Boehner Snubs White House By Inviting Netanyahu To Address Congress
[su_right_ad]House Speaker John Boehner broke protocol and undermined the White House by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress.
Netanyahu accepted the offer and will address a joint session on Feb. 11, according to a congressional aide who spoke on background because the Israeli Embassy has not yet made a public announcement.
Boehner, R-Ohio, asked Netanyahu to address the threats posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the rise of the Islamic State. The invite came a day after the president’s State of the Union Address in which Obama warned Congress against enacting new economic sanctions against Iran…
Invitations to foreign leaders to address Congress are often made in consultation with the White House and the State Department, but it is not required. Earnest said typically a country’s leader contacts the White House before planning a U.S. visit, but Boehner’s announcement was the first the White House had heard of Netanyahu’s address.
“Like” us on Facebook [su_csky_ad]
rg9rts January 22nd, 2015 at 10:35 am
One crook to address a bunch of others…Hey Bibi needs to keep thew trough full of $$$$$ from the stupid americans
jasperjava January 22nd, 2015 at 11:13 am
Several Republican leaders have pledged to follow Bibi’s orders instead of considering American interests in the region. It’s only natural that they would invite their leader to address them and give them their marching orders,
bluejayray January 22nd, 2015 at 11:59 am
Yup–they want to get that Armageddon thing kicked off so that the raptures and all that crap will happen…
Dwendt44 January 22nd, 2015 at 11:32 am
You’d think Bibi would take a little time to think about it first. That way the State Dept. could talk him out of going.
fahvel January 22nd, 2015 at 11:56 am
it’s like asking a cockroach what it thinks about insecticide.
fahvel January 22nd, 2015 at 11:58 am
I am curious to see Boners response to the Pope’s arrival before congress.
bluejayray January 22nd, 2015 at 11:58 am
So they actually had floated the idea of not letting OUR President give the State of the Union address to Congress, but the Israeli Prime Minister is welcomed with open arms. Or at least, enough foreign aid to buy a lot of arms.
Bunya January 22nd, 2015 at 1:33 pm
The Boehner is basically letting everyone know exactly what he thinks of the black president. Can you imagine the outcry if a democrat had pulled something like this when Bush was president? How disrespectful!
Spirit of America January 22nd, 2015 at 1:41 pm
There was very little, it was done to bush, by pelosi and in a more damaging manner than just inviting for a speech.
OldLefty January 22nd, 2015 at 2:05 pm
What did she do?
Spirit of America January 22nd, 2015 at 2:33 pm
2007, syria visit… had repercussions that helped get the situation there now to where it is at. And it was directly against the pres’s & state dept publicly expressed wishes. (Note the WH this time only said it was breaking protocol, bad play, etc per se w/what boener did… nancy did actual damage and was against expressed wishes).
OldLefty January 22nd, 2015 at 2:51 pm
So did McCain. Remember his photo op with the “freedom fighters’ who turned out to be ISIS?
Spirit of America January 22nd, 2015 at 3:02 pm
LOL
1. Google this: “mccain isis debunked”
2. The topic that I was responding to was:
” Can you imagine the outcry if a democrat had pulled something like this when Bush was president? How disrespectful!”
I provided an example where a democrat did do something like(but even worse) it, and there was very little outcry… pres carter even applauded it.
Any comment on a dem doing the same?
OldLefty January 22nd, 2015 at 3:20 pm
It’s not been debunked.
What has been debunked is Rand Paul’s claim that McCain [deliberately] met with ISIS.
What has been established is that McCain does not know WHOM he is dealing with;
“within the murky world of the Syrian rebels, there is some evidence that various groups once aligned with moderate forces have begun to cooperate with more radical groups. “He cannot deny he met with leaders of an army that was coordinating with the same people who killed the men and women I served with, in Iraq,” Soltz said
And the Democrat did NOT invite him to speak before Congress.
Spirit of America January 22nd, 2015 at 6:49 pm
The fact that at the time none in the photo were with isil and isil themselves at the time called for ‘the beheading of all in the photo’ doesn’t matter, eh?
LOL, the democrat didn’t do exactly the same thing so it doesn’t matter? If one throws a rotten orange, it is ok if one throws a rotten egg as long as its your side?
Pelosi went to visit a head of state, whose nation was on the Sponsor of Terror list, against the public expression of the pres, made up a message that helped the head of state…
Boener invited an ally to speak…
Go ahead, keep bemoaning the ‘slap’ while defending the ‘beating to a pulp’, that’ll help this nation…
OldLefty January 23rd, 2015 at 6:24 am
And Cheney did business with sponsors of terror.
