. Terrorism justified it, and Rumsfeld's Pentagon promoted policies making inevitable what happened at Abu Ghraib — and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The legal justification for ignoring the Geneva Conventions regarding humane treatment of prisoners was enunciated in a memo to Bush, dated Jan. 25, 2002, from the White House counsel.
<snip>


http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-05-23-bush-edit_x.htm

[lovedems]

1. Excellent opinion piece!

It is quite telling that the republican party who runs on the moral religious platform seems incapable of doing the right thing.

A republican controlled congress never ceases to amaze me, that is for sure.

[Jivenwail]

2. Thanks for posting this!

I was wondering when Carl Bernstein would be heard from.

[indigobusiness]

8. Quite welcome...Carl is a good guy.

Hope everybody reads this piece.

[opihimoimoi]

3. Todays GOP has no such guts on display, they keep it hidden all too well

[beyurslf]

4. And that is in the USA today.... excellent!

[jbfam4]

5. principle before party

"But among Republicans today, there seems to be scant interest in asking tough questions — or honoring the example of courageous leaders of Congress who, not long ago, stepped forward, setting principle before party, to hold accountable presidents who put their country in peril."

Where are the republicans who put principles ahead of the President?

I can only think of two who have spoken out. Have I missed any?

[indigobusiness]

6. One can only guess at the GOP outrage

had this fiasco been engineered by a Dem Pres.

[stopbush]

7. He's referring to R's from the Nixon era who told Tricky Dick

that he was going down and they could no longer support him.

And, yes, 30-some years is "not long ago" in the scheme of things. The R party has gone completely over to the dark side since Nixon.

[indepat]

11. Two, maybe three's about correct: others will march to the beat of

their drummer, no matter how damaging the policy, action, or war(s) for they truly seem to subscribe to "it is the duty of every Republican in Congress to give a Republican president everything he wants, damn the Constitution, damn the law, damn public sentiment, damn fiscal responsibility, damn the environment, damn international opinion, treaties and law and order, and damn our allies, just hand the Republican president a blank check to do has he alone wishes, to hell with our constitutional responsibilities and prerogatives." And we all know what that makes the lot of them.

[enough]

9. FINALLY this is being said in the mainstream!

Very important artlicle. Thanks for the post.

snip>

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee likewise put principle above party to cast votes for articles of impeachment (of Nixon). On the eve of his mission, Goldwater told his wife that it might cost him his Senate seat on Election Day. Instead, the courage of Republicans willing to dissociate their party from Nixon helped Ronald Reagan win the presidency six years later, unencumbered by Watergate.

Another precedent is apt: In 1968, a few Democratic senators — J. William Fulbright, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern and Robert F. Kennedy — challenged their party's torpor and insisted that President Lyndon Johnson be held accountable for his disastrous and disingenuous conduct of the Vietnam War, adding weight to public pressure, which, eventually, forced Johnson not to seek re-election.

snip>

But among Republicans today, there seems to be scant interest in asking tough questions — or honoring the example of courageous leaders of Congress who, not long ago, stepped forward, setting principle before party, to hold accountable presidents who put their country in peril.

snip>

[grasswire]

10. I've been waiting for this moment

...and now we watch, to see what transpires.

[myopic4141]

12. Nothing will transpire.

There are no Republicans of Baker stature in todays Congress. Instead, they are of Inhofe stature which inserts moral relativism into the principle equation. Fanatics are running rampant throughout the party not realizing the harm they do. Totally devoid of the ability for abstract thought, they forge ahead decimating all before them. What effects outside of their immediate perceptions go unnoticed. As a result, we have become a lesser of two evil nation rather than a nation of moral authority. A promoter of democracy from the barrel of a gun with no real freedom of choice outside of what the fanatics wish to ram down the throats. Who from this class of clowns can we expect to rise above all? No one for they are all very good little sheep grazing in their oblivion.

[Karenina]

13. Yes, please.

The *dauphin is so OBVIOUSLY incompetent...

[teryang]

14. This should be directed to Supreme Court

They should issue opinions on the "enemy combatant" cases ASAP and slam dunk the unconstitutional practices. This will signal the end of their invulnerability.

There used to be three branches of governmment.