I grow weary of the stupid. Rand Paul asked Attorney General Eric Holder if he believed that the administration had the legal right to use drone strikes on American citizens while they are on American soil. It’s a perfectly legitimate question. Eric Holder responded by saying basically, no because we have courts and prosecutors and juries and stuff. Then he scrinched up his brow, thought really hard, and wrote this:
“The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.”
“For example, the president could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances like a catastrophic attack like the ones suffered on December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001.”
Or, you know, an alien invasion or zombie apocalypse.
Would the president have the legal right to use our military to defend against a massive aerial attack on our navy or a bunch of hijacked planes hurtling towards our skyscrapers and the Pentagon?
Obviously, not. That would be tyranny.
Because remember when Dick Cheney waited too long to issue an order to down Flight 93 and then lied about it? That was only a problem because he wasn’t the commander in chief and he wasn’t deputized to give orders. No one seriously suggested that the problem was that Americans would be killed if the plane was shot down. They were going to die anyway.
So, what does Rand Paul say about this?
“Are you going to drop … a Hellfire missile on Jane Fonda?” Paul asked.
I am assuming that he considers that a bad idea.
Anyway, he wasn’t satisfied with Holder’s answer and so he has pledged to filibuster John Brennan’s nomination to be the new director of the CIA until he can speak no more.
“That Americans could be killed in a café in San Francisco or in a restaurant in Houston or at their home in Bowling Green, Ky., is an abomination,” Paul said. “It is something that should not and cannot be tolerated in our country. I don’t rise to oppose John Brennan’s nomination simply for the person. I rise today for the principle.”
This is another example of an idiot taking an issue that has merit and making it seem ridiculous because STUPID.
Whenever Paul keels over and dies, Reid has 60 votes for Brennan’s confirmation.
