"But in the 2002 vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq, the September/October 2008 TARP votes, and now this massive stimulus spending bill, Congress has been “rushed” into making fork-in-the-road decisions that will affect the country for decades to come."
Nothing was "rushed" about going into Iraq. Clinton - YEARS before - had made this official US policy: Regime change if Saddam didn't comply with the UN resolutions that ended the first Iraq war. The actual debate about enforcing UN mandates with US troops went on for months before there was a congressional vote on the issue in 2002.
Can't these useless drive-bys research ANYTHING before they regurgitate the latest crap-of-the-day stories?
Well I'd have to say that nothing was rushed until 911. In Bush's defense, acts of war NEED to be rushed. Clinton's push for regime change ranks up there with a vote by congress for a new national park. It had little force and affect. As for Saddam's violation of the UN resolutions, that's called breaking the terms of an armistice which means the resumption of war. There were what? 13 violations of the armistice? The UN just flat out refused to enforce its obligations to resume the war. Bush didn't break any UN or international laws by going to war with Saddam. None. The US had every right to RESUME the war. Bush exorcised the US’s right to uphold that obligation as a member nation.