Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

re: Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

Dad — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:26:55 GMT

personally, I think they should be allowed to go. but I also think the constitution has nothing to do with the issue.

ps - the embassy is US soil, not the ground the diplomats occupy. the rally took place on German soil. you are thinking of dimplomatic immunity, which, yes, protects diplomats from prosecution under the host country's laws.

re: Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

Celina — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:03:44 GMT

So, do you think they should go? The US Constitution says they should be able to. I have no idea what the German Constitution says. Their employer is the US government. Shouldn't it be governed by its own Constitution? Would the German Constitution be able to dictate what the US government does? Technically, diplomats are on their own soil, so they have immunity from laws of the country they live in unless they've done something really awful.

re: Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

Dad — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:49:46 GMT

Exactly. I said I understood the point. But the fact that what our Constitution says has little or no meaning in terms of the laws of another country...

re: Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

Celina — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:08:37 GMT

Well, yes she should. These are American citizens with the right to vote. They also represent us. So it is a question of when your job stops and your personal life begins.

Used to be that diplomats had a space on their personnel review that said "wife" and the wife's behavior was part of the review.

Diplomats handle these sorts of questions all the time. They still have jobs, no matter who is in power in our country. And they still have personal opinions about those in charge. They do have to be careful how they voice those opinions, because of their jobs.

re: Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

Dad — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:16:27 GMT

I get your point, but still... you really shouldn't bring up to US Constitution when talking about something taking place in another country...