He's better at quoting Marx

Where a left-winger attempts a history lesson

It's always fun when Liberals take to deciphering the founding fathers intent, as  Adam Cohen does here in today's New York Times. “ The nation is heading toward a constitutional showdown over the Iraq war. Congress is moving closer to passing a bill to limit or end the war, but President Bush insists Congress doesn’t have the power to do it. “I don’t think Congress ought to be running the war,” he said at a recent press conference. “I think they ought to be funding the troops.” He added magnanimously: “I’m certainly interested in their opinion.”  [Just What the Founders Feared: An Imperial President Goes to War] ” Let's go to chapter one. “ After the United States won its independence in the treaty of 1783, it had to protect its own commerce against dangers such as the Barbary pirates. As early as 1784 Congress followed the tradition of the European shipping powers and appropriated $80,000 as tribute to the Barbary states, directing its ministers in Europe, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, to begin negotiations with them.... ... Thomas Jefferson, United States minister to France, opposed the payment of tribute ... Paying the ransom would only lead to further demands, Jefferson argued ... Jefferson's plan for an international coalition foundered on the shoals of indifference and a belief that it was cheaper to pay the tribute than fight a war. ... When Jefferson became president in 1801 he refused to accede to Tripoli's demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 ... President Jefferson dispatched a squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean As he declared in his first annual message to Congress: ..."I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean. . . ." ” Who is Bush in that scenario?  Which are Clinton and his leftist minions?  Who is revered today?  Who is entirely forgotten, if not despised?