Kerry/Obama Block DeMint Honduras Trip
Update: DeMint is on with Mark Levin now.
Do you think the Democrats have finally decided to crack down on all that wasteful junket spending, or are they afraid this trip might serve an actual purpose? DeMint seems pretty fired up about it. He tweeted his reaction at Kerry. Maybe Kerry didn't fire back because he wasn't running away?
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has blocked Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) trip to Honduras slated to begin Friday, according to DeMint's office.
DeMint’s office informed The Hill of Kerry’s decision Thursday afternoon.
"@JohnKerry (Foreign Rel. chair) trying to hide truth to protect Zelaya, blocking our fact-finding trip to Honduras at last minute," DeMint also tweeted late Thursday afternoon.
DeMint's office followed with a statement. "These bullying tactics by the Obama administration and Senator Kerry must stop, and we must be allowed to get to the truth in Honduras. Not a single U.S. Senator has traveled to Honduras to learn the facts on the ground.
"While this administration has failed to act decisively in Afghanistan, it is has no problem cracking down on a democratic ally and one of the poorest nations in Latin America," DeMint added. "Now, President Obama and Democrats' blind support for this would-be dictator and friend of Hugo Chavez will prevent members of Congress from learning the truth first hand."
So maybe DeMint can actually, you know, PAY for a goddamned ticket out of his own frigging pocket? Then deduct the expenses on his tax return. He certainly gets paid enough.
It’s not like us regular peons get to deduct trips to wherever we want to go.
Dr. K I’m sure Demint would be allowed to go to Honduras except Obama has used up all the DC budget in his campaign for King of da World!
Dr. K, speaking for me only, I’m against junkets that involve wives and family and days on beaches wasting taxpayer money on what are really vacations. I’m not against junkets that are actually job related. If there is a good junket this is one of them and it should be approved!
Afraid Demint will find out something. Hmmmm.
Still, why whine that the government is preventing him from going? Pay for the ticket yourself and GO. Deduct the cost as an unreimbursed employee expense.
No excuse that Kerry is keeping him from his “fact finding”. If he wants to find facts, show how serious he is by paying his own way.
So President Bush could have BLOCKED Pelosi going to Syria? If that is the case what in the hell is WRONG with Republicans when they have the whole shebang….their :sniff: sensitivities DISGUST me! I want some REAL HARD BALL politicians in the Republican party. Man the way D’s treat R’s make me ANGRY because we know when the shoe is on the other foot we treat D’s like humans.
The UNITED STATES has stated it will not aknowledge this new government as it is the result of a coup. Mr. Dimwit needs to have a seat and do his job here in the UNITED STATES. Through his own statements, he supports the leaders of this coup. This is getting very close to treason. Careful there Dimwit.
Guys, follow the link. DeMint is being blocked from going by Kerry, in retaliation for DeMint blocking two of Obama’s nominations. It’s not as simple as you think. Also, yes, he seems to be supporting the leaders of the coup. Read the news. Obama and Clinton have no right to interfere. The interim President, who is in place constitutionally, asked for the US to send someone to investigate what is going on. Obama doesn’t want to do that because he knows he’s wrong, just like he’s not doing the right thing for Iran, or Afghanistan, or health-care, or cap-and-trade, or safe schools or anything else he has touched. This administration is just wrong.
DeMint wants to go with a U.S. delegation which would be better, have more clout, be able to do more, talk to more people, and be more protection than if he just went as a private citizen. Of course he could pay his own ticket, but there’s more to it than that.
Redman,
A coup it was not and the UNITED STATES has not stated it doesn’t acknowlege the government of Honduras, the Obama Administration has. But then why is anyone surprised? With friends like Chavez, Castro and the like Obama certainly knows what a real coup is and he’s attempting with everything his has to make sure the former “prez” of Honduras can complete his.
Laura,
It looks like Kerry can blackmail with the best of them.
That’s okay. There’s going to be revolution in this country–sooner rather than later–so “Not-so-Swiftboat Kerry” will have lots of time to conduct fact-finding trips to Swiss ski resorts after he goes into exile.
There was no coup you morons. The sitting president tried to amend the constitution, illegally, to maintain power dictatorially. The representatives blocked his efforts and sent him into exile when he tried to- wait for it- militarily take the power he could not steal. There is no other side to this story unless you are a socialist tool in favor of strongmen setting up dictatorships ala Chavez, Castro, Che. Some of you people would do well to do a little research for yourselves. Demint may be getting blocked diplomatically, not simply through the cost of a ticket. Our government CAN block entry into another country, as they did once upon a time in Cuba. Facts are troublesome things for liberals.
“Facts are troublesome things for liberals”
Yes, facts mean having to face one’s own actions and it is impossible for Liberals to face themselves when they do evil things.
If I were DeMint, I’d go anyway. What can Kerry do if he does?
