RUSH: This is an editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle. ?America’s best known dungeon — the Guantanamo Bay wire-cage complex — is now blessed by a federal appellate court. Prisoners there have no right to U.S. courts, the judges said. ? Maybe the White House has, at last, perfected its end-run around basic civil liberties. But it should drop the matter, once and for all, and shut down Guantanamo for the black-hole embarrassment it has become.? So the White House wins and the Drive-By Media says, ?Shut it down anyway.? In the Los Angeles Times, they have a story here by a guy named David G. Savage. The thrust of this story is, ?This is not a defeat for the terrorists. It’s a victory for the White House.? Now, if you’ve ever doubted anything we’ve said about the agenda for the Drive-Bys and this war, how in the world can you say it’s no defeat to the terrorists? No, they have to stay there for the rest of their lives. It’s a victory for the White House, and they urge the Supreme Court to take the case.
?Last year Congress closed the courthouse door to Guantanamo prisoners ?? this is when the Republicans still ran the place ?– by passing the Military Commissions Act. This year, with the Democrats in control, several senators vowed they would amend the law to restore the traditional right to habeas corpus for all.? So the question now becomes, ?Will Democrats write legislation on behalf of terrorists?? Will they do so? Yes, they will most certainly do so, except they can’t get it past the Senate because Mitch McConnell, as I’ve told you people, when you watch what goes on in the House ignore it because the Republicans have no power there. If you want to blame Republicans in the House, blame ’em for being lackadaisical and lazy in the last election, but don’t blame ’em for not being able to affect anything in the House because they have no power. But in the Senate, Republicans run the show. Mitch McConnell is probably the most powerful senator, the Republican leader, in that body right now.
Now, in Tuesday’s decision, the two judges, Republican appointed judges David Sentelle and Judge Randolph said ?the right to habeas corpus is limited to sovereign U.S. territory.? Amen! Amen! ?The Constitution does not confer rights on aliens with property or presence within the United States,” they said. We are aware of no case in the past that says habeas corpus is available to aliens held in an overseas military base leased from a foreign government. Now, the Clinton appointed judge, Judith Rogers, dissented, said it was unconstitutional for Congress to deny habeas corpus to the detained men, ?because this is not a time of national emergency,? she wrote. See, the Clinton appointed-judge on the DC court of appeals, the losing judge, it’s not a time of national emergency. And such as that, Congress had no authority to restrict the right to habeas corpus through the Military Commissions Act.
So this is hanging by a thread, but it’s on to the Supreme Court now, ladies and gentlemen. And, of course, we have a thriving merchandise business at Club Gitmo which is now guaranteed to continue.
(Playing of Club Gitmo spoof.)
We need to add some, ?Club Gitmo for Life.? At any rate, in addition to Club Gitmo Gear, there is also, of course, the Rush Babe on Board signs for your car and the two T-shirts acknowledging my nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.