McCain Versus the Constitution

Katherine Seelye notes John McCain's attacks on Mitt Romney: "Mr. McCain goes after down Mr. Romney. He first jabs at Mr. Romney’s line from the last debate that he would consult his lawyers before undertaking a military action. 'Those are the last people I would call in,' Mr. McCain said." McCain is promising us, I guess, that in a McCain Administration military action will be undertaken without regard for the laws and constitution of the United States? How reassuring.

Comments

The first thing we do, let's kill the Constitution.

Posted by Ron Paul Wolfowitz | October 21, 2007 9:55 PM

When Romney says "his lawyers," he no doubt means justice-loving scholars of Consitutional and international law like Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo. And, frankly, it's to McCain's credit to say those are "the last people [he'd] call in."

I mean, if a President's gonna start an unjust war, I'd prefer one who's got the huevos to do it without needing on-its-face-fatuous legal "justification."

Posted by James Gary | October 22, 2007 12:05 AM

It's times like these when I wonder whether Matt can read the text of the Constitution. For war to be legal, Congress has to authorize it. Period. What a random lawyer says is utterly irrelevant.

Posted by James Robertson | October 22, 2007 12:23 AM

Notice how quickly the issue jumps from "starting a war with no justification and no authority" to "calling in lawyers to see if it is justified or calling them in to see how I can get around needing justification."

How about let's get it back to the point of there actually BEING a legitimate justification, i.e., a real demonstrable physical THREAT to the actual existence of the United States government and/or its physical possessions and citizens?

So far, not one single war the US has started since WWII has met that criteria. Not Korea, not Vietnam, not Grenada, not Panama, not Haiti, not Afghanistan, not Iraq, and not the upcoming Iran war.

This list of United States "military events" is instructive:

List of United States military history events
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_history_events#1980s

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | October 22, 2007 2:14 AM

To Mr. Hack: Look back on the history of the US, and you'll find that WWII is the anomaly, not the post war period. The various wars we've fought after WWII look very much like the various wars we fought before WWII.

Posted by James Robertson | October 22, 2007 6:27 AM

McCain has already treasonously supported the third-world invasion of the U.S., so should we be surprised? This is the neocon (and neoliberal) MO: endless foreign wars abroad (whether Constitutional or not), and massive third-world immigration at home.

Posted by Bede | October 22, 2007 8:53 AM

Last i checked, McCain was the only serious candidate on the R side against torture. (Pro-Constitution)
Romney will sell his oldest son's first attempt at plural marriage to get the jesus freaks' support to torture people who dont look them and worship someone else. (Evangelicals, Unitarians, MinuteMen, Klansmen, southerners, latent Racists, neo-nazis, fascistes, and finally the scum of them all... donors.
(Ron Paul isnt a serious candidate unless you are a conservative [LaRouchite?] and believe that stepping a century into the past and eliminating the Progressive tax code, the bureaucracy that runs this nation and the entire concept of free trade will help america deal with the challenges of the 21st century.)
PS if u believe this... vote for Giuliani... save us all the time and realize that sheep need shepherd dogs to whip them into shape.

Posted by Gunther | October 22, 2007 9:51 AM