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YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 02:27 PM Aug 2013

Every blister from going door-to-door in...

...'04,'08, and'12 in support of Kerry and Obama was worth it because of today. President Obama and John Kerry are standing for what is right and standing by their word. Both have GREAT integrity...no matter what Congress does.

I am very grateful today for what they are doing to elevate the debate on foreign policy. That did NOT happen before Iraq. It might have made ALL the difference.

But it IS going to happen before action on SYRIA.


EXCELLENT, Mr. President...and thank you to you and Secretary Kerry. You still have my support...

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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fredamae

(4,458 posts)
3. Fortunately For the moment?
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 03:16 PM
Aug 2013

We have a functioning democracy that refers it's major questions/decisions to the people via their elected officials.

Unfortunately-we don't have a functioning body in either house---But I remain hopeful, even they'll do the right thing on Syria...........

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
5. Even if Congress continues to be disfunctional, the DEBATE will inform...
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 03:44 PM
Aug 2013

...the American people. In 2003, we never had that debate.

In the end, the President still has a decision to make. I support his decision.

fredamae

(4,458 posts)
7. You are correct---
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 03:55 PM
Aug 2013

We Must have this debate.
However, because I don't yet know what the POTUS will decide-history (bushco years) has taught me to be more cautious about simply supporting all unknown future actions...by any governing body

I totally agree with PBO today-He "presided" quite well. I have a glimmer of hope

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
9. Agree about Bushco lessons...
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 06:02 PM
Aug 2013

... There are many. We citizens have a duty to learn them and act accordingly.

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
6. Of course. In the bright light of day...
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 03:47 PM
Aug 2013

...clearly in view of the American people. Could be illuminating...

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
8. Ummm...Bush DID go before Congress & ask permission for attacking Iraq.
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 04:32 PM
Aug 2013

FYI:

The Iraq Resolution or the Iraq War Resolution (formally the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, (enacted October 16, 2002, H.J.Res. 114) is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No: 107-243, authorizing military action against Iraq."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution


President Obama DID do good today,
but lets stick to the facts.

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
10. Yes. But few were engaged. The debate was...
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 06:06 PM
Aug 2013

...very limited. And the American people mostly slept through it all.

It is my hope this will be different. We will see..

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
11. Not only that, Bush lied after
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 06:25 PM
Aug 2013

the vote:

Hubris: The Selling of the Iraq War - Monday 2/18 at 9 p.m. ET

By Will Femia

Last night Rachel pointed out that this year marks the tenth anniversary of President George W. Bush's State of the Union address containing the now infamous 16 words that turned out to be a very consequential lie:

“The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa .”

Included in a collection of web materials associated with Rachel's upcoming documentary "Hubris: The Selling of the Iraq War," is a longer cut of that 2003 State of the Union address. It's a powerful reminder of how thick the Bush administration laid it on to rally the nation to war in Iraq:

- more -

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/14/16966287-hubris-the-selling-of-the-iraq-war-monday-218-at-9-pm-et

That lie, the signing statement he attached to the IWR after it passed, and the faulty evidence he presented to Congress days before the invasion were his primary justifications.

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
12. Absolutely, he lied. And the country is still paying for...
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 07:51 PM
Aug 2013

...it. I just thought...by now...EVERYONE already knew that.

Thanks, Prosense, for making sure.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
14. WOW. You would think that all the Democrats that "trusted" Bush...
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 08:42 PM
Aug 2013

..would have said something at the time about this horrible LIE.

Help us out here, Pro,
and post a few Press Releases from leading Democrats deriding Bush for "Lying to Them".
You can do that, can't you, hon?

Who would have EVER believed that the document they signed titled
"Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq"
was an Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq?

Or maybe they all felt too embarrassed that the idiot child from Texas
put the BIG ONE over on them and they were too stupid to see it?
Could THAT be it?
I know I would be very ashamed to have to say in public that "Bush FOOLED me and I was too dumb to see it coming."

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
13. You may not have been engaged,
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 08:34 PM
Aug 2013

but Millions of others were.
The Run Up to Iraq was ALL the nightly news talked about,
and Millions here and around the World were writing letters and calling our Congress Critters, signing petitions, donating money to Anti-Iraq War funds, marching in Anti-Iraq War demonstrations, and standing on street corners at vigils.

I really don't see how you could have missed it.
The International Anti-Iraq War demonstrations were the LARGEST demonstrations of Bush's entire administration.

I was never quite as excited as some of my fellow leftists seemed to be about the antiwar movement that developed in response to George W. Bush’s planned and then implemented occupation of Iraq. True, the anti-invasion turnouts in Europe and the United States were remarkable even before the actual fact of the “war.”

On February 17, 2003, more than a month before “Operation Iraqi Liberation” was formally launched, the New York Times was so impressed by the global antiwar outpourings that it said the following: “there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion.” Times analyst Patrick Tyler referred with respect to Bush’s “tenacious new adversary: millions of people who flooded the streets of New York and dozens of other world cities to say they are against war based on the evidence at hand.”

