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by kjd
There’s nothing wingnuts love more than meaningless political theater.
When Republicans take over the House next week, they will do something that apparently has never been done before in the chamber’s 221-year history: They will read the Constitution aloud.
And Jon Chait makes a funny observation.
My favorite part is going to be when they read the word “welfare.” It’s in the first sentence!
Yeah, well — maybe they’ll just skip the preamble.
But, unfortunately for the Republicans, they’ll also have to read this:
Again with the taxes and the welfare.
Then there’s this:
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.
But…but…Obama’s executive overreach! And this:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land…
Oopsie! That means George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are criminals, since they violated the Geneva Conventions. And:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
But…but…America’s a Christian nation! Isn’t the Republican presidential primary pretty much a religious test these days?
And they should probably skip over the Bill of Rights, because it’s got all kinds of bad stuff in it — like for instance,
At this point, Michele Bachmann’s going to be screaming, “Lalalala! I can’t hear you! Christian nation! Christian nation!”
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…
But…but…we’re fighting the War on Terror(TM)!
Damnit, there goes endless solitary confinement and waterboarding. And possibly the death penalty.
Why does the Constitution hate America?
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That was then, this is now.
Who cares about “Republicans” and “Democrats” anymore. It’s so over. The whole system is rotten to the core. Both parties are whores for the same rich clients. Get over it. Move on.
Watching these fools is gonna be so much fun. Like I said the other day, we need a little entertainment to go along with the horror that is the current govt.
Even their supporters think it’s bullshit.
“I think it’s entirely cosmetic,” said Kevin Gutzman, a history professor at Western Connecticut State University who said he is a conservative libertarian and sympathizes with the tea party.
“This is the way the establishment handles grass-roots movements,” he added. “They humor people who are not expert or not fully cognizant. And then once they’ve humored them and those people go away, it’s right back to business as usual. It looks like this will be business as usual – except for the half-hour or however long it takes to read the Constitution out loud.”
Does anyone know yet which day and what time they’ll do this? This sounds like must-see TV for me.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/conservative-bible-projec_n_310037.html
The Conservative Bible Project group perhaps can be assigned the duty of rewriting the Constitution to more perfectly agree with their conservative mind-set, propoganda, brainwashing, etc.
The idea that the Rs honor and want to follow the Constitution is very amusing. I’d bet that most of them haven’t ever read it before and will probably be texting their mistresses during the reading.
FLAT TAX!!! Wolverines!! Also.
In fairness to the wingnuts, that consatushin thing does have a lot of them big, fancy, “far-left liberal” words in it…
Wow, so will they read from the actual document or the cliff notes. Yea, probably the cliff notes, none of them will go through the trouble of taking the real thing out of the POTUS crapper. We couldn’t have Obama chaffing, thank goodness for bipartisanship.
Very funny stuff, Blue -
Thank yue!
It doesn’t matter what words they read as all the Conserva-dweebs know exactly what the original intent of the authors of the Constitution were due to their awesomeness mind reading across the centuries powers.
And the original intent is exactly what they say it is.
Say, why am I in this hole and what’s that rabbit doing over there?
Does this mean the ad rates will go up on FAUXnews for that half hour? It’s sure to be a ratings bonanza!
Political theater’s no good unless it’s on the teevee.
As I said this morning, I’m all for it. They obviously don’t have a clue what’s in it or they wouldn’t be doing it.
Maybe something will click in the heads of congress and prosecute both Obama and Bush. Those darn treaties! With their rules that the constitution says we have to follow. It would be funny if somebody read the Convention Against Torture after they read the part about treaties in the constitution. You can’t come to any other logical conclusion except to start an investigation into Obama’s and Bush’s law breaking.
I can’t wait till they get to the Bill of Rights. That’ll be fun to watch.
Are you sure the constitution doesn’t say anything about capitalism, or the free market?
There used to be folks tales of what happened to evil doers who touched a Bible. I wonder what will happen when the first GOP congresscritter touches the constitution.
Boxturtle (For comparison, the largest manmade explosion CURRENTLY is the 50mt Tsar Bomba)
What bill of rights? What amendments?
No one called Bill here!
50mt? 50 Metric Tons?
What bomber can lift that?
The Boehner Heavy Bomber? aka: Bno?
Everyone knows the only Amendment that counts is part of that sentence in the 2nd.
50 Megaton atomic bomb. Link will take you Wiki entry.
It didn’t weigh 50 tons, but they still needed a specially modified bomber to deliver it.
Boxturtle (The largest bomb America ever detonated was about 15mt)
What part of the constitution says all people are created equal except for gays? I can never find that part.
That’s what I was thinkin’ about…imagining choking, sputtering, etc.
Who cares. democrats, republicans – it’s all meaningless political theatre. I’m done.
Isn’t the Republican presidential primary pretty much a religious test these days?
It’s not just the Republican primary!
They are only the “Bill of Rights.”
If they were actually meant to be followed they would be the “Law of Rights.”
Great line!
Don’t forget Article 42:
All articles which have been excluded shall be deemed included.
On a serious side (smirk) does anyone realize how many sound bites the Dems can make out of this? Commercials for the “left” should be interesting this year.
Also, we need to find a way to emphasize the important parts as they are being read (not too hard since we know the script). Maybe standing ovations to the parts that show their hypocrisy.
If they do anything, which I doubt, they will pick the parts they like.
I hope Christine O’Donnell will be watching.
She really needs to hear this.
Well, she really needs a lot of help, but this is a start.
