RSS
Meet Monique; Non-Partisan Impeachocrat
Ardmore's Monique Frugier raises a few provocative questions in a recent Letter to the Editor.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had lied to Congress and to the American people in order to launch an unprovoked war of aggression against Iraq, would he be impeached?"
Well, Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, arguably lied to the American people about the Vietnam War and he wasn't impeached.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had ordered a domestic wiretapping on American citizens without court authorization, would he be impeached?"
Well, John Kennedy, a Democrat, allowed his brother Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, also a Democrat, to illegally wiretap the home of Martin Luther King, and he wasn't impeached.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had approved torture of detainees and suspended the right of habeas corpus by holding American citizens without charges, would he be impeached?"
Well, Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, ordered the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans during WWII, including the parents of my Uncle Ben.
Also during FDR's presidency seven German POWs were tortured until they confessed to the murder of a fellow U-boat sailor and prisoner at Papago Park POW camp in Arizona. And he wasn't impeached.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had ignored the faithful execution of the laws of the United States, breaking the oath of office by attaching signing statements to bills passed by Congress, would he be impeached?"
Well, actually Bill Clinton, a Democrat, issued many more signing statements than George Bush and he wasn't impeached, at least for that.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had abused his power, undermining our constitutional system of checks and balances, would he be impeached?"
Well, Abraham Lincoln arguably abused his presidential powers, undermining our constitutional system of checks and balances but then, he was a Republican. Still, he is revered today by most Democrats and Republicans alike for saving the United States of America. He wasn't impeached. But he was shot.
According to her blog, Monique is a naturalized American citizen. She is originally from France. She should bone up on her American history.
Monique favors the impeachment of George W. Bush.
"Impeachment," she writes, "is not about partisanship but for the good of the Republic and the preservation of our Constitution."
No, nothing partisan here. Just the French being the French. Even after they've become American.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had lied to Congress and to the American people in order to launch an unprovoked war of aggression against Iraq, would he be impeached?"
Well, Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, arguably lied to the American people about the Vietnam War and he wasn't impeached.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had ordered a domestic wiretapping on American citizens without court authorization, would he be impeached?"
Well, John Kennedy, a Democrat, allowed his brother Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, also a Democrat, to illegally wiretap the home of Martin Luther King, and he wasn't impeached.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had approved torture of detainees and suspended the right of habeas corpus by holding American citizens without charges, would he be impeached?"
Well, Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, ordered the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans during WWII, including the parents of my Uncle Ben.
Also during FDR's presidency seven German POWs were tortured until they confessed to the murder of a fellow U-boat sailor and prisoner at Papago Park POW camp in Arizona. And he wasn't impeached.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had ignored the faithful execution of the laws of the United States, breaking the oath of office by attaching signing statements to bills passed by Congress, would he be impeached?"
Well, actually Bill Clinton, a Democrat, issued many more signing statements than George Bush and he wasn't impeached, at least for that.
She writes: "If a Democratic president had abused his power, undermining our constitutional system of checks and balances, would he be impeached?"
Well, Abraham Lincoln arguably abused his presidential powers, undermining our constitutional system of checks and balances but then, he was a Republican. Still, he is revered today by most Democrats and Republicans alike for saving the United States of America. He wasn't impeached. But he was shot.
According to her blog, Monique is a naturalized American citizen. She is originally from France. She should bone up on her American history.
Monique favors the impeachment of George W. Bush.
"Impeachment," she writes, "is not about partisanship but for the good of the Republic and the preservation of our Constitution."
No, nothing partisan here. Just the French being the French. Even after they've become American.
posted by Spencerblog at
8:27 PM
29 Comments:
Gil:
I read her letter and my first reaction was to puke, and I did not realize that she is even French. Figures!
Great analysis as truth is much more powerful than retoric. I wanted to respond but I was busy arguing Mrcavage's free speech rights in the Third Circuit.
Nice job.
Go back to France if you don't like here Monique!
50 years from now when history has played itself out a little bit, George W. Bush will be looked upon favorably for moving our nation in a more secure direction in what has become a very unsecure post-cold war world. People like Monique and their naive views will be long forgotten 50 years from now.
If Obama is elected in November 2008 and follows through with his campaign promises to reverse the direction Bush is taking our country, 60 years from now he will be viewed as the fool who was unable to recognize the state of the world and led us into worse days than we've ever seen.
The hurt feelings of the shrill Bush haters are never more evident than when they grasp to justify their hurt feelings notions.
Monique's father died fighting the Nazi's you jerks. And she lived the early part of her life, until age 12, in French Morocco. She sees America making the same mistakes the French did in Algeria and in Morocco.
