Yesterday, Barack Obama stood up for our Constitution.
Today, the demogogue running as the prospective Republican nominee struck back:
"Once again, we have seen that Senator Obama is a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mindset," McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said.
TPM
More, after the fold.
Obama campaign responds with Richard Clarke. See Update IV.
See Update V for John Kerry kicking serious McCain but on behalf of Obama.
Barack Obama at Update VI: Republicans have no "standing to suggest that they've learned a lot of lessons from 9-11."
In an interview yesterday, Barack Obama talked about how we can combat terrorists without trashing our Constitution:
Well, but the fact that they disagree does not mean that they're right on this. What it means is, is that they have been willing to skirt basic protections that are in our Constitution, that our founders put in place.
And it is my firm belief that we can track terrorists, we can crack down on threats against the United States, but we can do so within the constraints of our Constitution. And there has been no evidence on their part that we can't.
And, you know, let's take the example of Guantanamo. What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks -- for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.
And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, "Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims."
So that, I think, is an example of something that was unnecessary. We could have done the exact same thing, but done it in a way that was consistent with our laws.
abcnews
The McCain Campaign response:
"Once again, we have seen that Senator Obama is a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mindset," McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said.
snip
"If Senator Obama did receive that 3 A.M. call, his response would be to call the lawyers in the Justice Department," Scheunemann said.
TPM
More from Scheunemann:
"These aren’t just your run of the mill drug dealers that are picked up on the South Side of Chicago," he said, referring to the legal protection afforded criminal defendants.
Politico, Ben Smith
The GWOT again. The lies. The insinuations. The demogoguery. Just like 2004. McBush speaks with one disgusting voice.
It's time for all Democrats, hell, all Americans, to condemn this demogoguery.
"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law. The Framers decided that habeas corpus, a right of first importance, must be a part of that framework, a part of that law."
Justice Kennedy
Obama rally in Fort Worth on Feb 29, 2008
A president that was taught the constitution, believes in the constitution and will obey the constitution
It's time to say no more to demogoguery from Bush-McCain!
Update I.
Interesting. Look who used to work for the PNAC! "September-10-mindset" Scheunemann. And you know they want an Iranian invasion to expand the empire. No more deaths for Bush-McCain.
McCain has surrounded himself with the best and brightest from the now-defunct Project for the New American Century: Randy Scheunemann, one of its directors, is serving as McCain’s top foreign policy advisor.
He is joined by PNAC’s founder, Bill Kristol, along with Gary Schmitt (President), Robert Kagan (director), and James Woolsey (signatory).
More than any other group, PNAC has exerted the greatest influence over the Bush administration with regard to foreign policy.
In 1998, PNAC sent a letter to President Clinton (signed by the likes of Cheney, Rumsefeld, Wolfowitz, and others) urging him to effect regime change in Iraq because of Saddam Hussein’s so-called development of WMDs. Clinton responded by initiating Operation Desert Fox, bombing military targets over a period of several days to "degrade" Iraq’s ability to produce nuclear weapons.
A mere nine days after 9/11, PNAC sent a letter (signed again by many of the same luminaries) asking that President Bush attack Iraq even if no links to 9/11 were found. The Bush administration promptly proceeded to do just that: according to the testimony of ex-CIA and FBI, every intelligence agent in Iraq was tasked to discover links between Hussein and al-Qaeda. When they came up with nothing, they were ordered to look again. Despite the lack of credible links, the Bush administration proceeded to act as PNAC had requested.
McCain and PNAC
Iraq, the GWOT, and the PNAC dreams of empire, paid in our blood and our money. We MUST defeat Bush-McCain.
Update II:
John Edwards last year. Why I think he'll be an excellent surrogate for Obama, either as the VP nominee or as a private citizen. On GWOT, Obama and Edwards were much closer in understanding than either were with Clinton:
The core of this presidency has been a political doctrine that George Bush calls the "Global War on Terror." He has used this doctrine like a sledgehammer to justify the worst abuses and biggest mistakes of his administration, from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, to the war in Iraq. The worst thing about the Global War on Terror approach is that it has backfired—our military has been strained to the breaking point and the threat from terrorism has grown.
