Justice Roberts Pleads: "Lie To Me"

American Thinker ^ | 6-29-2012 | C. Edmund Wright

[C. Edmund Wright]

..........Later in the day, however, the pundit elites started to furrow their brows and dust off their elbow patches -- and proceeded to try to convince us rubes that we had overreacted. They treated us to all kinds of contorted rationalizations and justifications full of pseudo-intellectual gobbledygook. We got this from Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Thomas Lifson, Erick Erickson -- among others. And while I really tried to like it -- and really tried to find solace or a silver lining -- there are just some basic, fundamental things I could not ignore. The bottom line is that John Roberts just told Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi figuratively to "lie to me...lie to me and I'll like it!" One can only wonder if he liked it as much as Chris Matthews liked the leg tingle or as much as David Brooks liked the sharp crease.

[uncbob]

This needs to be repeated over and over

Roberts agreed with the “GOP” that is was in reality a tax
That’s what they were insisting during the debate

So what is the problem when he agrees with the GOP

[Aquamarine]

Yesterday we got a double whammy when Obamacare was upheld and we learned the SCOTUS already has a liberal majority.

[Halls]

I’m with you!

[Yardstick]

Exactly. By confusing a tax with a penalty, and given Congress's nearly unlimited power to tax, Roberts has given Congress a nearly unlimited power to penalize.

That is the unintended consequence of what Roberts has done. The only way to say this isn't the consequence is to say that Congress has really always had this power. But has it? To me that's the crux of this thing.

[LibLieSlayer]

The people that wrote the bill and promoted it said it was not a tax... the bill says it is not a tax... roberts rewrote that bill making it a tax. It does not matter what you post. roberts violated his oath of office and killed Constitutional rule.

LLS

[C. Edmund Wright]

I am not telling you that repeal is out of the question. Not at all. Doesn’t change the fact: the ruling was awful. Good may come out of it. And yes, the voters deserve the blame. Still, Roberts justified and rewarded blatant lying from the Bench of the SCOTUS and that is terrible, period, end of discussion.

[C. Edmund Wright]

The people that wrote the bill and promoted it said it was not a tax... the bill says it is not a tax... roberts rewrote that bill making it a tax

Yep, you are 100% right. No getting around this fact. Period. Scalia says it. Levin says it. You say it. I say it.

[uncbob]

Roberts is mentally impaired on anti-seizure medications

How about the GOP members of congress that were calling it a TAX at debate time --They on it too

[MarDav]

When pundits were talking about how Roberts was tending to the courts legacy/image/what-have-you, I almost wanted to throw up. Comments like this make them sound like the shallow class, not the protectors and defenders of the Constitution, which they are sworn to be.

“I can’t know where I’m going unless I know where I’ve been.” This is the mantra of those in education who feel it is necessary to placate various ethnic groups with their own specialized sub-set of literature, history, etc. Well, that is exactly what has happened in American schools and universities—to the detriment of teaching AMERICAN LITERATURE, AMERICAN HISTORY—oh, I don’t know, THE CONSTITUTION....

America no longer knows where She’s going (or even where She should go) because America DOESN’T KNOW where She’s been. America used to be a good people, a virtuous people. No longer. De Toqueville spoke well when he said of Her, “America is great because America is good. America will cease to be great, when America ceases to be good. We are there. And now America has taken on the same tendencies as one of the 7 churches in the Book of the Revelation:

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

In just the same way Christ would “spue” Laodicea out of His mouth for their smug, self-serving, pseudo-religiosity, those who KNOW and LOVE what America once was would love nothing more than to “spue” this version of America out of their collective mouths and go back to the days when:
* our schools taught our children about God and Country
* our citizens were acquainted with their nations Constitution, its authority and its limitations
* people came to America to BE AMERICANS
* our nation had a collective sense of itself (not the balkanized view of itself shared by so many today)
* our leaders were men of courage not quislings of opportunity and expediency

There, I feel better...sad, but somewhat better...

[privatedrive]

Yeah, if he really believed in his own opinion, he would have said:

“Congress, re-write this thing and call it a tax. If you do, we will uphold it.”

Instead, he re-wrote it for them.

[mike_9958]

“Bottom line? Roberts just rewarded those who denied Obama Care was a tax increase setting up a republic threatening precedent.”

I don’t see it that way - bottom line: the media didn’t do its job... so the chief justice did it for them.

This was a tax and the media tried once or twice to say so but believe the politicians (democrats) who said no it wasn’t. Now we clearly know why the economy has been so poor to recover - they raise taxes during a recession.

If you want to blame someone blame the media who got it wrong, and sold us a tax increase that looked like a healthcare.

Mark Levin should know better as well - I think he was surprised because he didn’t think of it - and face it Savage is as fanatical on the right as Schultz is on the left - so he talks about Roberts and his meds.....