And to get a more in depth view of the historical background about how the French treated the pied-noir, read this Wikipedia article on the pied-noir.
You authoritarians are quite a problem in this country. The mentality and vulgar attitude you exhibit towards Monique, who is an American citizen and has a right to voice her opinion is truly sad. No wonder the world hates us now.
Before George Bush we were respected in the world. Folks like you are leading our nation into the abyss and we are going over, if we have not already gone over the edge into the depths of hell itself.
And yes, many of the things you say about past leaders are true. But shouldn't we have learned from our past mistakes? George Bush and his followers obviously haven't learned from their history books.
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
George Bush made the same mistakes that Presidents made over 40 years ago. What does that tell us? George Bush and his followers didn't learn a thing from their history books. They just magnified the problem and agree that it's ok to ignore our past errors in judgement and to learn nothing from some of our shameful history.
This is the logic of fools. "It's ok if I did because someone else did it before and got away with it. That means I can do evil too with no repurcussions." Your side uses the mistakes of the past to justify the sins of the present. That's evil personified. Intelligent people learn from their mistakes.
Monique certainly has. No one else who's posted so far has.
You can hit the road to Granpa Moses. If you don't like America, beat it. You and Monique are trying to weaken my nation. You have lulled yourself back into la-la land where nothing bad ever happens. Guess what, as soon as Bush leaves and we let our guard down, we are going to get slammed again. Terrorists don't live in la-la land and neither do we. You just have yourself fooled into thinking we do.
God bless her father and this is no knock on him personally, but historically the French as a whole haven't had the intestinal fortitude to do what is right in the world since the American Revolution. Monique's father died because his country was overtaken by psychopaths and he fought against the psychopaths. You and Monique advocate the desecration of our modern day war against the psychopaths.
If your feelings are aligned with their's, then yes, you and I will never get along. Wake up.
Good Germans felt the same as you do.
Gil:
Lyndon Johnson should certainly have been Impeached, but he knew his time was up after the courageous Senator Gene McCarthy challenged him in New Hampshire on Vietnam and sent LBJ packing.
Then there was Richard Nixon. No comment!
Now there is George W. Bush who not only has got us in an illegal war without Constitutional authorization, Article One, Section 8. , but he is sending our country into bankrupcy. He has doubled the national debt and completely trashed the dollar. Our bonds are held by the Chinese and the Saudi's. No wonder so many Americans are fed up and can't take it anymore!
Bush will have a legacy far worse than Nixon's. What a fool he is. The elites used him and now he will be trashed even by his fellow Republicans!
You can hit the road to Granpa Moses. If you don't like America, beat it.
Granpa Moses, Monique and I love America! We love America enough to want to see it turn away from the darkness of the Bush years, to see it turn back to the law-abiding ways that we all, ever so imperfectly, but at least sincerely, tried to follow.
Spencerblog brings up many worthwhile comparisons, but ALL of the problems he cites have now occurred under JUST ONE president!!!
We need to impeach Bush so that the next president can take over a truly lawful nation. Punishing the current president isn't the point, we need to establish the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law.
Phaaroh told Moses to leave his country too. Moses just parted the Red Sea and left Phaaroh to wallow in his own doom. The sea closed in on Phaaroh's army.
That Phaaroh, he wasn't a bright guy.
Reminds me of another leader and his followers. You have lead your army into a sea that is swallowing you and MY COUNTRY.
WAKE UP!
What "Illegal War" are you referring to sfren123? You make a reference to Article one Section 8, is that about Congress Authorizing the war?
granpa, go back to fantasy land. Us realists will make sure you're safe in the real world. Of course I wish the world was a nice place where no one wanted to kill me just because I'm an American. But unfortunately, pretending that that isn't the case won't protect me. We need to be proactive and use our military to go out in the world and hunt down the people who want to come to America to kill American civilians. If the bastards who are planning attacks on America need to be tortured to save American lives, then I am all for it. I have little kids and I don't want them to have to fight a new war years down the road because you people don't have the balls to finish this one. You are worried about what the French think and you're on some moral high horse where you'll forgive the 9-11 hijackers and other terrorists, the deposed and departed dictator from Iraq but call for the head of the American President who protects you? You won't sway me.
The Germans were evil, we are good.
Rich,
I think you misinterpreted your own Constitution, which you quote as a "factual" basis for your argument. You however forgot, that Article 1, Section 8 of the Constituion, never mentions what Congress has/needs to do in order to "declare war." Therefore, by Congress (a Democratic majority nonetheless), voting to fund the war, they (Congress) are actually "declaring war" by the basis that they are doing nothing to "stop" the war.