We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq American military that is mission-focused on protecting Americans from 21st century threats, not misused for discredited ideological pursuits. We need to recognize that we have far more powerful weapons available to us than just bombs, and we need to bring them to bear. We need to reengage the world with the full weight of our moral leadership.
What we need is not more slogans but a comprehensive strategy to deal with the complex challenge of both delivering justice and being just. Not hard power. Not soft power. Smart power.
snip
It is now clear that George Bush's misnamed "war on terror" has backfired—and is now part of the problem.
The war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make America safe. It's a bumper sticker, not a plan. It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world. As a political "frame," it's been used to justify everything from the Iraq War to Guantanamo to illegal spying on the American people. It's even been used by this White House as a partisan weapon to bludgeon their political opponents. Whether by manipulating threat levels leading up to elections, or by deeming opponents "weak on terror," they have shown no hesitation whatsoever about using fear to divide.
But the worst thing about this slogan is that it hasn't worked.
snip
The "war" metaphor has also failed because it exaggerates the role of only one instrument of American power—the military. This has occurred in part because the military is so effective at what it does. Yet if you think all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.
The whole speech is here:
John Edwards: Remarks As Prepared For Delivery At The Council on Foreign Relations
The Bush-McCain "bumper sticker." As Edwards said, and I know Obama agrees, We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq mindset. We need to look to the future, not the failed past of George Bush. We don't need to repeat the same mistakes Bush made for 4 more years of McCain.
Just say No to McCain-Bush and Yes to a future with Barack Obama!
Update III; Memories.
Bush on Kerry, October 7, 2004:
"Sen. Kerry approaches the world with a September the 10th mindset,'' Bush said of his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, on Oct. 7, 2004. "He declared at his convention speech that any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. That was the mind-set of the 1990s, while al Qaeda was planning the attacks on America. After September the 11th, our object in the war on terror is not to wait for the next attack and respond, but to prevent attacks by taking the fight to the enemy.''
The words Bush used in 2004 are coming around again in 2008, from McCain
Update IV; Obama Campaign Responds.
Richard Clarke, a former national security advisor to Clinton and Bush, said he was "disgusted" by the McCain campaign.
"They said that about Bill Clinton," Clarke continued. "They said that about John Kerry. And now they're saying it about Barack Obama. I'd like them to show where in the record Barack Obama has favored only a law enforcement approach."
snip
Clarke emphasized that Obama has unveiled a comprehensive anti-terror plan and has said that he would be willing to act on actionable intelligence to pursue Al Qaeda suspects in Pakistan.
"This is the Karl Rove strategy of taking what the truth is, and stating the opposite," Clarke said of the McCain team's charges.
TPM
More Clarke:
"What I see his surrogates saying and occasionally the Senator himself, is as Senator Kerry said, straight out of a Republican playbook which has been used in every federal election since 2002, which is to use this sort of big lie technique."
McCain Campaign Makes 'Sept. 10' Argument About Obama, Clarke Calls It the 'Big Lie'
Update V: John Kerry:
Sen. John Kerry shot back, "If you want to talk about going backwards and adopting a policy that is retro, I think John McCain has articulated it about as clearly as it could be."
"One of the tools in our arsenal with respect to America’s credibility in the world and our ability to fight a war on terror is to maintain the high moral ground with respect to that war," said Kerry. "One of the ways you do that is to try people and try them publicly and prove that your justice system and your constitution and democracy actually work. You can’t sell democracy around the world and short change it at home. "
cnn.com
"John McCain is Washington's biggest supporter for worst foreign policy decision of our generation. He failed to learn the lesson of 9/11 and we're paying for that failure today... He is continuing a legal approach that has violated our Constitution, failed to prosecute terrorist, failed to bring them to justice, failed to have verdicts, failed to bring them to jail, and failed to lead the world. If you want to talk about going backwards... John McCain has done that."
WaPo
Update VI:
Barack Obama tells it like it is:
Obama told reporters that the Republicans have no "standing to suggest that they've learned a lot of lessons from 9-11."
He said they "helped to engineer the distraction of the war in Iraq at a time when we could have pinned down the people who actually committed 9-11."
He said Osama bin Laden is still at large in part because of their failed strategies.
kansascity.com