Gold Star mom on Fox thinks free human beings should not be able

[RB TexLa]

to travel to countries and meet with people as they see fit. Re: Kerry meeting with foreign leaders

[Kutjara]

1. She's right.

The price of freedom is eternal repression. Isn't it enough that you're free without constantly insisting on exercising your freedom?

Thomas Jefferson said that. Or maybe it was George Jefferson.

I forget.

[Vincardog]

2. Gold Star mom on Fox is the victim of the "New Speak"

War is Peace
Freedom is imprisonment
Black is white
NeoConvicts are gods

[seriousstan]

3. I think she has as much right as Sheehan to spout, and I have as much

right to ignore either.

[John Gauger]

12. It's not a matter of right.

Of course she has the right to say it. But she's being stupid. That's what the problem is.

[seriousstan]

13. Sheehan is no Einstein. They have an audience because they lost their sons.

That didn't suddenly make their IQ jump.

[John Gauger]

32. I didn't mean to say Sheehan was a genius.

I am aware that she's a little ditzy. I meant that the woman on FNC is being an idiot by taking that position. I'm not speaking of her actual intelligence, I just mean that she is acting like an idiot. I would say that Sheehan's loss is not the sole reason for her notoriety. She possesses a moral courage that is very rare in America today. She knows right from wrong and is not afraid to say what she believes. Sometimes she says things in a very unpolished way, but I know exactly what she means to say. When she and Harry Belafonte called Bush a terrorist together, it was Belafonte that was able to adaquately explain the remark. He's extremely eloquent (not that you would know from watching the corporate media; am I the only one that sees a pattern of the mainstream media portraying black people as stupid? I thought Belafonte, Sharpton, and McKinney were morons before I heard them for myself; they are all intellectually limber.) But I can still tell what Sheehan wishes to say even when she doesn't say it properly. I think she exhibits a courage and rectitude that harkens back to Rosa Parks. I think that contributes to her notoriety as well.

[rodeodance]

17. of course she has the right. that is not the issue. I do think Senators have

an obligation to meet with foreign leaders in times like these. esp when our own WH refuses to talk.

[Tempest]

4. I'd like to know what she thinks about Specter going to Syria

Specter is going to Syria to meet with the leaders next month.

[Little Wing]

5. and and and these right-wing newscasters, they put on these Iraq War widows

who come out and say things you disagree with but they're untouchable because they lost a loved one in Iraq.

I've never seen mothers so happy to lose their kids.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Hiold it, not if your name is Cindy Sheehan

she is a gold star mother too doncha know?

[Little Wing]

30. You're aware I was turning Ann Coulter's argument on its side, yes?

To hopefully show how ridiculous it was.

Not that it needed help looking ridiculous.

[blm]

6. Funny - why didn't they worry about this the FIRST TWO TIMES Kerry met with al Assad?

Oh yeah - the press didn't pay attention, and the ISG report pretty much agrees with Kerry. So BushInc can't let this one slide without attempting yet another media pile-on against Kerry.

[BushOut06]

7. Yet it's perfectly okay for Congressmen to travel to Iraq

Then come back here and tell us all these "rosy" stories that they think are more important.

Besides, Kerry has more statesmanship in his pinky finger than Bush has in his entire Cabinet.

[GrumpyGreg]

8. Her pain,her opinion. So be it!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

9. Is she okay with this?

[minnesota_liberal]

10. Gold Star Neo-Con Shill would be more accurate

Fox is great at digging up "experts" with no credibility. She's no different.

[badgerpup]

11. Wonder how much her 'honorarium' wa$..

...for appearing on FAUX and $peaking.
I'm almo$t po$itve $he was compen$ated for her time and her lo$$...

:sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

14. the Dems are defying the WH---now the Right is doing their dissing.

[Captain Hilts]

16. And they are opening the door to Republics doing it when there is a Dem in the WH. nt

[democrat_06]

22. There are consequences

Ok, we need to change the foreign policy direction this country has taken. The means to that end are to elect a Democratic president in '08, not to usurp the foreign policy of the current administration. Granted, I may not like it either but I do like the Constitution. If the Democratic senators meet with foreign leaders now, the Rethugs will do the same. Foreign policy is the responsibility of the Executive branch of government. Don't like it, vote for change but don't mess with the Constitution. It is the job of the Legislative branch to make laws affecting our domestic policies and to appropriate funds.