The people were out in mass opposition before the war actually commenced.

http://griid.org/2011/05/10/were-the-anti-iraq-war-demonstrations-of-2003-too-good-to-be-true/







YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
17. I didn't miss it. But as a percentage of the total adult population...
Sun Sep 1, 2013, 12:30 AM
Sep 2013

...I don't think enough were engaged. I also remember a lot of those protests were either not covered or downplayed in the media...TV in particular. It was frustrating. Online the coverage was great, but that excluded a lot of people.

pnwmom

(108,978 posts)
15. And then he ignored the terms of the authorization
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 08:43 PM
Aug 2013

that required him to get proof of WMDs first.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
16. Aww. Did Bush "fool" you too?
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 09:55 PM
Aug 2013

I'm not very smart,
but when I see something titled
Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq,
it is an Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq.
He didn't fool me.
I understand if you are embarrassed that he fooled you.


He didn't "fool" any of these Democrats either:


[font size=3]The Democratic Party Honor Roll[/font]
These Democrats should be remembered for their principled stand against the WAR Machine.

[font size=3]The Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq[/font]

United States Senate

In the Senate, the 21 Democrats, one Republican and one Independent courageously voted their consciences in 2002 against the War in Iraq :

Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
Barbara Boxer (D-California)
Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)
Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey)
Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota)
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)
Bob Graham (D-Florida)
Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)
Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
Carl Levin (D-Michigan)
Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)
Patty Murray (D-Washington)
Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island)
Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)
Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan)
The late Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota)
Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)

Lincoln Chaffee (R-Rhode Island)


United States House of Representatives

Six House Republicans and one independent joined 126 Democratic members of the House of Represenatives:

Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
Tom Allen (D-Maine)
Joe Baca (D-California)
Brian Baird (D-Washington DC)
John Baldacci (D-Maine, now governor of Maine)
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin)
Xavier Becerra (D-California)
Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon)
David Bonior (D-Michigan, retired from office)
Robert Brady (D-Pennsylvania)
Corinne Brown (D-Florida)
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Lois Capps (D-California)
Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland)
Julia Carson (D-Indiana)
William Clay, Jr. (D-Missouri)
Eva Clayton (D-North Carolina, retired from office)
James Clyburn (D-South Carolina)
Gary Condit (D-California, retired from office)
John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan)
Jerry Costello (D-Illinois)
William Coyne (D-Pennsylvania, retired from office)
Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland)
Susan Davis (D-California)
Danny Davis (D-Illinois)
Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon)
Diana DeGette (D-Colorado)
Bill Delahunt (D-Massachusetts)
Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut)
John Dingell (D-Michigan)
Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas)
Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania)
Anna Eshoo (D-California)
Lane Evans (D-Illinois)
Sam Farr (D-California)
Chaka Fattah (D-Pennsylvania)
Bob Filner (D-California)
Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts)
Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas)
Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois)
Alice Hastings (D-Florida)
Earl Hilliard (D-Alabama, retired from office)
Maurice Hinchey (D-New York)
Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas)
Rush Holt (D-New Jersey)
Mike Honda (D-California)
Darlene Hooley (D-Oregon)
Inslee
Jackson (Il.)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson, E.B.
Jones (OH)
Kaptur
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kleczka
Kucinich
LaFalce
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Lofgren
Maloney (CT)
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McKinney
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller
Mollohan
Moran (Va)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sawyer
Schakowsky
Scott
Serrano
Slaughter
Snyder
Solis
Stark
Strickland
Stupak
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Udall (NM)
Udall (CO)
Velazquez
Visclosky
Waters
Watson
Watt
Woolsey
Wu


Robert Byrd (Democrat W.Va) stated outright that this was a Declaration of War.

What do you think was wrong with the other Democrats that they were so easily fooled?

Please post a few quotes of from the Democrats who felt that Bush had lied to them as the Buildup to the Invasion began. Surely they must have said something if what you claim is true.
Don't you think?

Statements that were made AFTER the Iraq War lost its popular support are inadmissible for obvious reasons.

Thanks!
 

HardTimes99

(2,049 posts)
18. Hillary voted for the AUMF, to her everlasting shame, ignominy and discredit, in order
Sun Sep 1, 2013, 12:40 AM
Sep 2013

to buff up her national security credentials for a future presidential run. She has up until now expressed not the slightest shred of remorse for the FACT that the blood of 1,000,000+ Iraqis drips from her hands.

Shameful, despicable and should permanently disqualify her from any further national elective office

sibelian

(7,804 posts)
19. Yes, but Obama did it in a politically brilliant way! Bush was kinda chimpy when he did it.
Sun Sep 1, 2013, 03:10 AM
Sep 2013

Last edited Sun Sep 1, 2013, 04:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Even though they did the exact same thing, when Bush did it it was warmongering but when Obama does it it's a politically brilliant masterstroke!

damnedifIknow

(3,183 posts)
21. How about standing for what is right here at home?
Sun Sep 1, 2013, 11:51 AM
Sep 2013
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/29/2016-presidential-race-surveillance-liberty


I also voted for the president twice and was a major cheerleader but we need some things done for the American people also.
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