Authority "not" to go to war?
Listening to Kerry try to spin his position(s) on Iraq into a coherent and defensible whole has long been entertaining, but now it has become theater of the absurd. In an interview yesterday with NPR's Bob Siegel, Kerry unveiled a new level of "nuance" in justifying his vote authorizing the war: he also gave Bush the authority not to go to war!
No, I am not making this up. Listen for yourself.
Now this is a new one. A president needs congressional authorization not to go to war? Who knew? I never really thought that was an issue.
Frankly, I've always found this Clintonian hair-splitting over what "authorization" means to be a bit disingenuous:
WIFE: Honey, can I borrow the car?HUSBAND: Sure. I hereby authorize you to drive the car.
***Screeeech! CRASH!!***
HUSBAND: What the hell are you doing? You shouldn't have driven this car!!
WIFE: But you told me I could.
HUSBAND: No no no!! I merely authorized you to drive the car! I didn't want you to actually drive it! I'm opposed to your driving the car! I also gave you the authority not to drive it!
Comments
Just because the husband "authorized" the wife to drive the car doesn't mean he authorized her to drive the car over a cliff.
If the wife promised to act in a reasonable manner and there was no reason to believe that she shouldn't, then the primary responsibility is hers.
The congressional resolution dealt with the weapons of mass destruction and the potential threat they posed to the United States. If the threat of force was working to force meaningful inspections and those inspections were revealing a lesser security threat to this country than initially thought, then that threat was achieving its aim without our having to invade and occupy.
Whether Bush made the right decision or not to invade, the responsibility for that decision is his, especially in light of his decision (unlike his father in 1991) to not go back to the congress right before the actual fighting.
Posted by: PE | September 23, 2004 04:23 PM
It would be a miracle to get him. I myself think he has gone to his field of non-glory.
Posted by: marie from yonkers | September 25, 2004 03:29 AM