McCain: ‘Unconstitutional’ to limit Obama’s war powers

[Suzanimal]

Sen. John McCain said Sunday that Congress should give President Obama more military authority than he has asked for to defeat the Islamic State.


Mr. McCain, chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, said stripping the commander-in-chief of any military options is “unconstitutional and frankly leaders to 535 commander-in-chiefs” as lawmakers get too involved in specific military strategy.

“I think we should not restrain the president of the United States,” the Arizona Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Congress has the power of the purse. If we don’t like what the commander-in-chief is doing, we can cut off his funds for doing so.”

The president last week presented to Congress a new war authorization for military action against the Islamic State, despite having conducted airstrikes for more than six months under authorizations from 2001 and 2002.

Mr. McCain said that while it’s “probably not absolutely necessary” to approve a new authorization, it’s “probably appropriate” to have the debate since Congress hasn’t done so in more than a decade.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he doesn’t support putting a time limit on any war authorization, despite the White House’s proposal only lasting three years. He does, however, support limiting which U.S. troops can be sent into battle.

...

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/15/mccain-unconstitutional-to-limit-obamas-war-powers/#ixzz3RrORhCOk

[Cabal]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/fe/9c/96/fe9c9669612f38c14490b7b69bdd1adc.jpg

[thoughtomator]

This guy should be giggling at hand puppets in a nursing home, not chairing a Senate committee.

[orenbus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVWMUJh0qVs

[heavenlyboy34]

This guy should be giggling at hand puppets in a nursing home, not chairing a Senate committee.

LMAO!! That's the funniest way I've ever heard it expressed. :D

[DFF]

So to heck with check and balances, lets just make the President an absolute dictator?

Sounds like a great idea Senator McWar. :rolleyes:

[alucard13mm]

How about the Senate give up its powers??? That's even better so McCain can screw around anymore.

[AngryCanadian]

Why is the media giving this nutcase free air time?

[Dianne]

This guy should be giggling at hand puppets in a nursing home, not chairing a Senate committee.

Well said !!

[euphemia]

Dude has no plan.

[A Son of Liberty]

This guy should be giggling at hand puppets in a nursing home, not chairing a Senate committee.

Sadly, I think that's what's actually happening. It's just that there's a camera in his face, and he's helping shape the foreign policy of the USG.

But, DEMOCRACY... so, we're good.

[DamianTV]

Why is the media giving this nutcase free air time?

They were ordered to. Same reason as cops murder unthreatening mundanes, just following orders.

[GunnyFreedom]

If there was ever a man that I wanted to punch in the face for mere words, it's this jackass.

[Rudeman]

Best thing about Obama becoming president is that it saved us from McCain ever becoming president.

[Brian4Liberty]

Coincidentally, McCain's little mini-me, Rep. Kinzinger, said the same thing on one of the Sunday morning propaganda shows.

[BV2]

This guy should be giggling at hand puppets in a nursing home, not chairing a Senate committee.
best thing I've read all year. Hell, last year too. This is a winner!

[acptulsa]

The checks and balances built into the Constitution are unconstitutional, now?

Pity the founding fathers didn't specify sanity as a prerequisite for election to the Senate, along with the age limit.

[Slave Mentality]

The VC would have done the world a favor.

[Stratovarious]

I get emails from McCains office, my last response from last month was:
"You should be ashamned" .
He has become almost as insulting as Obama himself.

[acptulsa]

Anyone who takes this moldy old asshole's advice on what is and isn't constitutional deserves what they get.

The rest of us, however, do not deserve that...

McCain is one of the strongest arguments against collectivism I can think of. This evil should be exorcised from our midst--or, at the very least, there ought to be laws against pointing cameras and microphones at him. Not because I don't believe in free speech, but because he's way, way over his fifteen minutes of fame (which would have been more than he ever deserved).

[nobody's_hero]

Dude has no plan.

Oh he has a plan. I'm sure it's probably something like:

1) Buy stocks in the war industry
2) Promote endless war

[Suzanimal]

:D
I love this.


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/fe/9c/96/fe9c9669612f38c14490b7b69bdd1adc.jpg

[heavenlyboy34]

The checks and balances built into the Constitution are unconstitutional, now?

Pity the founding fathers didn't specify sanity as a prerequisite for election to the Senate, along with the age limit.

I've always thought one of the worst things about the Constitution is that there is no requirements for competence of any kind for office holders of any sort.

[TommyJeff]

Let me get this straight, he is aware the Constitution does not give the president such a power (which is why he is urging congress to "give" this power to the president) but he says its unconstitutional to not let the president have this power?? I'm confused. If its in the Constitution then president would have this power (he doesn't) and if its not in the constitution (which it isn't) then it can't possibly be unconstitutional.
Has this man read the constitution?? I dislike how the term unconstitutional has been so misused - and therefore devalued.

[Ronin Truth]

Gee John, with the CONstitutional constraints on POTUS war powers, you probably wouldn't have had to spend those years being a tortured POW in North Viet Nam.

[Devostator]

who knw he'd one day come to obama's defence

[AngryCanadian]

who knw he'd one day come to obama's defence


Not the first.

McCain begged Obama to start an intervention into Syria and turn it into another Libya.

[jllundqu]

There isn't a country on Earth Songbird McCain wouldn't bomb... he wants to burn it all down. I don't think there has ever been a more bloodthirsty wannabe tyrant that graced the halls of the Senate. Thank god he didn't get elected POTUS... we'd all be dead from nuclear fallout by now....

[DamianTV]

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of Tyranny.

- James Madison

Yeah douchebag, give President, not just Obama, but the seat of President the total power of a Dictator. Every time McCain opens his mouth, his brains fall out.

[amartin315]

I think McCain may actually be right on one point. The Congress has the power to declare the war, but Obama is the commander in chief. Any attempt by the Congress to overstep its authority to simply declare the war and tell Obama how to move his troops may be unconstitutional. That is to say, if Congress declares war and tells Obama he can only use his air troops, that may be unconstitutional.

To me of course, this is simply a good reason not to declare war at all. But if we are to declare war, we should "get it over with" and use all of the tools at our disposal, ground troops and all...