Limited Liability For Lawbreakers?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Limited Liability For Lawbreakers?
15
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 7:53am

You know, it occurred to me the other day that what the Republican Party really wants is limited liability for all its actions in the White House.

When you own stock, what's the worst that can happen? Your stock goes to zero. Do you lose your savings? No.

When you work at a company and you take risks with the company's money, what's the worst that can happen when you mess up? You get fired. Do you have to chip in out of your own pocket to help cover the losses from the ill-advised risks you took? No.

When you are a Republican Administration official, what's the worst that can happen to you if you commit crimes and abuse your power and the people's trust? You get pardoned or have your sentence commuted. And it's very unlikely things will go that far. Much more likely you just have to leave because people vote your party out. That's what the Republicans largely got in the Nixon era.

That's a lot of what happened in the Reagan/Bush I era - think Bush I's pardon of Cap Weinberger and 5 others who started to testify under oath that Bush I was lying through his teeth when the former CIA head no less said he didn't know a thing about the Iran-Contra affair.

The Republican administration wants limited liability. Plain and simple.

So what does limited liability encourage? Risk taking. Or in the case of Republican Administration who have had a string of felony convicts starting with a crooked President himself forced from office, more lawbreaking. If they can, they will. Haven't we seen enough?

Isn't it time to stop treating lawbreaking Republicans like fat-cat investors and hold them accountable to the law like everyone else? If we don't, guess what's coming in 4 years, or 8 or 12. Many of them are young. If we don't make cleaning up a priority, the Republican lawlessness will be back bigger than ever. I guarantee it.

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 1:18pm
I agree...it's time we held Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters, et al accountable for the damage that they've done to the country with their sub-prime lending schemes. They should be tried and convicted and shipped off to jail.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 1:40pm
I agree with you - Bush should be picked up on war crimes charges January 21st and delivered to the Hague before he flees to Paraguay....
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 1:47pm
The only trouble there is that you'd also have to arrest the Democrat Congress...oh, wait...hmmm...(musing) sacrifice Bush, who's nearly out of office anyway, to get all of the Democrats in Congress thrown into the Hague?...OK! Let's do it! Bush'll make the sacrifice...put those scumbags behind bars!
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 1:55pm
I don't remember
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 2:39pm

Sure they did...

(Before Bush was even a twinkle in our eye)...

"As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California)
Statement on US Led Military Strike Against Iraq
December 16, 1998

"No one has done what Saddam Hussein has done, or is thinking of doing. He is producing weapons of mass destruction, and he is qualitatively and quantitatively different from other dictators."

"Iraq is a long way from Ohio, but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."

Madeleine Albright, President Clinton's Secretary of State
Town Hall Meeting on Iraq at Ohio State University
February 18, 1998

"Dear Mr. President: ... We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraq sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."

Sincerely,

John Kerry, Carl Levin, Joe Lieberman, Frank R. Lautenberg, Dick Lugar, Kit Bond, Jon Kyl, Chris Dodd, John McCain, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Alfonse D'Amato, Bob Kerrey, Pete V. Domenici, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara A. Mikulski, Thomas Daschle, John Breaux, Tim Johnson, Daniel K. Inouye, Arlen Specter, James Inhofe, Strom Thurmond, Mary L. Landrieu, Wendell Ford, Chuck Grassley, Jesse Helms, Rick Santorum.

Letter to President Clinton
Signed by Senators Tom Daschle, John Kerry and others
October 9, 1998

--------------------------------------------------------

(Post 9/11)

"People can quarrel with whether we should have more troops in Afghanistan or internationalize Iraq or whatever, but it is incontestable that on the day I left office, there were unaccounted for stocks of biological and chemical weapons."

Former President Clinton
During an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live"
July 22, 2003

"Dear Mr. President:

The events of September 11 have highlighted the vulnerability of the United States to determined terrorists. As we work to clean up Afghanistan and destroy al Qaeda, it is imperative that we plan to eliminate the threat from Iraq.

This December will mark three years since United Nations inspectors last visited Iraq. There is no doubt that since that time, Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs.

The threat from Iraq is real, and it cannot be permanently contained. For as long as Saddam Hussein is in power in Baghdad, he will seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. We have no doubt that these deadly weapons are intended for use against the United States and its allies. Consequently, we believe we must directly confront Saddam, sooner rather than later.

Mr. President, all indications are that in the interest of our own national security, Saddam Hussein must be removed from power."