I get what you’re saying, but I think that, for the idiotic Christine O’Donnell’s/Michell Bachmann’s/Virginia Foxx’s/Sarah Palin’s/Jim Inhofe’s/John Boehner’s, etc etc, of this world, NO amount of “reading” the Constitution will make one whit of difference. Just saying… they don’t really give a sh*t what the Constitution does or doesn’t say. It’s all Kabuki show & something to get their braindead base knee-jerking around over nothing… per usual.
Standing ovations by each side for the parts they like, like the SOTU, with an applause meter to make it all even more ridiculous.
U.S. Constitution: Original Intent or Living Document?
Article Five: Amendments
An amendment may be ratified in three ways. Regardless of the method of proposing an amendment, final ratification requires approval by three-fourths of the states.
Article Five places only one limit on the amending power: no amendment may deprive a state of equal representation in the Senate without that state’s consent.
Some defenders of the original-intent view argue that the U.S. Constitution of 1791 should be strictly constructed and not be amended, because that would violate the original intent of the Founding Fathers.
Some defenders of the living-document view argue that the original intent included the amendment clause (Bill of Rights – Article Five, 1791) which enabled the original document to evolve through a series of unpredictable changes as each new amendment was ratified into law. As of 2010, there are 27 amendments.
Change, reform or revolution can be effected through lawful amendment of the U.S. Constitution without limitation except for one limit that is unlikely to be limiting. In theory … at least.
Reading the U.S. Bill of Rights aloud in the relatively volatile House of Representative could be either a reactionary step or a progressive step. Although the purpose of a legislature is to legislate new laws, any new enactments can be either retrograde or forward-looking. Arguably, the Patriot Act and the current attempt to draft and pass a law to strengthen or replace the Espionage Act of 1917, are retrograde.
Yeah, your right, it’s just my memory seems to recall during the campaign that some candidate actually asked OUT LOUD where the separation of church and state was located in the Constitution. I thought it was O’Donnell, but might be wrong.
Whoever it was, I was just joking maybe they could answer their own question by watching. Of course, even if s/he does watch, I don’t expect any lightbulb to go off and they blurt out “OH That’s where it is!” lol
Back in the mid 1990s the Newt Gingrich’s GOP pushed through an Omnibus Crime Act.
I think it was Rep Waxman that offered an amendment to that monster bill. He read the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution aloud to Congress and was immediately excoriated for trying to undermine the bill.
The Conservatives all shouted that if they accepted his amendment (the US Constitution, remember) then the entire bill would be nullified! Needless to say the anti-American Conservatives voted down his amendment, and voted down the US Constitution!
Everywhere you look, Conservatives act to undermine the Constitution.
Well, I see Blue Texan is on her game this morning! Not surprising, since it’s bowl and playoff season in the Lone Star state.
The constitution NEEDS to be read aloud before the traitorous Democrats and Republicans in congress. I am surprised how many progressives are contemptuous of the constitution. The Ron Paul contingent of the Tea Party is serious about restoring the rule of law. I wish Democrats and Republicans would join them.
I dont mind them reading the constitution. I’m just glad that some of them can read.
And we cannot forget that the new leadership of this house are the ones that do not support this very document. They do not support our President. They do not support our Troops. They do not support our older citizens, or the poor or those needing assistance/training that have been thrown out of their homes and jobs. They are the ones that supported anti democracy demonstrations against our country and our President two years ago. They called our president terrible names and accused him of a foreign citizen. These are not nice people. They hate freedom and want to keep people in prison without trial. They hate the constitution. Are they reading it in order to find out what it says? I hope some of them take notes. Dont you?
Gee, maybe the Democrats could try reading our “Declaration of Independence.” It is a very radical document in terms of today’s corporate imperial America…
ever so slightly o/t:
Since we are being treated to the likes of the “Military Bowl” and the “Armed Forces Bowl,” I have a few suggestions for future college football bowl names: The War Crimes Bowl, the Imperial Occupation Bowl, the Torture Bowl, the 911 Treason Bowl, the Halliburton Electrocution Showers Bowl…
You’re quite right in your recollection, and just to add to it she asked the question in front of an audience of law students who seemed quite amused.
But, like you, I doubt it would help her to have the First Amendment read to her – even if you read slowly.
As the highest written law for political governance in the nation-state, the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly prescribe or proscribe any particular form of economic structure or organization of society.
If I recall, the U.S. Constitution does protect the intellectual property in new innovations by granting patents for a limited duration (17 years). This patent law implicitly is a protection of all property, private property, individual ownership of private property. Of course, such property is the foundation of capitalism and free (unregulated) markets.
Boy, are they going to be pissed when all the parts about Jesus and the Ten Commandments aren’t there.
I’m hoping that the Republicans will, you know, learn what a Republic is…
Her?
Original intent has many levels.
In the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, it says “in order to form a more perfect union”. At the highest level of abstraction, this is arguably the original intent of the founding fathers. The government arrangement they devised and codified was not perfect, but no institution or system created by man is flawless. Nevertheless, the founding fathers had a vision and goals.
The word “union” refers to the union of the different colonies or states. The founding fathers sought to create a union between all the colonies or states so that the common good and defense are provided for and domestic tranquility and prosperity could follow. The common defense is to protect from aggressor nation-states, originally the British and the French.
The common defense is not the common aggression against foreign nation-states and is not imperialism, unless one subscribes to the views of Kautilya and Machiavelli that the best defense is to initiate an offense and allegedly gain some first-strike advantage.
In 1789, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were codified. In 1791, those articles were not amended as planned but discarded, and a new structure of governance was codified. Many potential models were considered, and the new model created reportedly was based primarily on the Iroquois Constitution and not on the constitution of ancient Athens which at times includes anti-democratic elements.
They’re reading it aloud to provide cover for those members whose lips move while reading.