"I have little kids and I don't want them to have to fight a new war years down the road because you people don't have the balls to finish this one."
Say this to the parents who lost their kids in Iraq for the war that Bush started! did Iraq attacked us on 9/11? And yes, this war is illegal, only Congress must declare war. This war was based on lies and you know it. If Al Qaeda is in Iraq now, it was not there on 9/11. I have an idea: why don't you all go there and fight for Bush's lies?
To Mike:
I'm not citing the Bush Administration's lawlessness in reference to how the Iraq War was launched. That was a more or less legal action from the domestic side. What I'm concerned about is that from the international legal perspective, the US invasion of Iraq was more or less indistinguishable from the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
Germany was "concerned" about the Danzig Corridor and how Germans were being treated by the sovereign state of Poland. The US was "concerned" by Iraq's ridiculously hyped WMD. In neither case was war justified, in both cases the launching of the war was a crime.
The idea that the US must "go abroad in search of dragons to slay" was one that our second President very wisely rejected. Just today, the Philly Inq reported on their third page that US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are "weary." Of course they are! They're weary for exactly the reason that Adams foresaw! Fighting bad guys all over the world is an exhausting business.
It sure is exhausting and they should be commended for volunteering to protect us. They don't want you to speak on their behalf. Everyone of them either enlisted or re-enlisted since 9/11 and Operation Iraqi Freedom happened. They are there because they want to be there.
You conveniently skew history to corroborate your story by comparing the United States to Germany invading Poland, but your tale has a few holes in it.
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was Public Law #107-243 that was passed by the United States Congress in October 2002.qiewo
stw,
I've done my time in the military, how about you?
To the parents and family of soldiers who have died fighting to protect us I say this: My family and I wish to extend our deepest condolences for the death of your loved one. We are grateful for the sacrifices that your family has endured and are forever indebted your Service member for laying down their life to protect American Freedom. Thank You.
And to you "stw" and "rich" I say this: Your attempts to discredit these fine American Patriots who have died for a most just cause are lost with me. I detest you for implying that these fine men and women died while committing a crime of fighting an illegal war or comparing them to Nazi's invading Poland. May you rot in hell after dying from a terrorist attack!
God Bless America
To: e
Please, lear how to read - and not between lines- I never implied that "these fine men and women died while committing a crime of fighting an illegal war". The crime was committed by George W. Bush who sent them to die for his lies.Step back to 2003 and retrieve from your memory the reason why Bush bombed Iraq. WMD? mushroom clouds? OOPS! I forgot the famous 16 words... It was a bunch of lies and you know it!
Iraq did not attack the U.S.A. period. And for the next terrorist attack if and it will come, just remember how much hatred the Bush administration has inflicted on us.
OH! now dear Condi Rice is crying for the world to help defeat terrorists in Afghanistan? guess what? this is where we should have been at the first place!
True Patriots are the ones who are not afraid to stand-up and no matter how they die, they won't rot in hell as they fought against facism!I am one of them.
Iraq has sponsored terrorism since the 1970's. Do a little research. WMD was only one the reasons we went to war in Iraq in 2003. We are engaged in a Global War on Terrorism.
No matter how you try to sugar coat it, if you suggest the war is illegal, then you are implying that the combatants are doing something wrong. How can the war be wrong and soldiers fighting the war be right? And what's wrong about liberating Iraq from their murderous, oppressive dictator? What's wrong with killing terrorists and taking the fight to them over there with our military so they don't take the fight to us here against civilians?
Using your logic, we should have never fought in Europe in World War II. We were attacked by Japan! We had no business fighting the Germans and Italians right dingus.
Oh, and you keep conveniently forgetting that Congress authorized the war in Iraq and continues to fund it because it is the right thing to do.
George Bush is the President of the United States, but he does not have the power to authorize and fund military conflict from 2002 to 2008 and beyond without anyone stopping him in between. We have checks and balances. He was re-elected because he's doing such a great job. Get over it, you're wrong.
Get on board with the rest of our country and enjoy the freedom and blanket of security our Military has provided by fighting the terrorists on their turf instead of our cities. Terrorists are dumping all their terrorist assets, resources and man power into fighting our military (which is what the military is for) in the middle east instead of putting all those things to work here in America against you and I.
STOP THE US WAR ON VETERANS!
This war has nothing to do with protecting American lives from the Terrorists or democracy.
The real terrorism is being carried out by our own government in their 'War on our Veterans':
2 million Veterans without Health Care!