Sincerely,

Congressman Harold Ford (Democrat, Tennessee)
Senator Bob Graham (Democrat, Florida)
Congressman Tom Lantos (Democrat, California)
Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat, Connecticut)

Senator Sam Brownback (Republican, Kansas)
Senator Jesse Helms (Republican, North Carolina)
Congressman Henry Hyde (Republican, Illinois)
Senator Trent Lott (Republican, Mississippi)
Senator John McCain (Republican, Arizona)
Senator Richard Shelby (Republican, Alabama)

Letter to President Bush
December 5, 2001

"Saddam Hussein certainly has chemical and biological weapons. There's no question about that."

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California)
During an interview on "Meet The Press"
November 17, 2002

"I come to this debate, Mr. Speaker, as one at the end of 10 years in office on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was one of my top priorities. I applaud the President on focusing on this issue and on taking the lead to disarm Saddam Hussein. ... Others have talked about this threat that is posed by Saddam Hussein. Yes, he has chemical weapons, he has biological weapons, he is trying to get nuclear weapons."

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California)
Addressing the US House of Representatives
October 10, 2002
Congressional Record, p. H7777

"There's no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States and to our allies.

If Saddam persists in thumbing his nose at the inspectors, then we're clearly going to have to do something about it."

Howard Dean, Democratic Presidential Candidate
During an interview on "Face The Nation"
September 29, 2002

"We stopped the fighting on an agreement that Iraq would take steps to assure the world that it would not engage in further aggression and that it would destroy its weapons of mass destruction. It has refused to take those steps. That refusal constitutes a breach of the armistice which renders it void and justifies resumption of the armed conflict."

Senator Harry Reid (Democrat, Nevada)
Addressing the US Senate
October 9, 2002
Congressional Record, p. S10145

"It is the duty of any president, in the final analysis, to defend this nation and dispel the security threat. Saddam Hussein has brought military action upon himself by refusing for 12 years to comply with the mandates of the United Nations. The brave and capable men and women of our armed forces and those who are with us will quickly, I know, remove him once and for all as a threat to his neighbors, to the world, and to his own people, and I support their doing so."

Senator John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts)
Statement on eve of military strikes against Iraq
March 17, 2003

"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious danger, that he is a tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed.

We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."

Senator Edward Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts)
Speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
September 27, 2002
"As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I firmly believe that the issue of Iraq is not about politics. It's about national security. We know that for at least 20 years, Saddam Hussein has obsessively sought weapons of mass destruction through every means available. We know that he has chemical and biological weapons today. He has used them in the past, and he is doing everything he can to build more. Each day he inches closer to his longtime goal of nuclear capability -- a capability that could be less than a year away.

Senator John Edwards (Democrat, North Carolina)
US Senate floor statement: "Iraqi Dictator Must Go"
September 12, 2002

So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but it is not new. It has been with us since the end of the Persian Gulf War.

Senator John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts)
Speech at Georgetown University
January 23, 2003

GEPHARDT: I don't. I asked very direct questions of the top people in the CIA and people who'd served in the Clinton administration. And they said they believed that Saddam Hussein either had weapons or had the components of weapons or the ability to quickly make weapons of mass destruction.

Congressman Richard Gephardt (Democrat, Montana)
Interviewed on CBS News "Face the Nation"
November 2, 2003

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to completely deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power. We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."

Al Gore, Former Clinton Vice-President
Speech to San Francisco Commonwealth Club

But this isn't just a future threat. Saddam's existing biological and chemical weapons capabilities pose a very real threat to America, now. Saddam has used chemical weapons before, both against Iraq's enemies and against his own people. He is working to develop delivery systems like missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that could bring these deadly weapons against U.S. forces and U.S. facilities in the Middle East.

As the attacks of September 11 demonstrated, the immense destructiveness of modern technology means we can no longer afford to wait around for a smoking gun. September 11 demonstrated that the fact that an attack on our homeland has not yet occurred cannot give us any false sense of security that one will not occur in the future. We no longer have that luxury.

Senator John D. Rockefeller (Democrat, West Virginia)
Also a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Addressing the US Senate
October 10, 2002
September 23, 2002

"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do. He lies and cheats; he snubs the mandate and authority of international weapons inspectors; and he games the system to keep buying time against enforcement of the just and legitimate demands of the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States and our allies. Those are simply the facts."

Congressman Henry Waxman (Democrat, California)
Addressing the US Congress
October 10, 2002

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2004
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 2:43pm

And what about all that Democrat lawlessness?


http://www.obamapolitics.com/node/59

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 3:09pm
Where are they???
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 3:42pm
You'll have to ask the Democrats...they knew where they were in '98, they actually fired missiles at them for 4 days...and Clinton said he knew for a fact that they were in Iraq when he left office. Call your Congressman...demand an accounting. Throw the bums in jail!
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 4:19pm
Nahhh...
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2004
Tue, 11-25-2008 - 4:50pm

Pages