I may agree with what they are trying to do, but I don't agree with the methods. The conversation should be had here. Just imagine if during WWII some Rethugs arranged a meeting with Hitler and Mussolini to try and end the war while Roosevelt was planning D-Day. It's just not good precedent.

[A Simple Game]

23. Welcome to DU and I agree 100%.

I am too lazy to look for it tonight, but if I remember right, some Republican Senators and/or Representatives did try to undermine President Clinton's foreign policy by meeting with foreign leaders.

Of course there was the meeting with the Iranians when Carter was President. We are still living with the results of that foreign policy interference.

[blm]

28. Big difference - these senators aren't doing COVERT DEALS. They are getting INPUT

from regional leaders while they help formulate a plan that even the WH keeps demanding the Democrats produce.

How many times during the 2006 campaign did Bush demand the Democrats present THEIR plan for Iraq?

[tabasco]

24. You've got to be kidding.

You think senators meeting with foreign dignitaries is "usurping foreign policy."

Please get back to me with all the treaties that Kerry signs and all the agreements he signs.

Where's the outrage for Specter, "O-6?" What are you in command of, the basement?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

25. It IS usurping foreign policy.

Foreign policy, by and large, is within the purview of the executive, not the legislature. My personal feeling is that these actions set a dangerous precedent. However, the current circumstances are unprecedented. Never before has an American President so botched foreign policy. Our policy in Iraq is utterly broken, and Bush has made it clear that he's going to ignore any advice he doesn't like. What I *would* like to see is some expression from the parties involved that this is an extremely special case, and therefore they are going outside of the normal rules of international relations because there is no other choice. It should be made clear from the beginning that such actions are not appropriate under normal circumstances.

[blm]

29. During the 06 campaign, Bush kept pressuring Democrats to present an Iraq plan

and he pushed the presscorps to keep hounding the Dems on this question - so - they are obtaining INPUT and ideas from regional leaders about how to make a plan that works for the entire region.

Bush DEMANDED they do it - so they are.

BTW - Why was there no outrage for the two other times Kerry met with Assad and regional leaders? Because this time the ISG is backing Kerry's ideas over Bush, and the presscorps is finally noticing, hence the uproar.

[democrat_06]

26. Of course

Kerry is not signing treaties, that's the job of the President. It's the job of the Congress to ratify those treaties or not. This and funding are the only roles the Congress should be playing in foreign policy.

However in meeting with foreign leaders and going against current policies they are affecting foreign policy. It was wrong when the Republicans did it under Carter and Clinton and it's wrong now. Just because we don't agree with the current administration we have to follow the law. If we don't then we can't complain when the shoe is on the other foot and in '09 it will be. Do you really want to go down this road when very soon we will have the power over the three branches of government - it's coming.

I'm afraid that what we reap we will sow. And to the other comment posted, while I agree in part that something must be done, there is no such thing as doing it just this time - what you suggest is essentially a coup. Go down this road and there's no going back.

We can insist on impeachment hearings and hopefully the removal of office of all in the current regime or we can work doubly hard to elect Dems in '08.

[Captain Hilts]

31. THANK YOU. Think long-term folks. Every 'right' you take for us you give to them. nt

[blm]

27. Unlike when Hastert went to Colombia and Perle to Israel while Clinton was in office, eh?

And unlike ALL the covert dealings that BushSr. and his thugs were still advancing - that was a GREAT help to Clinton's legacy once historians put it all together at some point.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

[rodeodance]

15. Alan Specter a Repug is with a delegation in Syria also

[izzie]

18. Has she heard of 1776

What was that war about any how?

[treestar]

21. Exactly. What, aren't they fighting for "our freedom?"

Does that mean we have to hand it over to them, as it is their gift to us in the first place?

Which means we aren't free, but only their slaves.

No one should be allowed in the military unless they don't want to fight a war except as a last resort, much like the way no one who really wants to be a police officer really should be one.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Gee golly Fox is back to its old games

gee willies, how surprising?

I don't Rumsfeldian well, do I?

[REP]

33. Having a Dead Child Doesn't Make You Smart

Personally, I find anyone willing to call themself a "Gold Star Mom" revolting - it's as though they've earned something by being the mother of child killed in combat. The dead soldier deserves any honors.