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Bush: Iraq Supplemental Unconstitutional

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Constitution
Posted on Wed May 02, 2007 at 12:43:30 PM EST
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In his veto message to Congress, President Bush claims the Iraq Supplemental is unconstitutional:

[T]his legislation is unconstitutional because it purports to direct the conduct of the operations of the war in a way that infringes upon the powers vested in the Presidency by the Constitution, including as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

Nonsense. Here is the Iraq language in the bill. Nothing contained therein "purports to direct the conduct of the operations of the war." It purports to condition the deployment of troops in the conduct of the war by requiring the President certify that certain conditions are being met.

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution provides among Congress' powers, the power:

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years

This appropriation is a direct and express exercise of that power. It clearly is constitutional.

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    Bush: Iraq Supplemental Unconstitutional | 38 comments (38 topical)

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    Bush is trying (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Edger on Wed May 02, 2007 at 01:08:06 PM EST
    to divert debate away from about him and his Debacle to criticism of Congress.

    His insulting treatment of the public with his assumption that people are too stupid to see through him continues.

    He'll always be able to find a few, but less and less every day: Who Supports Bush's Iraq Debacle?

    But in the end he will lose: Defunding The Iraq War Is Supporting The Troops

    Saw this one coming weeks ago (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by conchita on Wed May 02, 2007 at 01:16:30 PM EST
    Let's see how the media performs for them with it.

    National Propaganda Radio (none / 0) (#19)
    by dutchfox on Wed May 02, 2007 at 05:23:31 PM EST
    Well, I just heard this afternoon's All Things Considered. NPR calls the Iraq Debacle not a war, not an occupation (which it is), but a mission. I'm not joking, I heard it tonight.

    Parent
    Hah! (5.00 / 4) (#4)
    by JHFarr on Wed May 02, 2007 at 01:56:18 PM EST
    Looks like Bush is still getting advice on constitutional law from Alberto.

    BTD (5.00 / 5) (#7)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed May 02, 2007 at 02:36:11 PM EST
    You've been right all along.

    Cut the goddamn money.

    Yesterday.

    Oh Good! (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by Militarytracy on Wed May 02, 2007 at 03:58:50 PM EST
    Something else to fight about and another reason to not rush to a compromise bill!  And a blatant attempt to take Nancy's new gavel away from her.  I was sick and tired of the Iraq Supplemental being personal for me and the minority of Americans that are military and the voiceless Iraqis, but now maybe it is a little personal for some others as well.  Maybe they are finally going to get good and pi$$ed now too and we can all shed the Kumbaya mentality!  When playing with sociopaths, Kumbaya is like shooting fish in a barrel or little quail in large cages for them and they play for keeps!

    Well (5.00 / 2) (#12)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Wed May 02, 2007 at 04:06:40 PM EST
    Bush started it . . .

    Parent
    Just as long as we finish it (5.00 / 3) (#13)
    by Militarytracy on Wed May 02, 2007 at 04:10:11 PM EST
    I'm a happy girl.  I want Nancy to finish it though like I know she can finish it if she really wants to, a gavel in an unnamed place.

    Parent
    With a photo op including Cheney (5.00 / 3) (#14)
    by oculus on Wed May 02, 2007 at 04:20:59 PM EST
    sitting close by on a sofa.

    Parent
    "demoralize the Iraqi people" (5.00 / 3) (#10)
    by Alex DeLarge on Wed May 02, 2007 at 03:59:58 PM EST
    Bush also claimed that setting a deadline would "demoralize the Iraqi people," although polls show that 87% of Iraqis favor a timetable for withdrawal, and 78% of Iraqis are opposed to our presence in the country.  

    Not those Iraqis, the other ones (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Militarytracy on Wed May 02, 2007 at 04:01:59 PM EST
    It's just like Bush not serving 70% of Americans, he's serving the other ones!

    Parent
    Tracy, that's the way it works. (1.00 / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed May 02, 2007 at 04:52:40 PM EST
    You see, to prevent government from turning into a popularity contest, people are elected for a fixed period of time.

    What that means is that your Congressman, or woman, or the President, can have a 0/100 rating in either directon. Your option is to vote for/against at the next election.

    Parent

    You can't talk to me about (5.00 / 0) (#18)
    by Militarytracy on Wed May 02, 2007 at 05:00:49 PM EST
    popularity contests Jim, cuz I'm forever hung up on elections being popularity contests.  I'm just too silly to understand

    Parent
    ppj always (conveeeentiently) forgets (5.00 / 2) (#21)
    by Sailor on Wed May 02, 2007 at 06:55:40 PM EST
    bush said iraq was a soverign government and we'd leave when they wanted us to.

    Boy, oh boy, do they want us to! He also said he'd listen to the generals ... then kept firing them until he got a sock puppet.

    Parent

    Sailor (none / 0) (#36)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu May 03, 2007 at 09:54:18 AM EST
    Perhaps you can give me a link where the PM of Iraq has asked us to leave.