This is perfect Romney - Obama will lose big in Nov because in essence he said “read my lips - this is not a tax”. If Romney doesn’t win I’m gettin in my boat and leaving for the next 4 years.

[ScottinVA]

It was an awful law that needs to be repealed, and don’t tell me repealing is out of the question. It isn’t.

It isn't by a long shot. The Repubs are going to hold the House. Also, some of the close Senate races for Dem seats involving incumbents or candidates who supported Obamacare just became very interesting. It's not a good time to be Tim Kaine (VA), Claire McCaskill (MO), Bill Nelson (FL), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jon Tester (MT), Tammy Baldwin (WI), or Heidi Heitkamp (ND). Sherrod Brown (OH) and Debbie Stabenow (MI) may start feeling some heat as well. They're all going to have to defend what is now defined as the most drastic tax hike in American history. Fifty-one Senate seats are needed to repeal a tax. Yesterday's SCOTUS ruling just put that number well in reach. All of us are angry. Let's take it out on those infernal Dems. Stay Angry! Donate! Volunteer! VOTE!

[uncbob]

The people that wrote the bill and promoted it said it was not a tax... the bill says it is not a tax... roberts rewrote that bill making it a tax. It does not matter what you post. roberts violated his oath of office and killed Constitutional rule.

And Roberts said the GOP Members in congress who said that it was in reality a tax were RIGHT ( a rose by any other name is a rose )and the democrats who wrote the bill and said it wasn't LIED

And he also said that the democrat argument that it was legal under the Commerce provisions were WRONG

In other words the GOP was right and the democrats were liars

And as others have pointed out being a tax makes many facets of the Bill unconstitutional but since nobody has been affected yet they can't rule on that until the aggrieved go to court but will if it doesn't get repealed before then

[newnhdad]

it’s not his job to teach the electorate a lesson, it’s his job to rule on constitutionality. Instead of narrowly ruling on that one issue, the law as written, he created his own version and concluded that it was constitutional, not what congress passed.
This is a classic liberal way of framing an argument. Don’t look at what was written or what the intention was but re-write it and decide what it the intention should be and argue that instead. This is what happened here. He dismissed the bill as unconstitutional and took it upon himself to replace the legislative branch it and declare the bill he wrote as constitutional even though the legislators insist it’s not a tax.

This is not really aimed at you but those that are looking for some tiny sliver of something positive from this huge steaming pile of regurgitated paper fiber that used to be the the most revered legislative document in the world are starting to look silly. So when Obama and the democrat majority decide to impose a federal annual ownership tax on guns, federal annual ownership tax on gas powered cars, annual ownership tax on computers and TVs who will stop them?

[Durus]

It was expected by the founders which is why they forbid any direct taxation.

[NCLaw441]

I agree completely.

ALL of the discussion leading up to the decision centered on the Commerce Clause. NO ONE was discussing the tax/penalty distinction. No one. Reminds me of the joke, If you call a 3 legged stool a chair, how many legs does a chair have? 4. Calling a stool a chair does not make it a chair.

[SE Mom]

Roberts did not just create some new vast taxing authority. He said it's always existed under the Constitution and his job is to enforce the Constitution, not change the tax laws.

Yes. At the SAME time, however, he has created a new area to be taxed that did not exist before this decision. This tax does not fall into the previously known taxable areas. There is no provision in the constitution for taxing INACTIVITY.

He rewrote this law on the bench. What was called a mandate in the bill was objectionable to him SO HE RENAMED the mandate and now calls it a tax. The problem with this is- THAT IS NOT WHAT WAS IN THE BILL.

Whether or not we "win" in November, whether or not we repeal this monster, the court's finding stands and there is now an entire new way to tax citizens that DID NOT EXIST. Is this an excise tax? Is this income tax? No- it's an inactivity tax.

Politicians will come and go, elections will be won and lost. The inactivity tax will be with us- and various clever legislators will find ways to use it against we, the people.

So- while it's all well and good for Roberts to put it back in our laps- that was not his job. The instant he found the problems with the commerce clause in the law it was time to stop. Period. Did he? NOOOOOOOoooooo he did not. He contorted himself - he found a way to call this airplane a boat. Never mind that it is a boat never put on the water until now. Never mind that it looks exactly like an airplane. The people will believe it's a boat because I am a learned scholar.

[Boogieman]

“don’t tell me repealing is out of the question. It isn’t.”

When is the last time a tax has been permanently repealed by the US Congress?

I keep asking that question, and none of Roberts’ supporters will answer it.

[uncbob]

When is the last time a tax has been permanently repealed by the US Congress?

I seem to remember certain Excise taxes were repealed

And how is it Roberts fault that congress who they people vote for don't do it

In addition as I keep posting the GOP called Obama and the democrats liars because in reality it was a tax and Roberts agreed OR was that not the case --your answer please

[skully]

Using the tax system to force American’s into absolute slavery was unexpected by all. This sets a terrifying precedent.

I miss King George III...we we’re more free then.