Promoted -- GH. Originally posted 2008-06-22 15:50:20 -0500.

"I John McCain do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic."

This is the oath John McCain will have to swear if he is declared winner of America's presidential election in November of 2008. Every American president since George Washington has had to take the same oath. It is an American tradition that defines us even more so than baseball and Mom's apple pie. If the Constitution of the United States is not preserved, protected and defended, then this country isn't really the land of democracy that America's founding fathers created and wished to preserve.

However, it would seem that John McCain has no respect for America's founding fathers, or the U.S. Constitution which every president must swear and oath to defend.

Bumped. Originally posted 2008-06-20 13:13:50 -0500.

Posted simultaneously on ePluribus Media, DailyKos, Docudharma and Below Boston.

There are words that comprise paper tigers and those which ignite fires; some words are worth fighting to protect, others are not.

Some words forge new nations and ideals amid the forge-fires of conflict, while others are relegated to the dustbins of history as naught but a footnote at most.

There are words, on the page following, which have worth that appears to vary across the depth and breadth of the nation today. Once -- long ago, perhaps -- they were words that could inspire and entice the people of a nation to do great things. Now, however, their fate appears uncertain. I ask, fellow netizens, just one simple question: Whither the words necessary to marshal a hue and cry of outrage and demand for restoration, restitution and accountability?

originally posted 2008-04-13 16:50:56 -0500' bumped and promoted again by carol white because I think JH has said a lot of important things here.

“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” – from the U.S. military officer oath

In an April 10 speech at the White House, Mr. Bush stated that, “two of the greatest threats to America in this new century” are “al Qaeda and Iran.” For once in his presidency, Mr. Bush is probably right. Al Qaeda and Iran, in fact, may be America’s only two remaining foreign threats.

Russia and China won’t try to beat us militarily; they’ll take us down economically. Europe doesn’t even need to take us down economically because it already has: The European Union’s gross domestic product surpassed ours by about $600 billion in 2007. Australia’s happy the way it is; Japan won’t rock the boat. South America is too corrupt. Africa is far too hot and Canada’s too cold, as the song by Randy Newman says.

Yep, as far as significant foreign enemies go, Iran and al-Qaeda are about it: a country with an gross domestic product and defense budget barely six percent of America’s, and an “organization” with no economy or navy or air force at all, and no proper army to speak of.

Mr. Bush was telling us, in the Freudian fashion he so often utilizes, that the enemies we really need to worry about are of the domestic variety.