    Now no "polls." Let's keep the focus on "soverign government....."

    You can't??

    Why surprise,surprise.

    Parent

    the PM is not the king of iraq (5.00 / 1) (#37)
    by Sailor on Thu May 03, 2007 at 11:12:37 AM EST
    Trust ppj to move the goal posts.
    And as the President has indicated, if a democratically elected government or the Iraqi people were to ask us to leave, we would do so.

    Sadr [who controls six Cabinet ministers and 30 seats in Iraq's parliament] and his followers faulted Maliki primarily for his refusal to distance himself from the current U.S.-led Baghdad security crackdown and the continued American military presence in Iraq.

    "They carried out this invasion. Then they supported it with international resolutions. Now they talk about the political process and democracy," Ogaili said. "The invader has to leave and let Iraq live peacefully. The invader is the main problem afflicting Iraq and affecting peace."

    Now GFY and advocate the murder of more American students and political leaders as you have previously.


    Parent

    Tracy, let ne try it this way (1.00 / 1) (#23)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:17:54 PM EST
    Do you understand the difference between a Parlimentary Democracy and a Constitutional Republic?

    We're not a Parlimentary Democracy.

    We're a constitutional republic.

    Constitutional Republics are a deliberate attempt to diminish the threat of mobocracy thereby protecting dissenting individuals and minority groups from the tyranny of the majority by placing checks on the power of the majority of the population

    You would, for example, love for us to not be a constitutional republic now because a vote of no confidence would bring the government down, and the hated Bush would be gone.

    Parent

    Why do you Neocons always (4.00 / 0) (#24)
    by Militarytracy on Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:23:41 PM EST
    go to this place?  It's like your happy place or something.  We have elections, they are popularity contests.  We just had some popularity contests and the popular people won, the public made it known why they were popular and won and what is expected of them in their new popularity!

    Parent
    Now they are doing it (4.00 / 0) (#25)
    by Militarytracy on Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:25:56 PM EST
    The unpopular guy isn't going to end up liking this much in the end, the people who made the popular people popular really don't care what the unpopular jerk likes at this point ;)

    Parent
    Tracy (1.00 / 0) (#28)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:58:15 PM EST
    This isn't middle school...

    Parent
    Adult life is more about (5.00 / 1) (#32)
    by Militarytracy on Thu May 03, 2007 at 04:12:37 AM EST
    the same old middle school stuff than any of us adults want to admit Jim.  We just use bigger words, have bigger allowances and are capable of larger scale destruction alongside our larger scale successes. Sadly not much else has changed, I guess we're slow learners.

    Parent
    Tracy (none / 0) (#35)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu May 03, 2007 at 09:52:12 AM EST
    No, adults leave the juvenile stuff and go on.

    My attempts have been to try and explain to you why polls do not matter under our Constitution, and why there is no such thing as a vote of "no confidence" requiring that elections be called.

    I suspect you understand that.

    Have a good day.


    Parent

    With all due respect (none / 0) (#38)
    by Militarytracy on Thu May 03, 2007 at 02:45:24 PM EST
    most people in the mental health field would tell you that that was your ego talking.  The thing that separates us the most from the little people is our size...body size, entitlement size, and the size of our egos.

    Parent
    Tracy (1.00 / 0) (#27)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:57:32 PM EST
    You either have no understanding at all, or else you are running away and hiding.

    Elections, length of terms, etc., are set by the Constitution.

    Do some studying on WHY the length of the terms are what they are, and why the Senate is staggered the way it is.

    The fact that you suffer from BSD has nothing to do with anything in the real world.

    Bush will be Pres until 1/09 unless he is impeached.

    The former will happen, the latter will not.

    Parent

    Keep the faith (none / 0) (#33)
    by Militarytracy on Thu May 03, 2007 at 04:14:00 AM EST
    you little keeper of the flame ;)

    Parent
    Something's in the water. (5.00 / 3) (#30)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed May 02, 2007 at 09:56:06 PM EST
    You seldom defeat someone who breaks the rules by following the rules.

    I hate that part of dealing with (none / 0) (#34)
    by Militarytracy on Thu May 03, 2007 at 04:19:33 AM EST
    cutthroat evil a**holes more than anything.  Not only am I shocked by what they are doing but I also have to do things so differently just to deal with them.

    Parent
    Isn't this the time to IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY? (5.00 / 2) (#31)
    by womanwarrior on Wed May 02, 2007 at 10:53:02 PM EST
    As you all point out, playing with the funding is not going to get us out of IRAQ because the President will not change his mind.  We have to get the President and Vice President out of the White House.  I know I come in late, but please someone tell me, why are we not opening impeachment hearings?  

    Look, 'dude ... (4.60 / 5) (#6)
    by Meteor Blades on Wed May 02, 2007 at 02:32:07 PM EST
    ...the Bush Constitution is Article II, Sentence 1.

    Period.

    The rest has been excised by a signing statement you probably didn't hear about.

    Heh