Monday, April 11, 2011

Congress and war

What dirty hippie said this?:
"The Constitution vests the power of declaring war with Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject, and authorized such a measure."
Just George Washington is all. Conor Friedersdorf notes: "So 218 years ago, the ratification of the Constitution having just occurred, the first president of the United States insisted in the face of raids on the homeland, and the virtual certainty of future attacks, that he couldn't commit to a military response without the permission of the United States Congress."

I'm sure John Yoo, Dick Cheney, and (cough, sputter) Barack Obama would be happy to set George Washington straight. One of those three actually used to talk the same way.

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