The Audacity of Hypocrisy
By Larry Johnson on March 16, 2010 at 10:23 AM in Current Affairs
Here is a classic example of why both Republicans and Democrats are simply two sides of the same corroded, corrupted coin. Mark Tapscott’s article in the Washington Examiner exposes the ugly truth:
But put aside the present for the moment and step into my time machine. Dial the date selector back to 2005 when the Republican majority in Congress approved a national debt limit increase using a self-executing rule similar to the Slaughter Solution.
Guess who went to federal court to challenge the constitutionality of the move? The Ralph Nader-backed Public Citizen legal activists. Here’s the argument they made:
“Article I of the United States Constitution requires that before proposed legislation may “become[] a Law,” U.S. CONST. art. I, § 7, cl. 2, “(1) a bill containing its exact text [must be] approved by a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives; (2) the Senate [must] approve[] precisely the same text; and (3) that text [must be] signed into law by the President,” Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417, 448, 118 S.Ct. 2091, 141 L.Ed.2d 393 (1998).
“Public Citizen, a not-for-profit consumer advocacy organization, filed suit in District Court claiming that the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Pub.L. No. 109-171, 120 Stat. 4 (2006) (“DRA” or “Act”), is invalid because the bill that was presented to the President did not first pass both chambers of Congress in the exact same form. In particular, Public Citizen contends that the statute’s enactment did not comport with the bicameral passage requirement of Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution, because the version of the legislation that was presented to the House contained a clerk’s error with respect to one term, so the House and Senate voted on slightly different versions of the bill and the President signed the version passed by the Senate.
“Public Citizen asserts that it is irrelevant that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate both signed a version of the proposed legislation identical to the version signed by the President. Nor does it matter, Public Citizen argues, that the congressional leaders’ signatures attest that indistinguishable legislative text passed both houses.” (Emphasis added)
And now for the kicker, guess who joined Public Citizen in that suit with amicus briefs:
Nancy Pelosi
Henry Waxman
Louise SlaughterIf the Pelosi/Slaughter/Waxman argument against using a self-executing rule against a debt limit increase measure sounds familiar, it should because it’s the same argument now being used by Republicans to oppose the Slaughter Solution for moving Obamacare through the House.
Republicans used reconciliation when it suited their purposes and Democrat screamed. Republicans used a “self-executing” rule when it suited their purposes and Democrats screamed. Now the roles are reversed. I think the only critical difference here is that the Republicans probably had a majority of the public opinion behind them when they pulled these tricks. But that’s an excuse. Neither party is in a position to argue that they are standing on principle. They have no principles. It is all about power and control, nothing more.
Damn them all!! We have seen these on other fronts. Remember when Republicans believed in protecting the men and women in the intelligence community from being a political football? Well, that lasted until Ambassador Joe Wilson correctly and prudently blew the whistle on the Bush Administration’s manipulation of intelligence relative to their trumped up case for invading Iraq. Then that principle went out the window and Valerie Plame became “fair game.”
How about torture and human rights? Same kind of hypocrisy. You have some Republicans defending practices and policies that clearly violate international law, international conventions and even the Constitution. Yet these mental gymnasts find ways to excuse the inexcusable.
Judicial activisim anyone? Republicans are against it (and Democrats embrace it) until you get an issue like campaign finance reform and then, magically, the parties reverse roles and it becomes opposite day. Now we have Republicans defending the political activism of Virginia Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, who is promoting the tea party movement. That’s okay? Alright, just be ready to eat it when the spouse of a liberal judge gets involved with a group advocating something like, say, abortion rights. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
I am angry about it all. I do believe firmly and steadfastly in the rights of the individual over the state. I do firmly believe that government’s power must be limited and circumscribed or else we are in danger of having our individual rights snuffed out in favor of serving the collective.
The travesty unfolding this week on Capitol Hill is the fault of both sides and ultimate responsiblity is with the American people who have tolerated and enabled this conduct. Shame on them and shame on us.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Pelosi-Slaughter-went-to-court-against-GOPs-self-executing-rule-in-2005—87773712.html#ixzz0iLuKjeLk
by Ronald Scott
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