Republican Senator James DeMint Traveling to Honduras

DeMint and Ros-Lethinen in Honduras? There haven’t been this many Republicans in Honduras since the dark days in the region during Reagan and US Ambassador Negroponte. Interesting.

the Library of Congress published a non-partisan report for Congress on whether Zelaya’s removal was constitutional. The report supports the actions of the Honduran government. In fact, the report points out that the Honduran constitution states that a president is automatically removed from office for attempting to change the term limit requirement.

Senator DeMint seems to be projecting a Republican fantasy as he supports the removal of a fairly elected President by the military as “no more a coup than was Gerald Ford’s ascendence to the Oval Office.”
You can certainly fault deposed President Zelaya’s on a number of fronts, but the reality is Zelaya was following the Constitution of that country and the military, when they ousted him from power and exiled him, was not.

And the first actions of the new president, installed by the military?
“Honduras’ new government, spearheaded by former head of Congress Roberto Micheletti, established a nighttime curfew, suspended personal liberties and freedom of assembly, declared the right to detain suspects for more than 24 hours, and restricted freedom of movement both inside Honduras as well as in and out of the country.”
Yeah, that’s the guy that DeMint admires and wants America to support.

is this considered treason under Obama’s definition? Obama supports leftists, coups, and communists of most varieties and has, apparently, instructed the State Dept to support leaders who break the law, don’t listen to their Congress, or disobey their highest courts as in the Zelaya example. Sen DeMint should be careful lest he finds himself under a house arrest at some point in the future once the “change” has all been realized.

I think I smell and right wing rat! Take any op to run this Presidents down and use every thing that happens as a teaching moment on how to disrepect your own country. Way to go! You know people who do this type of thing really are not good Americans they are not even good Republicans. However they are good trouble makers.

Hoping to get lucky like his friend Mark Sanford, DeMint packs extra thong underwear for his adventure to Latin America.

Bonnie Kimberly | Oct 1, 2009 1:05:31 PM
But, of course none of that was done by the liberals over the previous 8 years?
…..jhw539 | Oct 1, 2009 12:22:46 PM…Do you think there’s anything in the constitution for treason aginst Honduras? Maybe the interim govt was doing Zelaya a favor? Why did Washington revoke the interim govt officials’ visas?

Whom ever has read the Honduran constitution would know that Zelaya was violating it, you would also know that in Honduras the goverment is separated by three INDIVIDUAL POWERS, one of these three powers ORDERED the military to arrest Zelaya, therefore it was not a military coup. Now, one thing to keep in mind if u still think this was a “coup”:
What do you call it when the United States ousted Saddam Hussein? (OF COURSE YOU GUYS KILLED HIM, WE JUST GAVE ZELAYA A CHANCE TO GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND BE FREE)
So, you executed a dictator, we ousted one.

Sending a Republican to ensure the Honduras election is legitimate is like sending Rush Limbaugh to protect your prescription drug supply from being pilfered.

the interm government was right in arresting Zelaya but was not correct letting the military take him out of the country. The general in charge should be accountable and charges should be set against him, but the interm goverment should be free to have elections and then have a new President . Zelaya and the General who took him out of the country both should get jail time for their treason and wrong doing.

Wow, the Republicans in our nation are finally getting backbones. Go DeMint.

What do you call a president trying to change the constitution on his own?
A president of a democratic republic has never had the power to change a country’s constitution. Not here, not in Honduras, either.
Zelaya tried to push a constitutional vote on his own, without congressional approval. Even the supreme court ruled against it.
The army exiling Zelaya is AFTER the fact.
That is what happened. So? You be the judge of democracy!

The Government of the United State of America has condemned the military outing of the democraticly elected government of Honduras and has called for the President of Honduras to be restored to office. 47 nations on the UN Human Right council has called for the President that was ousted by the military to be stored. Our government has made it it really clear that we do not recognize this military coup. This is the Government of our United States of America.
Now,here comes Sentator Demint, stating he’s going to visit that country to according the the New York Times “One of the de facto government’s main supporters in Washington, Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, has announced plans to visit Tegucigalpa on Friday. One Congressional staff member said Mr. DeMint hoped to meet with members of the de facto government and other Hondurans. Other staff members said he intended to encourage Mr. Micheletti and his supporters to resist.”
My concern here doesn’t have anything to do with what kind of government runs Honduras, frankly I could care less and if it came down to it, the U.S. could import it’s bananas from some other South American country. My concern is why is a member of our government going to there to encourge the opposite of what our government says? Again I frankly don’t care what your politics are, the point remains that this, if it is not illegal under The Logan Act, is if nothing else a perfect example of what is wrong with this country. We can have our political debates, name called and hissy fits. That’s fine, our political parties have always done that, but keep it in house. When one of our elected Senators goes to a foreign counrtry and contradicts out offical government stance it is well, the word I heard used during the Bush administration was “treason”. But that was then and this is now I guess. And the rules changed when the political party in power changed. Gotta love that consistancy.

And I am also very happy DeMint is coming! He has been one of our strongest supporters in USA. Zelaya violated our constitution and it’s about time everyone else realized that. He is a criminal and we don’t deserve someone like that as a president.

I hope he remembers the Logan Act: § 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
1 Stat. 613, January 30, 1799, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004).
If Senator DeMint is imprisoned for his actions, that could mean the Senate will vote for removal. Governor Sanford would then have to select a replacement senator. Will we see Senator Sanford emerge from this? A highly unlikely scenario, but interesting political theater if it plays out that way.