My point is that everyone does similar things and the response is the same.
Spirit of America January 23rd, 2015 at 8:15 am
“My point is that everyone does similar things and the response is the same.”
I’ve said that consistently here, and consistently got insulted and slammed, and I’ve never seen you say “hey, SoA’s right”.
So you either don’t believe it or you don’t have the backbone to post when someone is right even if it goes against ‘your ilk’ & crowd.
And you were ‘making a point’ that wasn’t pertaining to the topic.
Bunya said:
” Can you imagine the outcry if a democrat had pulled something like this when Bush was president? How disrespectful!”
and I pointed out it was done and there wasn’t any outcry from folks & media. And you didn’t comment then about ‘how both sides do it bunya’.
And no it isn’t backwards. Pelosi’s ‘faux pas’ visit was to a head of state that not only was considered ‘hostile’, was not only on the Sponsor Terror list, was not only against the public wish of the sitting pres, but did considerable damage by, shall we say ‘misquoting’ isreal and giving assad a considerable amount of propaganda right before their elections… giving the ba’ath party a much bigger presence in their parliament.
Boener’s ‘faux pas’ is to let an ally give a speech.
And to me, the following point is very important, and symptomatic of something that has gone so wrong in this country:
You claim boener is attempting to prevent an ‘important diplomatic break through’…
just because he disagrees w/the ‘how’, you claim he wants to increase hostility. If by just disagreeing makes one’s motives questionable, then many democrat reps & senators(including menendez) ALSO want to prevent a good thing and want increased hostility, yet you don’t slam them.
Folks, just because folks disagree with the ‘how’ does NOT mean the person(s) have questionable motives, why ascribe them to them? Why vilify and slam and slander? Point out mistakes of the policy/idea during the debate, sure! But to say ‘they don’t agree with me they must be traitors and such’ is sooooo wrong and actually only adds to the discord and slows down any solution.
my view
OldLefty January 23rd, 2015 at 8:22 am
You know what??
Seriously??
I don’t even know what anybody is talking about anymore?
I think I have not followed the thread .
Spirit of America January 23rd, 2015 at 8:42 am
LOL, been down that path a few times(ok, maybe more than a few) myself.
Anyhow, enjoy your morning and have a safe day!
OldLefty January 23rd, 2015 at 9:45 am
You too!
Spirit of America January 22nd, 2015 at 1:38 pm
“House Speaker John Boehner broke protocol and undermined the White House by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress.”
Calls of racism are just asinine all on their own, it is politics pure and simple.
Now, calls about disrespectful, undermining etc. may or may not be true, but the move is a move directly out of Nancy Pelosi’s playbook, just on a tad bit smaller scale.
Ron Jackson January 22nd, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Every Democrat in Congress should not only sit out this vist and refuse to attend his speech, they should refuse to meet with him, and they should point out the fact that the right wing in America is more loyal to a foreign leader that to the president of the United States, all because they hate the fact that a black man is president. Expose their racist white nationalist agenda for the world to see.
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 22nd, 2015 at 2:19 pm
My man Thom Hartmann raising the possibility that Boehner’s actions could amount to treason or sedition. Send him off to club Fed, where he’ll have to make contraband hooch and hide it in the toilet? Kind of fun to think about, anyway.
Spirit of America January 22nd, 2015 at 3:06 pm
“…raising the possibility that Boehner’s actions could amount to treason or sedition.”
LOL LOL, how?
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 24th, 2015 at 12:11 pm
http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2015/01/john-boehner-traitor
Spirit of America January 24th, 2015 at 1:40 pm
I’m sorry, but not a single one of his points is close to being accurate.
First, let us remember the WH itself publicly stated boener has the right to invite anyone to talk… it is in the speaker’s purview to do so.
Let’s take one of thom’s arguments since they are all built up the same way:
He uses the Logan Act. The logan act is about negotiations w/foreign powers w/disputes w/us. There are no negotiations, this is a speaking engagement. The logan act is as connected to this action as is bring in a gambling charge, it is just not there. Now pelosi came close to violating this in 2007, but it died down for political reasons.
He does this with each of his points… brings up a law, then tries to merge an unconnected activity to the law.
Did boener break w/protocol, no doubt. And he learned it from pelosi. When she broke w/it, it was the first step that many would later follow, and we are seeing it now.
That’s why I say regardless of what ‘side’ a person is on, they need to speak out when either side steps over bounds.
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 24th, 2015 at 4:45 pm
So if Nancy Pelosi broke protocol, or possibly ran afoul of the Logan Act, then it’s only right and proper that Mr. Boehner do the same?
