Posted on 08/14/2003 11:37:00 AM PDT by Maximilian
Here is the photo that dominates the home page of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. This is not a parody. You can click the link and see for yourself. Notice the 2 flags behind the Capitol. Which country are we living in here, and where lie the loyalties of our leaders?
Er, no (this is something you should've learned in high school civics class). Dennis Hastert is Speaker of the House, not Tom DeLay. Majority Leader DeLay is not part of the line of succession.
The 25th Amendment reiterates what is stated in Article 2, Section 1: that the Vice President is the direct successor of the President. He or she will become President if the President cannot serve for whatever reason. The 25th also provides for a President who is temporarily disabled, such as if the President has a surgical procedure or if he or she become mentally unstable.
The original Constitution provides that if neither the President nor Vice President can serve, the Congress shall provide law stating who is next in line. Currently that law exists as 3 USC 19, a section of the U.S. Code. This law was established as part of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. There, the following line of succession is provided:
And the billions of dollars in foreign aid given to Israel since before Tom Delay was born, do not represent an offical US Governmet Edorsement of a Foreign Power?
Presidnet Harry Turman made the official US government endorsement of Irael in 1948. We were on Isaels side in three Arab-Israeli wars. Israel won all three agamist larger arab forces. The Arabs used Russian Weapons and Tactics while Irael used ours. Israel kicked the crap out of the Arabsl three straight times. Being on the side of Israel has been offical US policiy for all administrations for over 55 years.
We've given billions to Arab powers as well. Was that an official endorsement of Saddam Hussein? I don't think so.
Presidnet Harry Turman made the official US government endorsement of Irael in 1948.
He recognized their existence. That is a long way from flying the Israeli flag over the US Capitol.
Being on the side of Israel has been offical US policiy for all administrations for over 55 years.
This might be the de facto reality, but it's not the official government policy.
I wish they were there on his site along with the Old Glory/Star of David collage. Blair deserves it..as do the dead Brits who died saving our bacon. Would you prefer to see some lib Dem in a warm embrace with Fidel or the Ortega hermanos or Saint Mandela? I'm sure we can find one somewhere from the past on a congresscritter's website. These folks (Israel and the UK)are our allies. There is nothing wrong with displying their flag on any website including POTUS's as a show of solidarity and kinship. Blair took the kind of heat not many US politicos would weather to do the right thing.....very very unusual....especially from someone who has serious domestic policy diferences with W.
No, of course not. But that's just the point. Ann Coulter can accuse liberals of "treason" for their embrace of foreign powers like the odious examples you mention above. But shouldn't the same rules apply to conservatives? Should we be putting the interests of any country ahead of our own, whether it be the UK or Israel, or anyone else?
Me too. British soldiers have stood shoulder to shoulder with us, faught for freedom beside us and died beside us for the past century. Differences aside, we still have a lot in common with Britain.
If DeLay was making a speech concerning Britain's importance in the war on terror, I'd expect to see a photograph of our flag beside the British flag.
I don't understand what Max's problem is. Flying the flag of the nation(s) you're dealing with during any diplomatic effort, no matter how minor, is protocol. In the context of the article, DeLay is following the correct diplomatic protocol as a representative of our government in a diplomatic context.
First of all, he's showing a drawing of part of a flag of a foreign country, not flying it over the Capital building. Sheesh. If he'd just talked to the Japanese Diet, it would be the rising sun I expect.
Secondly he is not 3rd in line for the Presidency, nor in the line at all. He's House majority leader, 3rd in line is the Speaker of the House. Fourth is the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. I wish he was third in line, but he's not. The order, with more or less current officeholders is:
The Vice President Richard Cheney
Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
President pro tempore of the Senate1 Ted Stevens
Secretary of State Colin Powell
Secretary of the Treasury John Snow
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Attorney General John Ashcroft
Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton
Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman
Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Melquiades
Rafael Martinez
Secretary of Transportation Norman Yoshiro Mineta
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham
Secretary of Education Roderick Paige
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi
Am I supposed to feel a lot better that this photo is run on his website in support of his speech to the Knesset in which he undermined President Bush's Mideast policy?
Houston Chronicle 8-12-2003:
President Bush's support for the establishment of a Palestinian state in two years may be overly ambitious, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told a pro-Israel audience in Houston Monday.The Republican lawmaker made his remarks as political fallout continues to radiate over his controversial July trip to Iraq and Israel, where he spoke before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, his message there highlighting his ideological gap with Bush over the Middle East peace process.
It goes to the cabient. See my previous post #37
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