Posted on 09/11/2013 9:58:49 AM PDT by jazusamo
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) argued Wednesday that President Obama should consider bombing Syria without congressional approval, because the credibility of the White House is now on the line.
McCain said that if Obama acts before any vote in Congress, he could argue that he has acted in conformity with past administrations, including President Reagan’s invasion of Grenada in the 1980s.
“He notified everybody the next morning,” McCain noted at a Wall Street Journal breakfast roundtable.
The senior Republican acknowledged the decision would be a difficult one, but he said he did not think members of his own party would try to remove President Obama from office if he acted in the vital national interest.
“They’re not going to impeach the president. They’re not that crazy,” he told reporters after the event.
McCain said he has been wrestling with the question of whether Obama should ignore Congress.
“There are times when the president of the United States has to act in the national interest and that clashes with my view we are a nation of laws, governed by the Constitution and the separation of powers,” he said.
“I do believe there are times, particularly prior to World War II, we have the example of Franklin Roosevelt taking actions that Congress would never have approved … Abraham Lincoln acted unilaterally in the Civil War,” he added.
McCain said the world should know within as little as 48 hours whether a Russian proposal to put Syrian chemical weapons under international control is merely a “rope-a-dope” stalling tactic.
The best way to test the Russian proposal, he said, is to bring it to the United Nations Security Council and see if the Russians veto a resolution that is backed by the threat of force and which authorizes international weapons inspections on the ground in Syria.
If the Russian proposal is a ruse, Obama will have a stronger argument in favor of military action.
“I think that, one, that the president of the United States should go back, if this fails, this Russian initiative, and convince the American people again,” McCain said. "Then I think the president has to decide what’s in our vital national interest.”
“If he launched an attack on Syria without the endorsement of Congress, it would be vastly more complicated if Congress had already acted. If he acted without the agreement of Congress, you could make the argument before the resolution was passed … that he is acting as other president have.”
“It he is a very, very difficult situation,” McCain said.
He said that a failed vote in Congress would be “catastrophic” and could damage future presidential power. Failure to act could embolden Iran, threaten Israel and “diminish” the White House in the eyes of the world, he said.
McCain acknowledged that the congressional GOP has emerged as the chief obstacle to acting in Syria. He said a “battle” is raging for the soul of the Republican Party and internationalists must prevail over isolationists, whom he called “wacko-birds.”
He said he would be having dinner Wednesday with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a leading opponent of involvement in Syria.
McCain acknowledged that missteps by the Bush administration in Iraq have fostered a renewed isolationism.
“The American people and the world were not told the truth about weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “I understand why they are skeptical.”
McCain said Obama’s Tuesday night speech, overall, was “good,” but Obama should have shown more support for the rebel movement and tried to dispel any idea they are Muslim extremists.
“They must have been dispirited last night by president’s failure to mention that they deserved our support,” he said.
I think McCain has to go there to bomb and intercept an aa-munitions with his own plane once again.
Any President who launches attacks on a country without Congressional okay should be impeached. It is high time Congress take back its constitutional powers and duties and start taking them seriously.
No more Imperial Presidency.
We’re screwed. The fix is in and will be in 2016 too.
It’s why I’m focusing on wind and solar power for my 32 acres. Once I get that I will be 100% self sufficient.
Ditto.
I held my nose and pulled for McCain in 2008, hoping that he and Palin would win and that those rumors about McCain’s poor health were true. Also, the prospect of picking up a decent Supreme Court justice or two seemed worth it.
On election night, I thought: The bad news is Barack Obama won. The good news is John McCain lost.
I dunno. If it’s like the bin Laden raid, 0bama is going to suit up, kick the tires, light the fires, and drop the bombs himself, so why should he ask anyone’s permission?
As Judge Nepolitano states, this would be an international war crime because the UN hasn’t sanctioned the action as a punitive measure against the use of chemical weapons. It is also unconstitutional and an impeachable offense.
McQueeg should just jump into his A4 and go bomb the crap out of Syria himself. This time, try not to get shot down, Maverick....
“Obama should consider bombing Syria without congressional approval, because the credibility of the White House is now on the line.”
Let’s not forget this is the same idiot that went around on all the Sunday talk shows stabbing GWB in the back.
He showed his true colors long ago. His followers and voters including all who pushed for him here at free republic simply do not care.
John McCain American Hero Gets Shot Down:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpPwbTxkks
McIdiot needs to shut up and go far, far away.
Back in 2008, I got flamed for saying McBrownNose was pimping for him. Sadly, I was right.
Bomb McCain first.
"If no one sees you take the cookies they can't accuse you of stealing them." - McLame
>Sorta like rape, rape?<
.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/3/islamic-cleric-decrees-it-ok-syrian-rebels-rape-wo/
That has been written about extensively but people just ignore it.
John McCain funded by Soros since 2001
McCain/Soros by Rabbi Areyh Spero
McCain-Soros Toppled GOP Candidates Nov. 21, 2006
Soros' "Reform" (an article about Soros‘ instrumental hand in McCain/Feingold)
John McCain: George Soros' Useful Idiot?
Through The Weeds; John McCain, George Soros and the Reform Institute
Inside McCain's Reform Institute
McCain’s Reform Institute donor list: (From the WayBackMachine. RI removed it in 2006)
Lining the Pockets of McCain’s Reform Institute
Reform Institute greatfully acknowleges Sen. McCain as past Chairman:
(page has been scrubbed)
McCain has been bought and paid for by George Soros.
Shut up Juan!
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