Hundreds of thousands of homeless Veterans sleeping in the streets!
1 of 4 Veterans with PTSD syndrom and not being treated!
As a former member of United We Stand, I remember Ross Perot had to spend his own money to help Vets who were sick from the 1st Gulf War because the government did nothing!
The real patriots are out there protesting this war because, just like Vietnam, they know it's all based on lies!
And they know that another generation of Veterans is coming home wounded, sick, suicidal, homeless and ignored!
That's what you people should be angry out!
The fact that you're not protesting the treatment of our Veterans shows your not serious!
highwaymen, THANK YOU!
My thanks also to Monique,Rich, stw and granpa moses. May God have mercy for those who live in denial.
Too bad they have the need to insult anyone who does not agree with them.
Vive la France for saying NO to Bush's war! One day, justice will come my friends.
God bless America, God bless the anti-war PATRIOTS!
And what's wrong about liberating
Iraq from their murderous, oppressive dictator?
From
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/one-last-argument-with-bush.html
------
Bush assertion: "And so, in all we do, we must trust in the ability of
free peoples to make wise decisions and empower them to improve their
lives for their futures."
Sad fact:
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601721.html">Amit
Paley writes,
"A strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to
immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure
would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence, according
to new polls by the State Department and independent researchers.
In
Baghdad, for example, nearly three-quarters of residents polled said
they would feel safer if U.S. and other foreign forces left Iraq, with
65 percent of those asked favoring an immediate pullout . . ."
------
Bush assertion: "We launched a surge of American forces into Iraq. We
gave our troops a new mission: Work with the Iraqi forces to protect
the Iraqi people, pursue the enemy in his strongholds, and deny the
terrorists sanctuary anywhere in the country."
Sad fact: "The
Iraqi Red Crescent Organization and the U.N. reported last month that
the “number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American
troop increase began in February. . . The chart reports some decreases
in the intensity of “ethno-sectarian violence” in certain Baghdad
districts (Note: This is based on military data). But where there have
been decreases, they are due largely to the fact that “mixed Muslim”
areas are being overrun by either Shia or Sunni enclaves.The map above
demonstrates that Shias have been gradually taking over all of Baghdad
(noted by the green mass that now covers much of the city), wiping out
Sunni communities that stood in their path. Center for American
Progress analyst Brian Katulis estimated that Baghdad, which once used
to be a 65 percent Sunni majority city, is now 75 percent Shia."
------
Cole goes on to explode many more myths that Bush propagated in his
State of the Union speech. I'm sorry, but with at least 600,000
Iraqi deaths since the invasion of 2003, there is simply no way that
one can morally justify the Iraq invasion.
To the parents and family of soldiers who have died fighting to
protect
us I say this
I'm sorry, I honor and respect all of our soldiers and believe that all
of them went to Iraq believing in Bush's lies, but they were not and
are not protecting us from anything.
Iraq has sponsored terrorism since the 1970's.
On 12 September 2002, President Bush gave his casus belli
speech, specifying all of the reasons why the US wanted to invade
Iraq. He spent many paragraphs on WMD (which did not exist) and a
few paragraphs on human rights atrocities (none of which were confirmed
by Human Rights Watch), he never specified any terrorist activities
that Iraq carried out. That was his opportunity and he didn't
make use of it.
I repeat, the legal basis for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Poland
in 1939 were the same.
Umm... Ok.
-As a Veteran, I agree with you that we should take better care of Vet's.
-I don't know what you are are talking about with your "war of our veterans". The VA has at least some benefits for almost every veteran, unless you saw no combat service, have a less than honorable discharge or make too much money. If you have a service connected disability, you qualify for benefits.
-While I respect the right of others to "protest", I personally never protest anything. I think it is an exercise in futility that rarely, if ever, brings about the desired change.
-You are wrong when you say "This war has nothing to do with protecting American lives from the Terrorists or democracy." It has everything to do with protecting American lives and Democracy. Don't devalue what our troops are doing to further your political agenda.
rich,
What percentage of Iraqi's wanted Saddam overthrown?
What percentage of Iraqi's wish they were still being oppressed by his regime?
What percentage of Iraqi's were even allowed to participate in one of your piss-ant polls before they were liberated?
Your assertion that our liberation of Iraq is the same as Germany invading Poland has one major flaw. Germany annexed Poland and made it part of it's empire. We liberated Iraq and helping them build their own free nation.
The Washington Post is crap. You want the truth, check out :
www.michaelyon-online.com and watch the Military Channel. Find out what's going on first hand instead of through the liberal media filters.
e: Your question #3 answers your question #1. We don't know how many Iraqis wanted the evil dictator Saddam Hussein to be overthrown because there were no polls.
