Michael Goldfarb, McCain's Newest Official, Says President Has "Near Dictatorial Powers"

Bill Kristol today proudly announces that one of his Weekly Standard staff members, Michael Goldfarb, was just named the Deputy Communications Director of the McCain campaign. Last April, this newest McCain official participated in a conference call with former Senator George Mitchell, during which Mitchell advocated a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Afterwards, this is what Goldfarb wrote about what he thinks are the powers the President possesses in our country:

Mitchell's less than persuasive answer [to whether withdrawal timetables "somehow infringe on the president's powers as commander in chief?"]: "Congress is a coequal branch of government...the framers did not want to have one branch in charge of the government."

True enough, but they sought an energetic executive with near dictatorial power in pursuing foreign policy and war. So no, the Constitution does not put Congress on an equal footing with the executive in matters of national security.

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Comments

[Moose49]

". . . near dictatorial power . . ."

Well, at least Goldfarb is being open about his fascist leanings. The question is whether McSame and any of the other wingnuts will acknowledge their willingness to continue the descent into fascism started by Bush and Cheney -- or whether they'll continue to use fear in order to make the American people so frightened they either don't recognize or don't mind another quasi-fascist presidency.

[JiminNC]

This just in ... Bush declares Marshall Law and postpones elections until the people are no longer angry ...

It does sound possible considering his support of Musharrif.

[lisakaz2]

It's Martial Law (as in militaryesque). It seems to me an Oct. Surprise could involve this -- or Bu$h could wait till December. I bet the Chinese and Russians being terribly unkeen about such a move is the only thing that's cooled his jets.

[osage]

Just what American needs.....­.another wingnut who implicitly advocates totalitarian rule over democracy. Don't these morons understand how un-American they sound. Don't they realize that "near dictatorial powers" is a BAD thing?

[stateMachine]

This goes to show how poorly these neocons understood the cold war. They view having a free and open society as a hindrance in our confrontations with authoritarianism. Quite the opposite. We won precisely because we are, at least nominally, a free and open society.

Basically, these guys are stupid.

[Sundialsvc4]

I don't know if "the Cold War" really existed except in the mind of the Military-Industrial Complex, which certainly made gobs of money from it.

Neverthele­ss... the people of Russia (and, generally, of Europe...) did more-or-less outgrow it. But did we?

Neverthele­ss... just ask the Frenchmen who have spent and will spend their entire lives trying to clean up their countryside from the poisonous effects of World War -ONE- ... yes, "war" does have long-term effects, but "the cold war" actually consisted of lots of threats and lots of military spending but no actual war. (Uh huh, you crawled under your third-grade desk for absolutely nothing.)

[BlueOnBlue]

I'm reposting this in hope I can correct an error..

What's important here is that MCCAIN is filling his staff with more neocons who supported the Iraq war well before it was a war. Bill ('have you ever been right?") Kristol is foremost among those who sold the notion, all the way back to the mid-90s, that an invasion to "liberate" Iraq would be a cakewalk.

These guys, along with McCain, were all in bed with the liar Ahmed Chalabi and funneled millions to him to help grease the way to war. Bush was just the last guy in the chain.

Now, the top neocon of all, John McCain, who never saw an international problem which couldn't be fixed by aerial bombardment, is their idea of who should be the next "dictator" of America.

And Hillary's people are saying they will vote for this guy instead of Obama? Really?

[BlueOnBlue]

What's important here is that Obama is filling his staff with more neocons who supported the Iraq war well before it was a war. Bill ('have you ever been right?") Kristol is foremost among those who sold the notion, all the way back to the mid-90s, that an invasion to "liberate" Iraq would be a cakewalk.

These guys, along with McCain, were all in bed with the liar Ahmed Chalabi and funneled millions to him to help grease the way to war. Bush was just the last guy in the chain.

Now, the top neocon of all, John McCain, who never saw an international problem which couldn't be fixed by aerial bombardment, is their idea of who should be the next "dictator" of America.

And Hillary's people are saying they will vote for this guy instead of Obama? Really?

[jsarets]

The neocons in the White House and the DoJ believe that the only check on executive power during wartime (which is essentially the permanent state of our government) is impeachment. Speaker Pelosi took impeachment off the table. Therefore, Bush is effectively a dictator that can only be removed from power by revolution.

[Sundialsvc4]

"Forbid it, Almighty God!"

Nope... Bush can be removed at any time by Impeachment.

The "trouble" is, the Framers of the Constitution did not anticipate that all three Branches of the Government might be usurped by a common criminal enterprise. In other words, they did not anticipate the Military Industrial Complex. :-/

Neverthele­ss... there are 300 million of "us" and (at most!) only a few thousand of "them," no matter how much (borrowed) money they make. Believe me, if you turn-on the lights in the kitchen at the wrong moment, the rats will scatter just as surely as if you had struck a match to their fur . . .

[larry278]

Supports of Mc Cain should take heart writers for the WEEKLY STD. work dirt cheap. Sure they make a lot of errors but they work cheap.
l lynch

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Anyone surprised?

[prochange]

"quod erat demonstrandum" Bush is able to do whatever he wants and Congress and the Senate are helpless.

[RTIII]

... because Impeachment Is Off The Table.

Vote Nancy OUT TODAY!

Vote Shirley Golub in the 8th Congressional district in San Francisco TODAY!

[findingthetruth]

Oh please ---- the GOP are desperately trying separate McCain and Bush. This is the first STEP in dissing Bush (in the eyes of America) ---- until the two get caught together again.

[suntzu]

Disclosure: this is a cross post of mine from another site with this story.

There is a good deal of projection going on, methinks, with Goldfarb's infatuation with "near dictatorial powers." I cannot avoid the feeling that this turns him on personally. The only thing that confuses me is that he stops short, and instead of claiming "outright dictatorial powers" for the president (for whom he would like to be a surrogate), he demurely settles for "near dictatorial powers."

I call Goldfarb out as a pansy and a wimp who does not have the balls to claim "outright dictatorial powers." Oh, and Kristol too.

[Mitchell4A]

How little the American people know of McCain. On a list of a (baker's) dozen reasons why he should not be president, I have as numbers 7, 9, and 19

7. The Not So Straight-talk Factor: McCain has built his reputation on being a man of principle. This has two features: he believes in something and he sticks with what he believes in. McCain has recently begun to backpedal on principles and commitments. He is vulnerable to being viewed as a flip-flopper, if not dishonest, which will undermine his hitherto greatest strength.

9. The Skeleton Factor: The Keating Five and lobbyists, need I say more.

10. The Anger Problem: It’s real.

"A Dozen Reasons Why McCain won't Win: Money-Back Guarantee"
http://msa4.wordpress.com/page/2/

[Strywever]

You missed the main point with #7 -- it isn't simply about McCain being *viewed* as a flip-flopper. Far more important are the actual flip-flops. We currently have a President who ran as a "compassionate conservative" and a "uniter." He has proved to be the opposite in both cases. We cannot afford another President who says one thing and then does another. We desperately need a president with integrity, and McCain is proving before our very eyes that he doesn't have any.

[SpaceCadet]

That's consistent with the reason McCain's is running for president: He wants to be the next Dictator in Chief, or as they call that political position in more primitive countries: the War Lord.

[harriscrl3]

Near Dictatorial?

WAKE UP AMERICA we have a FASCIST Govermnent. The media is in the POCKET OF CORPORATE AMERICA. They shape our agenda. The Iraq War is ABOUT OIL!!!

Near?

Riiiiight

Carol