What can Kerry do if he does?
Throw his fake war medals at him!
Here is what John Kerry said on Honduras earlier:
“America values its longstanding partnership with Honduras, but a push to rewrite the constitution over the objections of Honduras’s top court, legislature, attorney general, and military is deeply disturbing.”
Seems like Kerry himself has stated a good reason for going.
Viva Honduras! Viva 15-0!
Bullshit, it WAS a coup. It’s the same old song from Latin America – populist leader pisses off the business class and military, they run him out. Incidentally, Zelaya ran for president as a center-right candidate. Once elected (with most of his support from the lower classes), he started leaning left. I say leaning, because he’s hardly a Chavez-type radical.
JustOneMan: Why are you insulting a former soldier who was injured in combat? Is he an okay target because he’s a democrat?
Smitty, bullcrap. The Legislature- which is dominated by Zelaya’s party- went to the Supreme Court and basically said “The President is violating the Constitution” and the Supreme Court acted. Zelaya persisted in violating the law and the Court issued an arrest warrant. AND a civilian- not a colonel- was chosen as interim president AND elections are scheduled to go on their proper date; how the hell can you call that a coup?
And it’s interesting to hear someone who was sucking up to Chavez(and where were those illegal ballots printed?) and trying to make himself President-For-Life described as ‘leaning left’ and ‘hardly a radical’.
By the way, Kerry brought up his military background at every opportunity, and then screamed like a stuck pig when that record was questioned. And STILL hasn’t released his full record like he promised he would. And he pulls crap like this; that’s why he’s being insulted.
Smitty, leaving aside whether Kerry was ever more than a legend in his own mind, you might want to bear in mind the example of another hero: general, wounded in combat, widely credited with winning a crucial battle, honored by Congress. His name was Benedict Arnold.
Conclusion: past valor doesn’t mean you aren’t wrong today.
Link dump on Honduras:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/09/dictatorship-unmasked
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/06/coup-honduras
Some highlights:
“This executive decree(PCM-M-016-2009), signed by the de facto head of state Micheletti in a meeting with his equally de facto cabinet, establishes a curfew for 45 consecutive days, during which practically all rights and individual freedoms are annulled.”
“Article 3.3 of executive decree PCM-M-016-2009 prohibits: ‘Publication in any media, spoken, written or televised, of information that offends human dignity, public officials, or criticizes the law and the government resolutions, or any style of attack against the public order and peace.’”
“It is obvious, therefore, that with the 45-day curfew–that is, for the duration of the election campaigns–the real goal is to torpedo November’s electoral process.”
“Soldiers have also moved to block the opinion poll that sparked the coup. Today Hondurans were supposed to register their opinion in a non-binding poll that asked them, “Do you think that the November 2009 general elections should include a fourth ballot box in order to make a decision about the creation of a National Constitutional Assembly that would approve a new Constitution?” The poll would have had no legal weight.”
And finally:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/07/micheletti-tried-change-honduran-constitution-1985
“In 1985, [Micheletti] tried to turn the Honduran National Congress into a National Constitutional Assembly in order to reform the same Magna Carta that the coup leaders are now defending as their transcendental symbol during the current political crisis.”
“Members of Congress and politicians accuse Manuel Zelaya of trying to extend his term and change the Honduran Constitution, but what he tried to do was hold a non-binding opinion poll. Micheletti, on the other hand, did want to [extend the president's term and change the Constitution] 24 years ago.”
“The legislators requested the suspension of various constitutional articles, the same ones that, ironically, are now used by the coup authorities to legitimize Zelaya’s ouster. Those articles are 373, 374, and 375, which refer to the mechanisms for reforming and defending the Constitution.”
Sorry if it’s TLDR, but I think it’s all useful information from a reliable (if biased*) source.
*For example, they leave out any mention of Honduras’ Supreme Court approving the military action.
“Conclusion: past valor doesn’t mean you aren’t wrong today.”
My thoughts exactly. He earned his medals, the point is how he stands on issues XYZ.
I agree in general principle on cutting down spending on press junkets, but I have my doubts (understatement) about the Democrats’ motivations.
A number of the liberal commentators in this thread seem to be a little behind on the news. Honduras was not a coup, per the Congressional Research Service (a non-partisan, highly respected research body):
http://media.sfexaminer.com/documents/2009-002965HNRPT.pdf
I guess you folks need new talking points.
No Leftist who I’ve read has ever been able to construct an argument by which he can honorably say that what happened in Honduras was a coup (let alone a “military coup” as some State Department officials have called it).
That this Administration and its State Department continues to support Zelaya in spite of what the facts clearly show is disheartening. That nobody either cares to or is able to defend it makes me wonder.
I IMPLORE those supporting Obama’s and Clinton’s position to PLEASE explain why and back it up with actual facts that counter the facts that we know. What, exactly, am I missing?