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The many and varied Rand Paul filibuster accomplishments

The many and varied Rand Paul filibuster accomplishments

In no particular order:

Exposing, Once Again, the Old Failed Republican Guard

and hastening their political demise.

Exposing, Once Again, the Old Failed Democratic Guard

The Guardian:

Guardian Rand Paul Filibuster

Democrats Shamefully Silent on Obama Administration’s Assertion of Right to Assassinate Americans on U.S. Soil

Rand Paul carried out a historic 13-hour filibuster of dronemaster-in-chief John Brennan’s nomination for CIA chief.

Huffington Post slammed Democrats for being missing in action and progressive news host Cenk Uygur called Senator Paul a “constitutional hero”.

One of the top constitutional law experts in the country – Jonathan Turley, a progressive liberal – writes:

What was most striking about this principled stand is the virtual total absence of Democrats in speaking out against Obama. Just this week, Attorney General Eric Holder admitted that this policy could include killing citizens on U.S. soil with drones. Yet, the Democrats worked to stop not the kill list policy but Paul’s filibuster. Obama apologists have attacked Rand for some of his other positions to avoid dealing with the fact that Obama is claiming the powers of an Imperial President. I do not agree with Paul on many things, but I commend him for this stand and condemn those who remained silent, again, in the face of this authoritarian policy of Obama.

***

The lack of opposition to Obama’s kill list policy is a national disgrace. It shows the triumph of a cult of personality within the Democratic ranks where both members and voters have chosen Obama over long-standing values of civil liberties that once defined their party.

Exposing, Once Again, Elizabeth Warren



Making Obama/Holder Surrender on Something

Even if it’s on an obvious point, we don’t get very many of these.  In the wake of the Sequester hysteria, this filibuster has hurt Obama politically.

Awakening Another Sleeping Giant

The Rick Santelli of Our Time. (If you are not on Twitter, you need to be.)

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Comments

John McCain and Lindsey Grahama have just shown themselves to be vile, despicable men of no honor.

I have more respect for Ron Wyden now than I do for these two. What was it that someone said, “It’s better to have an honest enemy, than a dishonest friend.”

“…the virtual total absence of Democrats in speaking out against Obama.” What did he expect? It has been this way since the first campaign. They are afraid to speak out for fear they will be ridiculed and shouted down by their own side. Turley has condoned this silence for five years and now whines about it? This story has been out for quite a while. Did Turley say anything before today? Or was he waiting for the response of other progressives before daring to speak his own opinion? These people are shameful in their submissiveness to this administration. It would be nice if this was a wakeup call, but I doubt it. I think McCain and Graham gave the media their out today — damn them both.

They keep saying Obama is smart, but this is just just stupid

Van Jones ✔ @VanJones68

If a GOP prez implied he could kill US citizens on US soil without due process, we liberals would be marching down street #ConsistencyCounts

Van Jones ✔ @VanJones68

The point is not whether OBAMA would abuse that kind of authority. The NEXT prez might. So we must be vigilant now & #consistent. #NoDrones

MaggotAtBroadAndWall | March 7, 2013 at 3:21 pm

What makes McCain and Grahamnesty’s criticism of Paul so despicable is that they knew they were going to let Hagel be confirmed in the end. They wasted a bunch of time and money pretending to fight against him not based on principle, but based on the fact, in my opinion, that Hagel threw his support behind Obama in ’08 rather than McCain.

If there is any justice, Grahamnesty will be primaried. If we end up with another Christine O’Donnell as our candidate after the primary who flames out in the general, so be it. The Senate is far more conservative now with Tea Partiers Cruz, Lee, Rubio, Moran, Toomey, Flake, and Paul than it was before they got there.

    agreed.

    I’m contributing to Graham’s opponent, even if it means contributing to a Democrat.

      RDA in reply to logos. | March 7, 2013 at 4:54 pm

      Yes. I’m planning some time off to lend my personal support to a viable, rock-ribbed small government leader in the 2014 South Carolina Republican senate primary against Graham. It’s awful that an otherwise conservative jurisdiction has such a big-government statist as one of its senators.

Dont give your friends power that you would not want your enemies to have, because sooner or later they will.

I am sickened by the reprehensible behavior of McCain and Graham, turncoats who value keeping the flame of cronyism burning at the expense of the American people.

I am disgusted with my having voted for the despicable McCain. My disgust is mitigated only a little by the reality that Obama is and was even worse.
I will contribute California dollars to a well-qualified primary opponent to Graham.

1. Apparently the administration has caved. Congratulations to Rand Paul and the senators who joined him.

2. The lefty site I belong to is propagating the new narrative: the administration never claimed extraConstitutional power, but their way of saying it was too nuanced for hicks like Paul (and you and me) to understand.

3. Of course that lefty site (to which I decline to send traffic) did not mention Ron Wyden’s role in the filibuster.

    snopercod in reply to gs. | March 7, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    Thanks to the link to Holder’s snotty and devious reply:

    It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: “Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?” The answer to that question is no.

