Some guy calling himself the “Phantom of the Router” sent the following to me, as well as a host of other pundits and bloggers:

Kerry is prohibited from being a senator, congressman, vice president and president according to the Constitution.

I don’t recall a 2/3rds vote removing his disability to serve, in accordance with Amendment XIV, Section 3.

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AMENDMENT XIV, Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

***

Kerry was an officer of the United States, and if his actions with VVAW cannot be characterized as “insurrection or rebellion”, his admission of killing civilians including a baby could be, since it was contrary to published orders, if this isn’t enough, then he also admitted giving aid and comfort to the enemy, at Paris, offering to assist them in any way possible to help bring about a swift end to the war, before doing just that with is testimony to congress and demonstrations fronting for a group of liars that many of whom where either not vets or never in Vietnam. You will notice there is no constitutional requirement for the citizen to be convicted of the crimes, and since said crimes were publicly admitted, there is no question as to whether or not they have occurred, even though he was never tried and convicted for his actions.

Unless of course he never took his oath of office.

Ummm, where to begin? This amendment was added to the Constitution as a means of excluding previous Southern politicians, who rebelled in the Civil War, form serving in the congress. It was part of Reconstruction. The North was alarmed when, after the war had concluded, the South started sending the same reps and senators back to Washington. So they changes the Constitution.

While I don’t condone Kerry’s lies about our military during wartime, I tend to think that his words rather pale in comparison to the horrors inflicted in the Civil War, and that the politicians who promoted secession during that time were aiding and abetting an enemy in a manner that it would be difficult for Senator Kerry to replicate, even if he tried. And while I do agree that the Vietnam Vetrans Against The War could be construed as a group promoting insurrection and rebellion, given that they considered at one time assasinating members of congress, Kerry wisely left the group when he saw them going kooky.

No, sorry Phantom, but I don’t think your analysis really holds water. Good try though.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 25th, 2004 at 11:10 am and is filed under News & Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.