Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Hillary Comes Crawling Back”

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January 25, 2006

Hillary Comes Crawling Back

Hatched by Dafydd

After tacking far to the right of the Democratic Party by supporting (however limply) the Iraq War, Hillary is now trying to tack back leftward by lambasting Bush for the NSA international surveillance program. Yet she manages to demonstrate some of the same incoherence her husband used to do.

Here is her main complaint:

"Obviously, I support tracking down terrorists. I think that's our obligation. But I think it can be done in a lawful way," the New York Democrat said.

All right; so her objection is that Bush should have followed the law. But wait....

Clinton, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, told reporters she did not yet know whether the administration's warrantless eavesdropping broke any laws. But the senator said she did not buy the White House's main justifications for the tactic.

Say, that's a pretty tricky balancing act: eavesdropping on al-Qaeda is bad because Bush didn't follow the law, but she's not actually sure whether Bush followed the law.

Here is another curious argument, referring to the attorney general's argument that Article II of the Constitution gives the president the authority to conduct surveillance for national-security purposes:

"Their argument that it's rooted in the Constitution inherently is kind of strange because we have FISA and FISA operated very effectively and it wasn't that hard to get their permission," she said. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was established by Congress to approve eavesdropping warrants, even retroactively, but Bush has argued that the process often takes too long.

The existence of FISA may well be an argument against the policy (a bad argument against the policy), but it certainly has nothing to do with the question of whether "the Constitution inherently" gives that authority to the commander in chief. This is logical gibberish... it's like saying that the argument that the right to bear arms is inherently rooted in the Second Amendment is "kind of strange" because we also have federal laws allowing the FBI to carry guns. It's a non-sequitur.

She buttresses her claim that the Article II argument is "kind of strange" by adding that the argument that the congressional Authorization of Miliary Force also confers that authority is "far-fetched." Under such withering legal reasoning, I'm not sure Bush has any alternative but to end the program immediately! Oh, wait... after she "blast[ed]" Bush for the program, she mysteriously failed to call for him to end it. Like the rest of the Democratic Party.

Clinton also demonstrated her Criswell impersonation:

Clinton talked to reporters after addressing the mayors in a speech that criticized Bush's health care, economic and anti-terrorism policies.

Pointing the Democratic-leaning crowd to the president's State of the Union address on Jan. 31, she said his message amounts to "You're on your own."

Hm. Isn't that speech about six days in the future? I know the White House hands out advance copies -- but isn't that usually earlier on speech day, or at most the night before? I'm a little skeptical that Bush is actually going to stand up on Tuesday and announce, "mayors -- you're on your own!"

The fact that Clinton now finds it necessary to reassure the Democratic base that she does too suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome -- evidently a litmus test for nomination -- tells me that she is starting to get nervous about 2008, despite her likely easy win in her reelection this year. Look for the bipartisan "Sunday morning Hillary" to go MIA, and the shrill and screechy "Saturday night Hillary" to reappear from whatever limbo she has been banished to these last few years.

I don't think it will help; it will only solidify the belief, among both Left and Right, that she is just an opportunist who will say or do anything to get elected... and not even as good a one as her husband.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, January 25, 2006, at the time of 2:49 PM

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» Hillary Comes Crawling Back, Chapter Two from Big Lizards
In the previous chapter, we met an anxious Hillary Rodham Clinton Rodham furiously tacking left by denouncing Bush's international al-Qaeda surveillance program, indicating rather a bit of desperation in her quest for the Democratic nomination. On Frid... [Read More]

Tracked on January 29, 2006 9:55 AM

» Hillary’s Waffles from Flopping Aces
Either way you look at it the lefties will lose this one once again. They continue to fall flat on their faces because in their smug arrogant little minds they believe we should ALL think like them. So they continue to push issues such as this. ... [Read More]

Tracked on February 4, 2006 1:16 PM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

Hillary, dig this, and then surprise humble hermit me as to which direction that you will lick-on next...oooohhhhhh, nice.

Follow that link, watch all 4 (about 12-minutes total) videos, but most of those minutes are "WARNING" or "ALERT" messages.

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 25, 2006 5:03 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

"Obviously, I support tracking down terrorists. I think that's our obligation. But I think it can be done in a lawful way," the New York Democrat said.

Hillary,

You and Bill tried the "lawful way" before, for like 8-years. Do you remember Abdul Rahman Yasin, and do you remember the terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center, New York City, on February 26, 1993, which resulted in six deaths, the wounding of numerous individuals, and the significant destruction of property and commerce??? We Americans might be ignorant, but we are not that stupid, so, of course, we remember...do you?!? You should, just check out the polls. *SNICKER*

Ramzi Ahmed Yousef or Ramzi Mohammed Yousef was another planner of the 1993 WTC attack, and he had recruited Yasin , who fled to guess where??? No, not Texas, so try again. Take your time for the next guess, and keep licking or trying to...

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 25, 2006 5:28 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

"CNNGALLUP found that 51 percent say they definitely won't vote for Clinton". i know...i know, since it is from Drudge, it "must be wrong".

A. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Definitely not vote for

51%

Hillary must've swallowed my you-know-what on that one, huh. Hey, i didn't lie, and the time was right...what else can i say, besides "she made me do it"??? She kept my loincloth, so i have no proof??? Naaaaa...

The Independents made me feel Hillary's teeth, when she saw this Chart.

Worse you-know-what that i ever had!!! That is one desperate woman...just look at her husband.

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 25, 2006 6:06 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

"Mods" are unable to reply...it figures.

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist at January 25, 2006 6:57 PM

The following hissed in response by: hunter_23

Let us not forget Ecehelon, the Clinton era program which randomly and massively tapped Americans without warrants...during time of war.
But Hillary wants more restrictions on a focused, intel operation than her hubbie had?
heh.
Hillary has just stepped off into the twilight aone of neverwuzzer candidates for the WH, that land filled with those of too weak of character and too fuzzy an ability to lead.

The above hissed in response by: hunter_23 at January 25, 2006 8:01 PM

The following hissed in response by: Mescalero

All Hillary has to do is call upon Jamie Gorelick and get her opinion about Richard Clark's "connecting the dots" syndrome. It's really tragic that the leading Democratic politicians can't think their way thru the 9/11 maze and come up with a credible alternative to GW's global war on terrorism. Instead, all the Democratic Party leadership presents is gruesome, unappreciated comedy at best.

The above hissed in response by: Mescalero at January 25, 2006 9:09 PM