The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ramen In The Jell-O Makes It Easier To Nail To The Wall

Posted on | August 2, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Some ramen noodles, orange Jell-O, nails, and a plank; that’s my visual representation of the professional output of one of Maryland’s finest, Steny Hoyer. After riding shotgun in the clown car that was the Congress That Shall Live In Infamy, Hoyer sports the stones to wonder aloud if the butt hurt over passing ObamaCare could have affected the debt ceiling fracas:

Hoyer, speaking on CNBC, said he thought part of the reason Republicans have refused to compromise with Democrats on the debt-ceiling package was because of how House Democrats pushed through the Obama administration’s healthcare law.
“I think that’s accurate,” Hoyer said Friday. “I don’t think healthcare was handled the way it should’ve been, but let me tell you why: There was an openness to compromise, but the Republicans said, ‘Look, we don’t like your plan, we’re not going to go there at all,’ ” Hoyer said.

When you connect the dots about the House having passed a third debt ceiling bill, while the Senate has concurrently fiddled, with this clip of Meat Puppet Carney confidently asserting that the White House will “take action”, whatever that means, if the legislation breaks down:

I’ve got a ticket to Afghanistan that says things are all going according to plan. After barely passing the House, the third debt ceiling bill fails in the Senate, fingers are pointed at the GOP, and the conditions are set for yet another vast kick in the Constitutional nuts, as the separation of powers must be further destroyed to “save” the economy. The President, magically, is going to assert the authority to raise new debt without Congressional approval.The Devil, you see, is a Cheap Trick fan:

Merely asserting power and sending in the Union goons isn’t interesting; tricking a formerly free people to beg for fetters: art.
I want to be wrong. I want the gnawing sensation that this Crisis Administration is systematically demolishing the Congress to be some mad bit of midnight paranoia. And it may be that the Senate passes legislation to retire this artificial crisis, to kick it past the next election.
In a way, that’s a fair cop. The Constitution has the House turn over ever two years, to make it more responsive to the will of the people. Congress is in a hung state at the moment, torn between the GOP in the House that are reflecting a vague sense from We The People that Stuff Has Gone Very Wrong, and a Senate that is as deeply committed to protecting the people as, say, the Senate of Rome was against Caesar. Thus, the idea that we shouldn’t make any major course changes until after 2012, to see if We The People are serious and actually care about the Constitution, while stupid, can at least be followed.
However, if the Senate fails to pass a debt ceiling bill, and the Executive commences to rule by fiat, then it will be time for the Tea Parties to do what they did all last year. This evil cannot pass unchallenged.
A related podcast at Volokh:

Rob Natelson explains why unilateral presidential creation of new debt is:
1. Utterly contrary to the Constitution’s structure of limiting executive power.
2. Directly contrary to the text of the 14th Amendment.

These next days will show whether even the lip service to the Constitution will fail. What’s next? A state of emergency that precludes an election next year?

Update: further queasiness at The Sundries Shack.

Category: Barack Obama

Comments

4 Responses to “Ramen In The Jell-O Makes It Easier To Nail To The Wall”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    August 2nd, 2011 @ 12:03 pm

    -While I am on the record as being opposed to nailing Bolshes like Steny Hoyer to the wall [too Leninesque], I am, however, very much in favor of tarring and feathering the rat bastards [solid, American tradition].

    –When they kick out your front door
    How ya gonna come
    With your hands on your head
    Or on the trigger of your gun

  2. McGehee
    August 2nd, 2011 @ 2:39 pm

    Tar and feathers is more American, but I’ve about reached the point of deploring the undecorated state of lampposts.

  3. Bob Belvedere
    August 2nd, 2011 @ 5:35 pm

    Me too. Good point.

  4. Anonymous
    August 2nd, 2011 @ 7:03 pm

    You could avert your gaze.