« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

According to Dick Durbin, Presidents Should NOT Come To Congress Before Going to War

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  March 30th, 2011 at 05:12 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

From the “say or do anything to defend your man” file, Dick Durbin just ingratiated himself to the American anti-war left with a doozie of a tale on the floor of the United States Senate.

According to Dick Durbin, a man who once called American soldiers nazis, Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush broke precedent by going to Congress before initiating hostilities.

Yes, I got it right.

Rand Paul, on the floor of the Senate, said

I THINK THERE’S A PROBLEM WITH SORT OF SAYING IT’S OKAY TO DECLARE THAT THE PRESIDENT CAN GO TO WAR AFTER HE’S ALREADY DONE IT. . . . I THINK YOU SHOULD BE INSULTED THE SAME WAY I AM INSULTED THEY NEVER CAME TO CONGRESS.

The caps are from the Senate transcript service.

Durbin, responded thusly:

I WOULD SAY TO THE SENATOR FROM KENTUCKY, HE IS CORRECT IN HIS STATEMENT THAT NOT ONLY PRESIDENT GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH BUT ALSO GEORGE W. BUSH CAME TO CONGRESS AND REALLY KIND OF BROKE PRECEDENT.

Nice to see the Democrats finally admit George Bush went to Congress before going into Iraq.

Tags: ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • izoneguy

    Why tell the Congress or the American people anything when you secretly
    use the CIA to do your bidding???
    Heh, where will the anti-war leftists end up on this news?
    And I wonder if Obama consulted with Nancy Pelosi about this/
    Seeing that she is a CIA expert and all….

    Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels

    http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/exclusive-obama-authorizes-secret-support-for-libya-rebels

    WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

    Obama signed the order, known as a presidential “finding”, within the last two or three weeks, according to four U.S. government sources familiar with the matter.

  • lineholder

    Just get in there and back out again. It will only take a few days. That’s all.

    He’s underestimated Gaddafi, and perhaps even the people in Libya who still support Gaddafi. Even today, there are reports that pro-Gadaffi forces are driving back rebels.

    http://www.france24.com/en/20110330-liveblogging-libya-syria-gaddafi-counter-offensive-rebels

  • streiff

    Clinton received Congressional approval before Somalia and before Bosnia.

    Congress was in recess during the Panama invasion and approved the action retrospectively.

    Reagan did not get approval for Grenada.

    Truman did not get approval for Korea.

    So if one looks at military actions since 1951 Durbin is mostly wrong.

  • melissatx

    But Durbin, opening his mouth removes all doubt he would take one for the team, no matter how stupid it makes him look.

    Obama didn’t ask because he thinks permission from the UN is of much more import; that, and he has made a habit of flipping the bird to The People.

  • radicalrighty

    Cindy Sheehan is reading Durbin’s quote and calling him a dirty word . . .

  • 2warabnvet

    Do you find it a bit ironic that, while Al Qaeda thugs are killing our servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan, Owebama and his minions are willing to fund and risk the lives of our servicemen to support Al Qaeda in Libya?

  • ihateliberals

    he has to answer to no one. I feel that a President should always have to get approval from congress before any military invasion is perpetrated. King Obama doesn’t even know who he is supporting he only knows tht he doesn’t want Qaddafi in power. He doesn’t even know if the end goal of the Libyan people is true democracy. We ma be installing an even worse regime than the current one. there is a reason congress has to be involved in a decision to go to war. Congress is the “We the people” and it is our right to make such a decision and we do that through or representatives.

  • jhft

    President Franklin Roosevelt sent the AVG to China to fly combat missions against the Japanese long before Pearl Harbor. The whole operation was top secret.

  • http://www.veronicaestrada.com Veronica

    .. in the US.

    Dick Durbin’s neck-deep in R2P, as are all progressives who are interested in selling out the United States to level out the global playing field.

    The bill from the last congress:
    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1346

    A synopsis:
    http://veronicaestrada.com/blog/2010/05/11/obamas-human-rights-and-non-nuclear-utopia/

    I apologize for its brevity, but we were limited to 500 words.

    Nothing new, Erick. Progressives will back Obama because whatever he does multilaterally at the UN’s bidding diminishes our own sovereign power.

    Shoulda kicked them all out while we had the chance. Why are Pelosi and that old haggard guy from Nevada still around?

  • hendrig

    Truman didn’t need to go to congress. Korea was a Japanese possession during WWII. The US occupied the south and the Soviets occupied the north. That is why Korea is a divided country today. We had a small occupation force in Korea at the start of hostilities. The North Koreans had attacked US forces in the south. When our forces were attacked, Truman, as Commander in Chief, had the authority to order them to defend themselves. He did not need to go to Congress for that. Then the UN got involved, General Mac Aurthur was put in command of the UN Forces and the rest is history. You are absolutely correct that Durbin is mostly wrong.