Forgive and Forget? »
Posted By Beau7890 9 months, 3 weeks ago in Political NewsI’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years -- and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t -- this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power.
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Beau7890
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gamahuche9 months, 3 weeks ago
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FTA:
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Meanwhile, about Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient.
And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a decision he has the right to make.-
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gamahuche9 months, 3 weeks ago
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The last sentence sums it up perfectly.
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If you catch someone shoplifting of course its your responsibility to turn them in. If you don't you make yourself an accessory to any further crimes that they commit.
Does anyone believe that Bush is going to cease benefitting from the machinery of corruption that has been put in place by his cronies during the last horribly long 8 years?
Paul Krugman deserves another Nobel for crime prevention if he can make this stick! -
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lvrofwolves9 months, 3 weeks ago
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Everyone else is held accountable, that's an expectation we all have, nobody above the law. I understand Obama wanting to look forward, there's so much work ahead, but there wouldn't be so much if there weren't so many problems with this administration, I think they need to be reviewed, and for any criminal charges, they absolutely MUST be held accountable for, why is that even in question? I'd be very disappointed if it was just 'let go' and it's a slap in the face to victims and justice if it's just forgive and forget.
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Beau78909 months, 3 weeks ago
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I'd be very disappointed as well. (See my comment above.) But I'm not sure whether allowing the criminals in the current administration to "get away" with their crimes is the same as forgiving or forgetting.
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Apart from the question I posed above of whether it's worse to prosecute and possibly lose power in 2012 or to move past and focus energies on righting the wrongs, I wonder if there's a way to make the public aware just how wrong the past eight years of politiciziation of every executive branch function is, while not giving the Republican propaganda machine ammunition.
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Eagle_Eye9 months, 3 weeks ago
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I don't know what to think, I know it would be divisive for this country to pursue this, just look what a BJ did to this country!
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I feel that Bush and the others need to be accountable, IMHO a separate committee from the Attorney Generals Office should be involved, and media hype kept to a minimum.
We really need to focus on how to fix America and get our lives back on track, there is so much at risk here for our country to continue to be so divided. -
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BBcamaro9 months, 3 weeks ago
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So let me get this straight you want to spend millions of tax dollars to have Bush and is administration investigated to see if they broke any laws, since you all have been asked time and time again what law do you think he broke and nobody responds, however you are willing to allow someone become secretary of finance who did break the law (tax evasion), worst yet banked the money that he was suppose to pay that tax with.
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Don't you see that he used the checks and balances in place both houses of congress have approved everything he has done. So more than likely if anything both democrats and republicans stand to loose if anything was found for they approved everything he did. Buy the way it was ruled today that his wire tapping was legal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/washington/16fis...-
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Beau78909 months, 3 weeks ago
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People have definitely responded to you which laws members of the administration broke. You may have missed it when they did. People have answered that question; you may have neglected to read their responses. But if you read this article that you're commenting about, you can read about which laws were definitely broken...there may be more that Krugman doesn't even mention. I don't think anyone here has said they want Tim Geithner to be confirmed if he broke the law. (Some might, but you really shouldn't make that assumption.)
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Of course, investigations are required to amass evidence and build a case that can be tried before anyone can be indicted. I certainly hope that if you object to money spent to conduct those investigations, you also objected to the millions (far more, as the investigations lasted for over four years) spent to investigate Bill Clinton.
In addition, warrantless wiretapping is not the only infraction in question. And the FISA court is not the ultimate authority as to whether warrantless wiretapping is legal...that would be the Supreme Court.
Congress certainly did not approve of Justice Dept. hiring practices, or illegal politicization and dismantling of other executive branch agencies, striking down the Constitutional protection of habeas corpus, or signing statements that allowed the president to ignore sections of bills passed by Congress that he didn't like. (The president does not have the power of line-item veto, which is how he used his signing statements--and he has sworn to uphold the law, whether he likes any particular law in question or not.) Congress simply doesn't have the authority to either approve or disapprove of such things...Bush did them, and no one has yet taken him to court to challenge him. -
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oneironaut4209 months, 3 weeks ago
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"since you all have been asked time and time again what law do you think he broke and nobody responds,"
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Links, please. I would like to see threads where Obama supporters have been asked "time and time again" which law they think Bush broke, and none of them have responded.
To put it more simply...that's nonsense, and you know it. 8) -
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jaern9 months, 3 weeks ago
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So let me get this straight you want to spend millions of tax dollars to have Bush and is administration investigated to see if they broke any laws,
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But if he were a democrat, fooling around with an intern-then lied about it, you'd be thrilled to throw millions at his investigation.
http://judiciary.house.gov/news/090113_1.html
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codgerpriceComment removed: Retracted by user
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beavith19 months, 3 weeks ago
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this kind of article from the ny times and Krugman are why i think Krugman sells out his economic cred by being nothing more than a liberal columnist hack.
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i wonder how much he'll feel better when the evil Bush empire is in court and we're busy tearing the country apart looking for some kind of cathartic moment.-
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Beau78909 months, 3 weeks ago
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So, apart from your feelings about Krugman's opinions in regard to bringing anyone's acts to light and holding them accountable, how would you feel about the international court doing so and having them extradited to The Hague to stand trial (like Pinochet), if any of the Bush administration's violators ever ventures into the wrong one of over 150 countries?
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Justice4All9 months, 3 weeks ago
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There needs to be accountability. Prosecuting Bush and those around him for war crimes is a must.
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I don't think it would be that difficult on America. There would be the usual ignorant rednecks and neocon's who would complain but those who believe in true American values would support prosecuting Bush. -
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CHAM9 months, 3 weeks ago
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Beau
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This problem is precisely the reason that I have been calling for the demise of the Republican Party.
The party can be punished by the people. Propaganda can't stop it and neither can a threatened Palin and who knows what in 2012.
Ignore them out of existence. It will be a moment for pause to all political parties who's goal is not the benefit of America but domination and the opportunity to benefit from corruption and cronyism.
The idea has merit and is completely doable. -
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ningyo9 months, 3 weeks ago
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krugman is just another dem hack--this is why the NYT is going out of business and the minn star is bankrupt--oh..and by the way ...a fed disrtict court just found that all that wiretapping was in FACT legal..b. hussein should continue it as well because in all these years of this horrible "abuse" it has produced valuable information and not ONE SINGLE cases of mis-use or illegal manipulation..sorry paul..go back to your bong and the sixties
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