In answer to question #2, the objective fact of the matter is that Iraqis are much worse off today than they were in February 2003.
Our media has refused to cover it, but President Bush put out a "signing statement" on January 29, Britain's Guardian said: "George Bush has resumed his practice of disregarding portions of new laws, quietly reserving the right to build permanent military bases in Iraq..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2248964,00.html
If the US has not annexed Iraq yet, that legal technicality has simply not yet taken place.
You're proving my point rich. The answer to all of my questions is NONE. I'd love to hear why you think Iraqi's were better off being oppressed by murderous dictator Saddam Hussein than being free, being able to vote for their leaders, having free speech and being able to speak their mind without fear of imprisonment or death if they are deemed against Saddam.
Also, we have permanent military bases all over the world. Japan, Germany, South Korea, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and numerous other permanent places troops are stationed. We haven't annexed any of these countries have we? We would be foolish if we dumped all this money into Iraq and Afghanistan and didn't establish permanent bases where troops and equipment can be forward deployed for future conflict to protect American interests. Why ship all that stuff back to the states and possibly have to send it back in the future?
As I said, Saddam Hussein was indeed an evil dictator, but as I pointed out above, estimates of Iraqi deaths since the US invasion are at minimum 600,000 and some estimates go well above a million. Many millions have been displaced either within Iraq or to other countries. Before, a male could drive from one city to another with little to fear (Yes, if Hussein's secret police had reason to be suspicious of him, he'd be in trouble) but now people simply can't move around for fear of getting shot at. There are at least a million young Iraqi widows with no job-skills training that they can support themselves with. As I pointed out above, 65% of Iraqis want US troops to leave with dispatch.
In 1945, the US witnessed perhaps the first case of civilian refugees streaming towards an invading force. It was German civilians, running to escape the Red Army. Germany and Japan were occupied peacefully because they were more concerned about the USSR than they were about the US. The other countries you mentioned are all being occupied peacefully. Iraq is waging an all-out guerrilla war against the US occupation because there is no equivalent of the USSR to distract anybody. The US is their biggest problem.
BTW, I looked through Michael Yon's blog and reviewed a book excerpt at
http://prawnblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/story-in-michael-yons-blog.html
Rich,
You still forget that most (not just a majority) of those 600,000 Iraqis killed were by terrorists and not by the US. The whole "US killing" Iraqis story was orchestrated by a well known Bush hater. Check your facts before talking.
rich,
Read Michael Yon's dispatches. Read them for yourself. Reading a review written by an anti-war blog isn't giving him a fair shake. I read the link you left and it made me laugh. The person writing the review wasn't paying much attention when they read his story. That was written about an incident that occurred in the early 1980's and the aggressor was not an anti-war person, the author believed he was a reservist looking to pick a fight with a Special Ops guy.
Anti-war people are going to slant things or ignore them if it doesn't go along with their cause.
We're doing a lot of good in Iraq and to stop and leave now would be disastrous. You can blame Bush all you want for starting a war you don't agree with. The whole world will be blaming you and your cohorts if you force a premature withdrawal from Iraq that leads to bigger problems than we've ever seen. If the US leaves Iraq too early, everything we've accomplished up until now will be nullified and it will turn into a country like Somalia, where thugs will rule an the widows you mentioned are worse off.
To e: Yeah, I regret linking to that review. My bad.
"Slanting things" is a universal human trait. The sources I trust are those that put their biases right up front so I know "where they're coming from." A very few sources can be truly objective, but I've found the least trustworthy sources are those that pretend to objectivity.
A perfect example was Wolf Blitzer questioning Democratic candidates about their taxation plans. He tried to make it sound as though Americans in general would suffer under those plans. Blitzer makes millions per year. HE would pay higher taxes, not regular Americans.
Problem was, Blitzer was trying to hide his own self-interest underneath a lot of concerned talk about American citizens in general.
Is the US doing a lot of good in Iraq? As I pointed out, the Iraqis themselves certainly don't think so.
To Mike: Iraq Body Count sheds light on just how most of the deaths are occurring and yes, car bombs account for a lot of them, but the report "The Price of Loss" doesn't give us a picture of an occupying force that seems overly concerned with civilian life. And remember, the evil dictator Saddam Hussein killed many people, but Iraqis are quite aware that death rates shot way, way up after the US invaded. They aren't blaming the insurgents. They're blaming the invader white Christians for all the trouble. Unfair? Yeah. A fact? Yeah.
Post a Comment
<< Home