They've already had an opportunity; instead of taking a stand, they punted.
In before beating up on George. He makes the argument in favor of the House authorizing a law suit against the executive branch instead of impeachment. A lot of members of Congress (most of their staffers) read George so its worth reading.
If I were as talented as Mark Twain, I could write something like the following about George Will:
http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/rissetto/offense.html
Will writes as though many years ago he purchased a large number of 4+ syllable words, and he feels he must use them all often so he gets his money’s worth.
Anybody who uses the word “supine” more than once in a newspaper column is just begging for a wedgie.
Lawless president. Spineless congress.
Here’s an idea. Use Sunday talk shows and every other opportunity to get in front of a camera to forcefully make the case against this president. Go after the networks for underreporting as well.
I am bewildered by the inaction of congress.
I’m shocked —SHOCKED!— that a communist has no regard for the Constitution.
They've already had an opportunity; instead of taking a stand, they punted.
Sadly, most of the comments on this article at the WAPO site are stating that it does not matter how lawless “he” is, because of those who went before him. And, because the commenters agree with the laws he is not enforcing, it is ok to not enforce. Everyday I feel like I do not recognize the country I live in any more, where laws do not apply to everyone and no one has the courage to hold people accountable for not doing their jobs.
And, everyday that border is open, the population who is willing to “vote themselves the bank” instead of producing is increasing and those producing and paying the way will LOSE.
It’s useful to remember that this sort of abuse of Presidential power has happened twice before in our history, in the administrations of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. In both cases, their abuses were tolerated in part because we were involved in a war. When the war ended, much of the excesses were rolled back.
In Roosevelt’s case, the Supreme Court intervened to check Presidential power, but Roosevelt countered by threatening to pack the Court and they were intimidated from taking further action. World War II had the effect of restoring some balance, but the power and reach of the Federal Government have been the lasting legacy of Roosevelt’s overreach.
We are facing the same sort of overreach and are in the process of expanding the Federal Government’s power and reach yet again. The closely divided Congress has proven an ineffective counter and the Courts have largely stayed on the sidelines except where liberals on the bench have chosen to intervene on Obama’s side. If we don’t act soon, the Judiciary will become even more liberal and that avenue will be closed. That day is very near.
Obama knows that the people, the press, and even the republican congress are not going to seriously challenge him on anything. Even the two men who ran for office against him couldn't muster the courage to take him to task in a serious way.
We no longer have any meaningful values as a nation, and George Will isn't really any different (Mr. Low-Voltage Atheist). Obama is actually admired even by those who know what he is doing is wrong and destructive simply for the reason that he is less of a spineless, scheming jellyfish who won't stand up for anything than his political opponents like Boehner and McConnell.
So the House has already passed a bill that would give expedited judicial action on a lawsuit filed by Congress in specific instances when the executive branch is lawless (basically). But that bill will be killed by the Senate and foreign enemy combatant in the White House.
Is Will saying that the House by itself can authorize a lawsuit brought forward by the House as a whole, which should meet the already-existing criteria for “standing”?
I think Will does a good job of identifying the legal conundrum we’re in.
There should be no excuse for the Senate to block the House bill. Somehow we’ve got to get over this idea that we just have to accept that democrats are lawless and will always get away with it. Tom Daschle received so much static from his constituents that he actually went against the democrat agenda on abortion and (gasp!) represented his constituents. That should not be a rare thing; it should be the norm.
And we need to be engaging the constituents who keep electing lawless SOB’s - turning the question back on them, as to whether the Constitution’s protections (separation of powers, checks and balances, and Constitutional governance) should really be negated by judicial interpretation that it’s “nobody’s business” if government is lawless. If the Constitution’s requirements can never actually be followed, the Constitution has effectively been nullified by judicial fiat. And we need to be asking the east and west coasts if that’s really what they support. Because the crooks they keep electing are totally lawless because of that judicial fiat.
And I say we should bus the whole dang bunch of illegals that have invaded TX into the east coast and California before we ask these questions.
What if Congress votes this or that and the State Governors do not enforce?
This would require Xongress to vote in a new temporary leader and break the hold by the Feds. Pure and simple.
We are indeed too late for impeachment or votes of no confidence.
Impeach the lawless bastard. We can put up with a president Biden for a few years.
“...makes the argument in favor of the House authorizing a law suit against the executive branch instead of impeachment.”
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Whew, man are we lucky or what...If this ever passes into law, never will there be another Chief Executive, nor appointee (judicial) EVER fear being impeached, ever again...
Damn, lets fast track this through!!! Call D.C.!!! Let them know about this!!!
/sarc (big time)
If the roles were reversed and a republican president circumvented the Constitution and ‘failed’ to notify congress as often as Great Leader, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that the democrats would know what to do and that they would do it.
The only way we will stop this lawless president is to get him out of office. Sadly, I could see that it might take treason charges or a military coup to do this. I fear we might not be rid of Obama in 2016.
As we saw with Clinton, who hadn't the shame to step down, the impeachment process turned out to be an impotent waste of money that left the Liar-in-Chief in office, yet freed the media to confuse voters with lascivious reports of the side issues. Could we reasonably expect today's POTUS to step down after impeachment? We would first have had to replace the entire DOJ and Federal judiciary with Republican JAG veterans over the age of 50. In other words, no way.