Obama to Palin: ‘Don’t Mock the Constitution’

Obama to Palin: ‘Don’t Mock the Constitution’
Washington Post
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.
Sen. Barack Obama delivered an impassioned defense of the Constitution and the rights of terrorism suspects tonight, striking back at one of the biggest applause lines in Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech to the GOP convention.

It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama:”Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”

Obama had a few problems with that.

“First of all, you don’t even get to read them their rights until you catch ’em,” Obama said here, drawing laughs from 1,500 supporters in a high school gymnasium. “They should spend more time trying to catch Osama bin Laden and we can worry about the next steps later.”

If the plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks are in the government’s sights, Obama went on, they should be targeted and killed.

“My position has always been clear: If you’ve got a terrorist, take him out,” Obama said. “Anybody who was involved in 9/11, take ’em out.”

But Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for more than a decade, said captured suspects deserve to file writs of habeus corpus.

Calling it “the foundation of Anglo-American law,” he said the principle “says very simply: If the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, ‘Why was I grabbed?’ And say, ‘Maybe you’ve got the wrong person.'”

The safeguard is essential, Obama continued, “because we don’t always have the right person.”

“We don’t always catch the right person,” he said. “We may think it’s Mohammed the terrorist, but it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You might think it’s Barack the bomb-thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president.”

Obama turned back to Palin’s comment, although he said he was not sure whether Palin or Rudy Giuliani said it.

“The reason that you have this principle is not to be soft on terrorism. It’s because that’s who we are. That’s what we’re protecting,” Obama said, his voice growing louder and the crowd rising to its feet to cheer. “Don’t mock the Constitution. Don’t make fun of it. Don’t suggest that it’s not American to abide by what the founding fathers set up. It’s worked pretty well for over 200 years.”

He finished with a dismissive comment about his opponents.

“These people.”

.

Wild Thing’s comment………
He is just breath-takingly stupid. These people are not covered under the constitution. The problem is the far left keeps trying to apply the constitution to any breathing person.
It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama: “Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”
Nope. The Washington Post misquotes Governor Palin. That wasn’t a statement, it was a question. It read: “It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama: “Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights?”
Mocking the constitution? When I ask did liberals ever care about that? They don’t just mock it they systematically try to go around and undermine it by whatever means possible.
Terrorists should have no “rights” under the Constitution because they are foreign, non-combatants and thus should not be afforded the same protection as U.S. citizens.
Get this too, regarding Obama’s two rallies in in the same day.1500 people , 250 people earlier today. That’s two rallies in MICHIGAN of all places, and Obama pulls in less than 2000 people.
John McCain is a political genius (what did Rush call him…”McGenius.”) He has the Democratic Presidential nominee on the defensive, but not against the Republican Presidential nominee, but against the VP candidate. Doesn’t Obama get the fact that this diminishes his so called “political stature.” Why does it take Hillary, Biden, and Obama to all face off Sarah Palin??? heh heh
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America DID NOT WRITE the U.S. Constitution for a bunch of Islamofascists killing Americans and trying to destroy OUR country! If Obama had spent more time in the United States and less time in Indonesia, who would know that.
The guy is a walking contradiction. On the one hand he says, “Take them out” which, by his standard, would be violating the terrorists habeus corpus “rights” and then on the other hand, if you don’t kill them but catch them, they are to be considered innocent until proven guilty. That is if we kill them they were guilty but if captured they are innocent until proven guilty. Of course Obama ignores the legal reality that illegal combatants that wear no uniform and belong to no national government are not to be given the same rights under the Geneva Convention that identified members of a military force of a recognized nation are to be afforded.
This guy is flailing around without any use of logic. Obama is, himself, a walking, breathing affront to the Constitution. His view that federal judges are there to do whatever they think is right, rather than to understand and apply the Constitution, is an assault on the very concept of having a written Constitution.
Obama is also trying to stifle free speech by trying to get the justice department to go after The American Issue Project for running a Ayers add.