You might forward your refutation to Thom.
I agree that people need to speak out when others step over bounds.
Spirit of America January 24th, 2015 at 5:00 pm
“then it’s only right and proper that Mr. Boehner do the same?”
Nope, I don’t think he should have done it. It is legal, but not right, in my view.
My point was strictly on thom’s writing was simply incorrect.
as well as folks need to be really careful when ‘their side’ does something out of line and they remain quiet or even applaud it… it will happen to them and it will get dirtier each time it happens.
Wait till you see what mitch has in store for the senate if in 2016 the senate remains rep and the wh has a repub pres….
And all the dems will cry ‘foul!’ even though they didn’t when reid broke the rules to favor them, and all the repubs will cry ‘Ha ha, you guys started it so we can do it too!’…
and worse and worse and worse…
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 24th, 2015 at 5:45 pm
Thom’s views may or may not be correct.
I have no opinion on the treason (not too worried about Mr. Boehner being charged – don’t know if he’s taking money from foreign governments and should be required to register as a agent of same) or sedition questions….(didn’t hear the rest of Thom’s radio stuff on this subject, and didn’t really read the article…provided it to you because you asked).
I was mostly into the idea of Agent Orange going to the slammer (not without a fair trial of course) and having to drink pruno (as they call it) instead of merlot. Upon further reflection, it’s not really all that much fun to think about.
…about what Mitch has in store…can only imagine.
…about Reid breaking the rules…I don’t know what you’re talking about, and am not sure you do either.
I wonder if you feel that people (on whichever “side”) should speak out about 9/11, whether to seek the truth (and/or justice), or just to try and shout down the “truthers.”
Spirit of America January 24th, 2015 at 5:57 pm
“I was mostly into the idea of Agent Orange…”
LOL, I liked that one!
“about Reid breaking the rules…I don’t know what you’re talking about, and am not sure you do either.”
(just curious, why would you add on the last part of above?)
Oh I do and it was in the headlines for weeks…
The senate has a rule that for scores of years was in place… it was about the only time senate rules could change(pertaining to amendments, which topic could be fillibustered, etc) by the majority leader was with in the 1st few(2 I believe) weeks of a new session. Reid broke that rule so he could change the fillibuster rule on nominations.
“whether to seek the truth (and/or justice), or to just shout down the “truthers.”
Always seek the truth and always let someone do so as well.
I, personally, have always been about info/data and discussion of ideas, regardless of source(meaning if it is correct, I couldn’t give beans about where it came from), and if it is opinion I want to hear it so I have a better chance at seeing a topic from 360 degrees, not just 90.
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 24th, 2015 at 10:27 pm
“(just curious, why would you add on the last part of above?)”
Wondered what you meant; wasn’t sure I wanted to get into it
Looks like ol’ give ’em hell Harry took advantage of some technicality to employ the “Nuclear Option” – more of a “Class C firework (sparklers/smoke bombs/snakes) Option”… (& more of a break in scores of years of tradition than of the rules) and got rid of the filibuster (but only for judicial (but not Supreme Court) nominations.
Thus, the minority could continue to rule the majority by blocking everything but a few judicial nominations.
Mitch McConnell accused Reid of “trying to change the subject from Obamacare and “cook up some fake fight over judges.” He argued that “by any objective standard, Senate Republicans have been very, very fair to this president when it comes to letting him appoint his nominees.” – total B.S.
Mitch had earlier warned “if Reid ends the filibuster for nominations, he would end the filibuster for everything, including legislation, if he becomes majority leader.” Of course Mitch would, the GOP plays hardball, Harry and the Dem’s are still looking for their backbone, if they even have one.
Spirit of America January 24th, 2015 at 10:49 pm
Exactly, he broke the rules of changing rules(when, which was a rule, not a tradition) to go against tradition…
Now this is just philosophical in nature, but if reid can pick/choose what to ‘break’, why can’t mitch, or better yet, why can’t mitch feel justified in doing it?
It is kind of like if you and I were playing chess, with each of us taking turns being ‘in control’. I’m in control of a particular game we’re playing and I see where if I change the rules and let pawns move 1 step back as well, I can win the game. You scream and holler about it, I say TUFF, I’m in control.
Next game, you’re in charge… we’re playing… you see where if you let pawns move like queens you can win, so you do so. I scream and holler and even add “all I did was 1 move, you gave a lot of moves’.
