Why is Karl Rove considered...

...a political genius?

The man first managed to run the 2006 GOP elections based on the idea that electing Democrats would result in all of us catching the terrorists' super smallpox viruses, spontaneously converting to radical Islam and then dying in a nuclear fireball. If you recall, that managed to award the Democrats control of Congress (which they have squandered).

But now this: Crooks and Liars has a clip of Rove on Hannity and Colmes talking about Boumediene v. Bush, in which SCOTUS argued that Gitmo detainees have the right to habeas corpus rights. As many have noted before, this does not automatically mean the people we are illegally holding for indefinite periods of time can go out and strap on a C-4 vest and kill Americans -- it means that they have the right to challenge their detention. And the bottom line is that if they were actually terrorists, we should have a pretty damn good case against them: THEY BLEW UP AMERICAN BUILDINGS OR KILLED AMERICAN TROOPS!

But Karl Rove goes on H&C and spouts the right-wing nonsense that the terrorists can now be set free immediately and proceed to bomb our cities and get gay married.

If you watch the entire clip, you realize just how much of an idiot Rove is. He tries to claim that the 2002 vote for the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Iraq is the same as a declaration of war.

This is deceiving. Ultimately, the supreme law of the land, the US Constitution, says that Congress is vested with the power to declare war, while the War Powers Resolution declares that the President may take immediate action against enemies of the state.

If you read the 2002 Iraq AUMF, it shows that the President is bound to use force only as last resort if diplomacy had failed.

Diplomacy never failed. Thus, amongst other arguments, the Congress has every right to withdraw support and pull the troops out right now. The other major argument is probably that the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional, as it undercuts Article I's statement that the legislature is responsible for the declaration of war. Unfortunately, with the Supreme Court stacked as it is, I don't see that sort of ruling emerging at any time in the next few months.


Posted by pdmccaul [Op-Ed] ( July 04, 2008 04:23 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]