Conservative columnist sees “ignoramus” behind McCain’s criticism of high court ruling on Gitmo
June 18th, 2008 at 09:14am Pat Cunningham
George Will, a conservative commentator who occasionally makes sense, TAKES ISSUE with John McCain over last week’s ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding detainees at Guantanamo.
Will even expresses doubt that McCain has read the court’s opinions and dissents in the case.
“More likely,” he writes, “some clever ignoramus convinced him that this decision could make the Supreme Court — meaning, which candidate would select the best judicial nominees — a campaign issue.”
UPDATE: The McCain camp SEEMS NOT to understand that the next president, no matter who it is, will have to comply with the high court’s ruling in the Gitmo case.
Entry Filed under: U.S. Supreme Court, Guantanamo Bay, George Will, John McCain
8 Comments Add your own
1. Menlo Bob | June 18th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Mr. Applesauce would have readers believe that John Kerry’s recent comments only reflect the restraints of the recent Supreme Court decision regarding prisoners of war and habeas corpus. He’d like you to believe that John Kerry hasn’t issued a full-throated endorsement of the new decison. As is frequently the case Mr. Applesauce is misleading at best.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030396/posts
2. Menlo Bob | June 18th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
And, of course, Obama has advocated for the exact same thing.
http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060927-floor_statement_7/
3. Optimistic1 | June 18th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Mccain has spent 5 years in a torture prison and has also personally visited Gitmo. He has spent approx 23 years in the military, he has spent nearly 25 years as a lawmaker. It must be a pretty short list of people who can match his credentials on the subject and his unique perspective on the matter should be respected by both sides (Running for Prez or not). If he is dead set against it, I am concerned. I don’t doubt we have an issue with the 270 detainees at Gitmo and they need their day in court, but I hope we are not aiding future enemies of this country by the courts decision, which apparently only came about because both sides are arguing that there is not proper legislation in place to handle a situation like Gitmo. 20% congressional approval rating anyone? Golfers say you don’t follow a bad shot with a stupid shot. I hope that is not exactly what we are doing on this issue by giving a short sighted rebuke to the current administrations mistakes. Time and only time will tell.
4. Pat Cunningham | June 18th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Optimist: McCain has no special credentials for judging the constitutional issues regarding whether detainees at Gitmo should have habeus corpus rights.
5. kaus | June 18th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Habeus corpus for non Americans….put it on the list of important issues to fix America at…….the very bottom.
6. Optimistic1 | June 18th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Never said he did Pat, he does however have a very unique perspective into the whole “Big Picture” of this decision which was my point. My Grandfather may not be qualified for many things technically, but he is a very wise man on many fronts so I find it is silly to ignore his wisdom. As I said, time will tell how this plays out in 10, 20, or 50 years.
7. Menlo Bob | June 19th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Since the constitution never mentioned giving habeas corpus rights to non-citizens living abroad, no one has ’special credentials’ for judging the constitutionality of the decision. Opinions delivered by Obama or McCain are all equal.
8. Menlo Bob | June 19th, 2008 at 10:29 am
And while we’re on the topic of ’special credentials’ would it be bad form to mention Obama’s tissue thin credentials for the job he aspires to have? Yeah, I didn’t think you’d want to go there.
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