This is how I look at it:
1. I was wrong, I went over the boundaries.
2. You were wrong, you did what you said was wrong earlier.
The kind of behavior they are exhibiting reminds me of the 2 murderers in prison. Murderer #1 asks murderer #2 “why do you think you’re so much better than me?”. Murderer #2 replies “you’re a sick man, you stabbed your victim 27 times… I only shot mine 9 times”.
Not sure I’m typing this well, hope it makes sense.
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 24th, 2015 at 11:22 pm
The rules of chess are pretty much fixed and absolute. The rules governing each congress are subject to change. There was something hinky about the timing… changes to be done first day/session? but a week in or whatever still considered the first session because they never adjourned or something stupid like that. GOP was able to get their obstructing in nonetheless.
Spirit of America January 24th, 2015 at 11:30 pm
True enough on chess, bad analogy. The point I was trying to make was breaking rules are breaking rules, period, in my view.
Look further into it, the timing… it was many months past the time for a change….
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 24th, 2015 at 11:54 pm
Maybe you could look into it further. I’m going with “some technicality which was technically within the rules.” Not that I’m for (or necessarily against) breaking rules, but this incident is not all that high on my list of things that need to be addressed. Best…
Spirit of America January 24th, 2015 at 11:58 pm
Well, even reid admits he broke the rules, says it in his press conference about it.
Like I said, folks will whine & cry when mitch pulls his stunt, mitch will use reid as his example and it will just get worse and worse and worse…
good discussion, thanks, and have a great evening/night!
jstsmlbrlcnsrvtvguy January 24th, 2015 at 5:54 pm
I agree with you about the setting bad precedents thing…
Ford pardons Nixon, Reagan skates on Iran-Contra, Pelosi: “Impeachment “off the table”, Obama: “forward looking” re 9/11 Iraq torture, etc. Maybe Bush III will break tradition and prosecute Obama for [?]
Spirit of America January 24th, 2015 at 5:59 pm
Nothing either side does anymore surprises me, or any org that is about 1 topic what they’ll do to sway folks…
it is broke.
trees January 22nd, 2015 at 3:05 pm
Congress is the legislative branch and co-equal with the president, if they decide to give audience to a speaker from a country with relevance in our national security interests, then that is not only their providence, it’s also their responsibility. If Obama chooses not to attend, well that’s. His decision.
trees January 22nd, 2015 at 3:17 pm
Who has the authority to declare war?
The congress.
Seems to me that they should be informed.
Netanyahu is coming to speak to them, coming to inform them.
What traitor would deny congress it’s role in National security?
StoneyCurtisll January 22nd, 2015 at 7:26 pm
Those ‘traitors’ who would do the bidding of Israel over the national interest of the United States of America.. Thats who.
Spirit of America January 23rd, 2015 at 8:18 am
And who would they be?
StoneyCurtisll January 22nd, 2015 at 7:34 pm
What next?..
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-07-30-1ScreenshotofNetanyahuhammeringatbleedingPinocchio.jpg
trees January 22nd, 2015 at 8:31 pm
Congress will pass legislation that will impose sanctions on Iran, sanctions that will become active should Iran fail to negotiate an agreement to cease it’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran should know, in no uncertain terms, that the US will not tolerate an Iranian regime with nuclear weapons.
If Obama wants to give aid and comfort to this enemy, Iran, then he will have to use his veto pen.
Obewon January 22nd, 2015 at 8:56 pm
You didn’t know Iran & Iraq are allies today? Lol!
Iranian troops remain invited into Iraq, per the IRAQI Government request to battle ISIS within the Sovereign Iraq territory.
Foundryman January 23rd, 2015 at 12:38 am
Sure, and when you have proof Iran is in fact pursuing nuclear weapons, let the rest of us see it….
arc99 January 23rd, 2015 at 12:14 am
One day, with a Democratic President and a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, an invitation should be extended to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address a joint session of Congress to discuss the many benefits of universal single payer national health insurance.
Right wingers, you started this sh*t.. we will finish it. Bring it on…
Spirit of America January 23rd, 2015 at 8:32 am
Pelosi pushed the boundry, boener is pushing it further… this is what happens when that 1st step is taken… when pelosi pulled her stunt, many repubs said exactly what you said above, the “you folks just wait and see what we’ll do too!”, and it is happening.
Same when reid broke the rules to change the rules… I’m waiting for mitch to come up with his own senate stunt, and I’m waiting for the outcry….
it is broke. Until enough folks both say ‘enough is enough’ AND walk the talk, it’ll only get worse.
Foundryman January 23rd, 2015 at 12:33 am
Republicans have shown they have no qualms at all to give foreign nationals every opportunity to influence US government legislation. Who will be next? Putin?