“Ted Cruz And Rand Paul Introduce Bill To Ban Drone Killings Of American Citizens On U.S. Soil…”
…AMNESTY-JOHN McRINO and his mini-me lindsay GRAHMNESTY to begin filibustering this bill in 3…2…1…

I think this was a shock to BO etc. To think Holder was forced to respond!
Without Rand and all BO would have never felt He had to answer, just blithely go along making decisions in secret.

We really DO have a constitution.

    1. Obama is the Great Divider. Surely he never expected principled people across the political spectrum to come together to oppose him.

    Has he finally overreached?

    I won’t get my hopes up, but I don’t refuse to hope.

    2. I just called Elizabeth Warren’s office to see if she planned to speak against drone lynchings. She’s watching now — Jelperman

    She’s watching her email for talking points from her puppeteers, who have been caught as flatfooted as the White House has.

Eric Holder’s statement was crystal clear, uncharacteristically so for the man who has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep Nidal Hasan from hanging. Senator Paul’s reaction is correct. Period. All arguments for even momentary toleration of this are monumentally wrong. McCain’s location-of-hellfire-missiles, or any other armament (they’re portable) and Graham’s what-drones-have-done-for-us outside the United States (a completely different subject) are trivial, silly, and sadly, characteristic of both these men.

The deafening nation-wide silence in the wide-spread presence of this story says as much about the citizenry of this country as did the reelection of Obama to the presidency. The number and size of obstacles we will need to overcome to continue with life in this country that everyone here – white, black, brown, yellow, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, rich, poor, union, non-union, healthy, unhealthy, young, old, legal, illegal, law abiding, criminal – has known and takes for granted, continues to grow in full view and at an alarming rate. I wonder if we’ll be as bored with the consequences.

I’m surprised not to have heard any mention of Posse Comitatus Act which ended the military occupation of the South following the War Between the States. In 1878, that act of Congress officially ended the military occupation of the South and with it, the practice of using the U.S. military as a law enforcement agency within the borders of the United States.

In 2006, though, GW Bush and the Republican congress basically repealed the act to allow the use of the military to:

“…restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition… the President determines that… domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order… or [to] suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy if such… a condition… so hinders the execution of the laws… that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law… or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.

While I applaud Rand Paul for taking a stand on using the military against U.S. Citizens, it sure seems like that train left the station years ago.

    logos in reply to snopercod. | March 7, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    Either the Honorable Senator Paul from Kentucky or one of his honorable colleagues did mention Posse Comittaus last night during the filibuster.

    The Honorable Senator Cruz quoted from Shakespere’s Henry V:

    “And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

    Those accurs’d “gentlemen” last night were dining with Obama.

Holder’s letter still sidesteps the question as to the Constitutionality of ordering a drone kill of a U S citizen on U S soil without benefit of due process, in the absence of an immediate threat of violence.

They don’t want to be viewing video of them declaring such action unconstitutional after a drone kill without due process.

    BoPMonkey in reply to logos. | March 7, 2013 at 11:08 pm

    “Holder’s letter still sidesteps the question as to the Constitutionality of ordering a drone kill of a U S citizen on U S soil without benefit of due process, in the absence of an immediate threat of violence.”

    EXACTLY!!! It’s what was NOT said that should have every concerned citizen writing letters to their senators and representatives! I found this excellent post on “The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler” that pretty-much sums it all up:

    http://nicedoggie.net/?p=7814

    It’s definitely worthwhile to read…!

“The Constitution is not a suicide pact.” I’m sure Rand Paul agrees.

As stevewhitemd said in another thread, if the President ignores the Constitution during what he claims is an overriding national emergency, he damn well better have a good explanation afterwards. Or else.

That, IMHO, is the shot across the Executive Branch’s bow which the filibuster sends.

That letter of Holder’s has a bunch of problems. It’s too cute by half. It still doesn’t address the extralegal killing of an American on American soil in general – he just said it would be illegal if a drone was used. I find that cold comfort and the kind of semantic parsing worthy of Bill Clinton.

And before I start cheering too hard about Rand Paul’s focus on this issue – let’s look at some of his other potential motivations. I think Hotair and Ace have some valid points to make here: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/338154.php and here: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/03/07/jay-carney-okay-fine-obama-doesnt-have-the-authority-to-target-americans-on-u-s-soil/

Ace said “Now it’s possible they’re suspicious of Rand Paul and think he’s carrying water for his father’s Doctrinaire Pacifism but under the false flag of a much more narrow issue on which he has the right; that is, they think he’s trying to move opinion to the Doctrine Pacifist camp in the typical way the Pacifists and anti-American agitators do it, to wit, seizing one one particular grabby issue at a time.

I have to confess I have the same suspicion. I do believe Rand Paul is his father’s son.”

