Apparently two of the Democrats campaigning for President never had civics classes:
Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean called on Friday for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign, citing a “pattern of deception” in his statements on Iraq and a failure to plan for the postwar period.
Dean is the second Democratic candidate for the 2004 presidential nomination to seek Rumsfeld’s resignation as critics of the Bush administration turn up the heat on the Pentagon amid continued violence in Iraq.Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry called on Thursday for Rumsfeld to step down, saying he proceeded in Iraq “in an arrogant, inappropriate way that has frankly put America at jeopardy.”
Hey guys- You have to get elected President and THEN you get to choose who the cabinet officers are.
Seriously, though. The best thing about this election is that the Democrats are frantically out of power. They don’t control the House. They don’t control the Senate. They don’t control the White House. They are ABSOLUTELY frothing at the mouth desperate. Then you add to that the fact that there are TEN candidates running, and what it boils down to is that they will say or do ANYTHING to get noticed.
I expect, because of these conditions, Democrats are going to say and do some of the most outrageous things ever seen in an election. Should be fun- didn’t you enjoy the circular firing squad debate the other day?
Kimmitt
Right — neither the President nor the Secretary of Defense serves the American people, so American citizens absolutely do not have the right to request that the Secretary resign or the President dismiss him.
Francis W. Porretto
Yet another data point confirming Jane Galt’s Law: “The party in power is smug and arrogant; the party out of power is insane.”
M. Scott Eiland
Yeah, those guys don’t know anything about the Constitution. When Dick Gephardt becomes President, he needs to issue a bunch of executive orders to make it illegal for clods like that to run for President. ]:-)
Sean
touche, M Scott. You forgot to mention the possibility of Al Sharpton becoming President and instituting by executive fiat constitutional amendments proclaiming the right to vote and the right to education (about he puts it). Reminds me of Alan Keyes saying in debates how he’d abolish the income tax and fund the government entirely with tariffs. Riiiight.
Such hackish statements are indeed embarassing to any democrat, believe me. And if clods couldn’t run for president, that would definitely exclude both sharpton and dick “what’s my position on abortion again? let me call the AFL-CIO and think about it while i skip key votes on head start” gephardt.
But calling on officials to resign is simple politics and free speech. Or shall I suppose nobody should have dared call on Nixon to leave during Watergate, since who were they to tell an elected official what to do?
scott h.
John, I like your blog, and agree with you more often than not, but this is just silly. What’s wrong with Dean or Kerry calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation? “You have to get elected President and THEN you get to choose who the cabinet officers are.” I’m sorry, but that is just weak. Complaining about the PATRIOT Act? “Sorry Dean, you have to be Prez or in Congress to submit a bill.” Think he’s made mistakes in post-war planning? “Hey, you guys have to be in the chain of command, then you can choose the planning.” You can make better arguments than that, John.
Jay Caruso
The best thing about the Democrats and their ridiculous statements is that while it plays well with the base, it smacks of the kind of silliness mainstream voters like.
You can bet that whoever gets the nomination is going to have those words repeated back to hundreds of millions of people in big ads.
M. Scott Eiland
“You forgot to mention the possibility of Al Sharpton becoming President and instituting by executive fiat constitutional amendments proclaiming the right to vote and the right to education (about he puts it).”
That’s because if I want to have insanity-provoking nightmares for weeks, I’d rather just read a few H.P. Lovecraft stories rather than contemplate *really* scary scenarios.
“Reminds me of Alan Keyes saying in debates how he’d abolish the income tax and fund the government entirely with tariffs. Riiiight.”
Hey, that approach worked just fine–in 1835. I just wish the original version of the 16th Amendment–which would have capped the percentage allowable at 10%–had been the one ratified. The sponsors ended up removing the provision because they feared that naming what they believed to be such an absurdly high percentage would just encourage excessive taxation. Those poor, naive bastards. :-(
dave
This site is truly flypaper for the moronic brownshirt fucks…
Dean Esmay
Oh, nice Dave. People who disagree with you are brown shirts. Niiiice,
M. Scott Eiland
“This site is truly flypaper for the moronic brownshirt fucks…”
Noticed your email address, Dave–kudos for the truth in advertising. . .
Dan
You’re gonna look awful silly if one of those ‘desperate’ Dems actually beats Bush……..don’ you think?
John Cole
I’d say it is about 50/50 right now on Bush’s re-election. And what makes them desperate is their eed to stand out from the other Democrats- so they will say and do anything. Don;t you remember watching Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer during the last couple of election cycles?
Laura in DC
In 1999, Trent Lott called on Janet Reno to resign. Guess he never had a civics class either.
John Cole
OK, Laura, fine by me.
Dean and Kerry are as irritating and as stupid as Trent Lott. No arguments here.