Today’s Quote Of The Day comes to us from weeklystandard.com’s Stephen Hayes.
While appearing on Fox’s Special Report with Brett Baier, the talk turned to that letter signed by 47 Republican Senators advising Iran that a “treaty” without their advice and consent is, in fact an “executive order” that can be reversed at any President’s discretion (which is true). It was pointed out that Democrats, when not calling Republicans “traitors” over this letter (one of the most repugnant uses of that term I have ever come across), were also calling it “unprecedented”.
Here is what Mr. Hayes had to say about the supposed lack of precedent:
“The whole idea that this is controversial is preposterous on its face. Republicans write this letter, basically re-stating their long-held views that they’re not going to be bound, as Members of Congress, as Senators, by an agreement that President Obama doesn’t include them in.
“That’s stating the obvious. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. And the idea that this is somehow new or this is ending the idea that foreign policy stops at the water’s edge, is totally preposterous.
“Remember, the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives flew to Baghdad – we later found out on a trip financed by Saddam Hussein — appeared on Sunday shows from Baghdad – this is David Bonier – to trash the Bush administration and the arguments they were making about Iraq. In 2007, Nancy Pelosi went to Damascus, despite the Bush administration’s request that she not to do that, embraced Bashar Assad and basically got his back, suggested he wanted peace with Israel. In 1990 – go back to the Gulf War – Jimmy Carter wrote a secret letter to members of the U.N. Security Council telling them that they should oppose the resolution that George H. Bush was pushing that would have led to war in Iraq.
“The idea that this is unprecedented or new is preposterous. The only thing wrong with the letter is it should have come earlier and should have included references to Iran and al Qaeda.”
Is Stephen Hayes correct about the propriety of the letter? In my opinion no, for reasons I have already blogged about in here. Two wrongs don’t make a right and, when it comes to undermining presidential authority, both hurt the country.
But are Hayes’s references to what Democrats have done correct? Yes; 100%.
Is he correct to cite them as precedents for the letter? Yes: 100%
Does this matter to our wonderful “neutral” media (we know this doesn’t matter to Democrats, because a) they are the ones putting out this BS and b) I have not heard even one Democrat object)?
Nope.
Should it?
You bet it should. A truly neutral media would be all over this blatantly fraudulent line of attack, citing the same incidents (and others as well – it was an incomplete list) as Brent Baker did.
I award Stephen Hayes Quote Of The Day honors for pointing out this remarkable hypocrisy and, by so doing, making most mainstream media look not like actual journalists but like paid propagandists – which, sad to say, is what a great many of them are.