It’s that kind of suspicion that nags me about where this is ultimately headed overseas. But here at home, Paul’s point is spot on. If nothing else, it can show more Republicans that when they refuse to roll over for the Democrats they can move the needle and rally others to a worthwhile small-government cause.

    Owego in reply to RDA. | March 7, 2013 at 6:32 pm

    Point well taken, he is his father’s son; but this one isn’t about pacificisim.

[…] that one moment Rand Paul lifted up a great many hearts tired of the craven leadership. The Professor has a good list of the many and varied Rand Paul filibuster accomplishments. Among these accomplishments the Professor writes is “Exposing, Once Again, the Old Failed […]

I checked periodically over at Democratic Underground to see reaction to Rand’s #filiblizzard. At the beginning, the only thread was “Rand Paul filibusters Brennan nomination”. It was filled with vile expletives (as usual, AND I’ve found liberals rarely read past a headline, ala Media Matters) directed at Rand. But by the end of the night, the longest thread by far was “Forget what letter is after his name, Rand Paul is right”. Shockingly, a lot of liberals shed their intellectual dishonesty, and actually agreed.
Moral of the story? Last night was huge.

Ron Paul’s act was brilliant. Being the fiction of ‘Barack Obama’ is a house of cards waiting to tumble, the only hard part for Paul was talking so long. Nonetheless, he is the guy who did what he did.

McCain and Graham have exposed themselves not merely as hacks, but seriously corrupt sell-outs: a free lunch with Obama = permission to kill American citizens on US soil.

Note to Dennis Rodman: tell Kim to aim a nuke at Congress, but only when Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are out of town.

I was wondering…

…when it became acceptable to the American public to have military drones over America, let alone armed.

I missed that somewhere.

I guess it’s now ok for the Executive branch to start dropping bombs over the homeland, as long as they don’t directly target a citizen. Got it.

Henry Hawkins | March 7, 2013 at 6:04 pm

I’m prepared to believe that the even greater story, greater victory here is the wresting away of control over the GOP from the elderly establishment (McCain, Graham, etc.) by the young Turks (Paul, Cruz, etc.), who also appear to possess… what’s the term? It’s been so long since we’ve seen them, I’m drawing a blank. Ah yes, I recall now. They appear to possess principles.

2014 is going to be a three-way cage fight between the Old GOP, the New GOP, and the Democrat Party, and if we’re lucky, the divisions within the Democrat Party revealed during Paul’s ‘buster will make it a four-way fight, adding internecine fighting among liberal and moderate Democrats.

Stock tip: POPCORN

“Exposing, Once Again, Elizabeth Warren”

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! OK, PLEASE N0000000000000000000000000000000000!

Henry Hawkins | March 7, 2013 at 8:13 pm

Does the LI community have any talented photo/video shoppers? If so..

Remember that old public service commercial concerning litter and protecting the environment? The one where the venerable old Indian* gazes out across the prairie to see litter and trash and sheds a tear at what’s been done to the land that used to be his land.

I’d love to see a remake of that, except at the end, substitute Elizabeth Warren’s face for the Indian’s.

*If I recall correctly, the actor who played the Indian was not actually an Indian, which, if true, brings a neat little irony into the project.

I’m very honored that Mr. Jacobson retweeted and posted my first tweet ever, but a clarification is in order: I’ve not been a sleeping giant as I’ve always been active and involved politically. I am, however a new tweeter as of that 1st tweet and semi-addicted to it already. Infuriated that the wrong side is so far ahead technologically (see the tech articles here re:last election) and that tweet was my opening salvo. I’m putting my money, time, and effort where my tweets are by getting yet another degree in a tech area and hope to use it however possible to beat them – progs and RINOS alike.

The whole incident brings to mind a Simpsons episode where Montgomery Burns says, “Let them have their tartar sauce.”

Whatever Holder told anyone has an expiration date like everything else Obama says. So today drones won’t be hunting down Americans on American soil, just on foreign soil. Tomorrow…

After 4 years we all should know by now that Obama and his minions tell us what we want to hear for expediency’s sake. The 50.5% of voters who put him in office will feel safe until his promise expires. The lawyerly response of Holder and it’s timing should have raised the red flag. I consider Dr. Paul’s victory a Pyrrhic Victory at best. But kudos to him for at least dragging it out of Obama/Holder, at least he knows we will hold him accountable when he does get around to doing it. Remember, he started a war in Libya and no one held him accountable, so why would he think there would be any other response if he used drones here? Ask the families of the 300 dead Mexicans and 2 border agents if Obama/Holder were held accountable from Fast & Furious? Do you really think Obama will be held accountable for the 4 dead Americans (2 State Dept & 2 CIA agents) in Benghazi when he literally abandoned them to their fate via Panetta’s doing?

The only way Obama will ever be restrained in his actions is a tireless effort by anyone willing to take him on at any given time, no matter how Pyrrhic the stand.