Sorry Mr president, we don't care for the way you've organized the executive branch

Sorry Mr President, we don't care for the way you organized the executive branch

by digby

Wow, these guys just don't quit:

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are teaming up with Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee to write legislation that would take decisions about trying detainees out of the attorney general's hands and hand that power to the secretary of defense.

In the wake of the White House's new executive order allowing Guantanamo detainees to be held indefinitely, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) unveiled legislation that would, among other things, affirm the military's right to detain, hold and interrogate detainees at its discretion without Department of Justice or Attorney General Eric Holder involvement.


Are these guys under the misapprehension that the Secretary of Defense doesn't serve at the pleasure of the president, exactly as the Attorney General does? What's the point of this?

But here's the real kicker:

Such legislation could attract significant Democratic support, considering Democrats' willingness to buck Obama's attempts to shutter Guantanamo Bay and Holder's decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in civilian court in New York City, a decision that was later reversed after prominent Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) vigorously opposed the move...

McKeon said he expected broad Democratic support for the legislation.

"We think there will be a huge number of Democrats supporting the bill," he told reporters.

The proposal faces higher hurdles in the Senate but could attract some Democratic support there.


Maybe they'll all vote for it,then Obama can veto it and run as a great defender of civil liberties and the constitution while the other side accuses him of being a terrorist sympathizer. That's just the kind of surreal, bizarroworld campaign I'm expecting.


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