*Bush: "I firmly believe that Politicians here...shouldn't be telling the Generals what to do." WTF?

[Up2Late]

(Yes, he said that today!)

Here's the exact quote: "I believe strongly that politicians in Washington shouldn't be telling generals how to do their job," Bush said. "And I believe artificial timetables of withdrawal would be a mistake," he said, reinforcing his veto warning....

<http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-04-23T190411Z_01_N20398586_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-FUNDING.xml>

Could someone PLEASE tell Dim-Son that that IS THEIR JOB!!!:banghead:

Here is an excellent recent Commentary piece from the Christian Science Monitor that expresses this far better than I ever could!

from the April 05, 2007 edition - <http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0405/p09s01-coop.html>

The role of Congress in checking the power of the president

Legislators' failure to maintain the balance of powers has contributed to present troubles.
By Pat M. Holt

ARLINGTON, VA.

Poor President Bush. He was only trying to defeat terrorists and spread democracy, and here he is up to his neck in Democrats and bad news....

(edit)

...On Capitol Hill, both the Senate and House are wreaking havoc on the Bush policy in Iraq. Bush came to the White House with an exaggerated notion of the powers of the president based on the constitutional provision making him commander in chief. September 11 gave him the opportunity to expand this notion. The Republicans in Congress were cheerleaders for him; Democrats were paralyzed by political cowardice.

But he is commander in chief only of the armed forces, not of the country. The Constitution gives Congress a number of powers to complement the president's role as commander in chief. They include the power "(t)o raise and support Armies ... (t)o provide and maintain a Navy ... (t)o make rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces ... (t)o provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia...."

These powers, plus the congressional power to declare war, considerably modify the role of the commander in chief. Much of American history is concerned with struggles between the president and Congress over where to draw the line between themselves. There has been a back-and-forth swing of the pendulum between the two branches, sometimes accompanied by bitter disputes, as in the cases of Vietnam and now Iraq. The most important congressional power is the control of money. The power of the purse was what ultimately ended US involvement in Vietnam.

Unless Bush makes a sharp change in direction not only in Iraq but especially in how he looks at the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, his principal legacy could well be a dysfunctional government....

(more at link)

Page 1
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0405/p09s01-coop.html>

Page 2
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0405/p09s01-coop.html?page=2>

(Pat M. Holt is former chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.)

[eleny]

1. Well, he does have his own special wish list

[panader0]

2. Isn't that what HE did when he started this debacle??

[The Count]

3. So are we now a military state where generals rule? is W a general now?

Can all generals rule - or only the ones that agree with W? because he fored all the generals who wanted out of Iraq!

[Fridays Child]

4. Oh, you're talking about the Constitution? Pffft.

[Up2Late]

5. Oh, yeah, silly me.

What was I thinking? :banghead: :sarcasm: :spray:

[A wise Man]

6. So let me get this straight

We can fund the war but we can't ask questions about the war, nor can we investigate the war or have any oversight on how the money is being spent on the war nor can we seek peace concerning the war. I think that's about right, like I'm suppose to be some stupid brain dead republican!!!

[C_U_L8R]

7. Is not Bush a politician?

Does he even read what he's saying?

[Up2Late]

10. I think this might be a Bush original, because NPR played several clips of him saying this...

...in three or four different way.

If I remember it correctly, he was the one who said his job was to repeat his propaganda until the others "get it," or something along those lines.:hurts:

[cassiepriam]

8. He must have been drunk during high school government class.

[spanone]

9. And how many did he fire til they told him what HE wanted to hear.

go fuck yourself mr. prez.

[Up2Late]

11. Goodnight kick n/t

:kick:

[Hippo_Tron]

12. "Politicians" is Bushspeak for Democrats

Only the Republic Party is good enough to tell our Generals what to do.

[radfringe]

13. blame the generals

[freesqueeze]

14. Could it be...

That he has deluded himself into believing that he is not a Washington politician?



Spends future generation's money with impunity, tells lies, covers up, sees the opposition party as his enemy, pretends to be a good ol boy while spending a fortune on his clothes and shoes...looks like a politician to me.

[Up2Late]

15. kick n/t

:kick: