Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Military, Politics, Society

Clinton: Support The War Or I’ll Accuse You Of Being Gaddafi’s BFF

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton took the debate over Libya to a new low yesterday. (For full disclosure, I am lead counsel representing members challenging the constitutionality of the Libyan War). Clinton is largely responsible for entering the United States in another undeclared war. She is now dismissing all of the constitutional and fiscal concerns of members and publicly asking members “Whose side are you on?”

It is a case of hoisting the wretch to silence one’s critics.

The not-so-veiled threat is directed to House members who want to cut off funding for the war — who will now be accused of supporting Gaddafi. It is an approach taken by others. In a recent bizarre debate I had with Abraham Sofaer of the ultra-conservative Hoover Institute, Sofaer continued to push aside the constitutional and statutory problems with the war by repeatedly reminding listeners what a bad guy Gaddafi is. Sound familiar? It is precisely what the Bush Administration did in pushing us into the disastrous Iraq War. Clinton was one of those Senators who went along in approving the action (and later insisted that she had been misled). Back then it was Saddam and his weapons of mass destruction. The legalities and logic of the war were quickly pushed aside by the power of personality.

She may succeed. Not willing to appear pro-Gaddafi, Senators are moving to give Obama post-hoc authorization. Senators Kerry and McCain are pushing to give Obama the authorization that he never asked for — and is still not asking for. It is a rather pathetic display of the Congress desperately trying to appear relevant — even when a president is saying that it is not.

The technique of guilt by association is a time tested approach. Any high school student will tell you that the only thing as successful of pressuring kids to be “in with the in crowd” is to say that if they are not they are sweet on the ugliest or most unpopular kid in class. Next we will hear the State Department spokesman taunting members of being “up in the tree” with Gaddafi “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” Either you give us the money for an undeclared war or you are BFF to Gaddafi.

Here is the answer for the Secretary of State — we are on the side of the Constitution. Jamaica.

Source: AP

73 thoughts on “Clinton: Support The War Or I’ll Accuse You Of Being Gaddafi’s BFF”

  1. SwM,

    I’ll be missing a big dinner tomorrow in Columbus … I wish you lived closer as you could have attended. Biden is the speaker.

  2. Swarthmore mom,

    I forgot to note that it’s an older article…, but “yes” to the playing politics portion of your comment… It occurs to me that Hillary may be positioning herself for a run against Bachmann in 2016…

    As to her religious leanings, who knows… People are complicated… and often very quiet about where they stand with respect to religion.

  5. anon nurse, That article is from 2007. Hillary is not a fundamentalist. She may be a hawk but not that. She probably was playing politics again.

  8. “Here is the answer for the Secretary of State — we are on the side of the Constitution.”

    The one and only answer.

    I hear you, Mike A., and I am considering it but with a different tactical bent.

  9. This latest move by the Administration smacks of desperation … me thinks this challenge to the constitutionality of the Libyan War has shook them up big time.

  10. All this time, I’ve thought George Bush was busy drinking himself to death in some posh Texan suburb. No, it seems he’s running Obama’s foreign policy.

  11. anon,

    Wretch/Wench comes from the renaissance period…..Hold them up by the hand….up in the air….

    That would be my understanding….

  12. Perhaps it was just me, but I was left with the lingering impression that one of War’s most influential puppetmasters slinked out into the light. Just long enough to make a threat – in support of War.

    Too bad she chose not to use her considerable talents in support of Justice.

    When Justice finally arrives, she just may be one of the convicts in the very front row.

  13. . Next we will hear the State Department spokesman taunting members of being “up in the tree” with Gaddafi “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

    Love it! Of course, as a politician that is exactly the kind of thing to expect. Though I have to say that I DO support Obama’s policy in Libya, but it would be nice to get some legal clarification on the War Powers Act. Historically, this is an old debate when the US went to war with the Barbary pirates without declaring war. The subject is very complex and has a huge amount of ramifications, so I am very happy to hear that Prof. Turley is lead counsel on this.

    I supported the resolution on Iraq, and Clinton and Kerry were right in voting for it. One has to remember the context of it. We had 9/11, Iraq had defied ALL UN resolutions, violated the terms of the cease fire which left Hussein in power, and had an embargo against it, plus they regularly shot at UN planes. The purported idea was to force Iraq to let in inspectors to verify continued compliance with provisions denying Iraq WMDs As such, sending a large force capable of invading Iraq was necessary to force that compliance. It WORKED! THEN Bush reneged on his promises to not invade once the conditions of inspection had been fulfilled. I have no reason to denounce Clinton or any other Senator who voted for the resolution. Bush was relatively new and had no track record yet. So it would hardly be credible to say from the outset that Bush was a liar.

    I think that the amount of US involvement in Libya is sleght enough so that a war powers resolution may not be needed. I am not a legal scholar or even a lawyer, so I am quite happy to have those who are, have at it to resolve the question. I think that if it is necessary, then I support Sen. Kerry to pass a resolution to be in compliance with it.

  14. “hoisting the wretch”

    Okay, this reference escapes me. Googling it returns me here.

    What reference or pun or bit of latin or legalese am I missing?

  15. There are illegal positions and then there are stupid illegal positions. Secy. Clinton’s views on Libya fall in the latter category. I think it’s time for Buddha to dust off the third party plans.

  17. Our actions are creating new support for Gaddafi among the Libyan people:

  18. They voted for Panetta 100-0 yesterday. I would think McCain and Kerry could easily get this passed on their own.

  19. So they have learned much from the Republican’s. “If you don’t support the invasion of Iraq you want Saddam to kill innocent civilians”. Very lovely.

  20. I hate it when manipulations such as this occur….why not go back to the Johnson times where you got and invitation from the IRS, Hoover did what he did or you ended up dead…

    The emotional blackmail must cease….

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