And the press.

Hat tip to the guys at Powerline

From the New York Times, highlights are mine.

During the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton went out of their way to point out their foreign policy differences, with Mrs. Clinton portraying herself as a hawkish Democrat and defending her decision to vote in favor of the **2002 resolution that Mr. Bush later considered an authorization to use military force against Saddam Hussein.** (Later, she said she fully expected Mr. Bush to use diplomacy first — and was shocked that he did not.)

There seems to have been a lot of confusion on the Democratic side of the aisle as well as in the mainstream media about that pesky resolution. I mean here we’ve got Democrats voting on a measure they think will encourage the President to negotiate with Saddam and the darn guy uses it to go to war. And then has the gall to say that Congress acted in bipartisan manner to let him do it.

I mean, gee whiz. Just take a look at the resolution as it was published by the Congress and you can see where the confusion comes from…

I mean, really. Really. Titling the darn thing

PUBLIC LAW 107-243 OCT 16, 2002

AUTHORIZATION FOR THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ RESOLUTION OF 2002

That’s confusing enough, but hey who actually reads the cover page anyway. I can’t count the number of reports and stuff that I’ve gotten where I just tossed the cover page or spilled coffee on or whatever. But then, moving right along all the way to page 5 of 6 you’ve got this confusing little gem…

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The President is authorized to use the
Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary
and appropriate

Bold and caps in the original.

Geez Louise. Who reads all the way to nearly the end of stuff anyway. Unless it’s maybe a good novel.

Or maybe we should just start stuffing stuff into legislation since the Democrats and the media don’t seem to be able to figure stuff out anyway. Like maybe “Sixty calendar days after this legislation is signed into law the Department of Education will be shut down immediately, the effected employees of said Department will receive no severance pay and will be barred for life from employment in any part of the Federal Government or any publicly traded or private firm that contracts with the Federal Government for any goods or services.” I like that.