Open Letter To Senators Warner & Webb

Posted on | January 5, 2012 | 22 Comments

by Smitty

Gentlemen,

The news of the President appointing Richard Cordray and three NLRB names without hearings should dismay anyone who has sworn an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. The Cordray appointment opens the door to large scale mortgage re-financing. This sounds far-fetched, but we are in an election year, and look at the disinterest in legality, form, and tradition expressed by these appointments themselves.

In these appointments, as in recent adventurism in Libya, the President has revealed that the separation of powers, a crucial component of the exceptional form of government we have enjoyed in the U.S., is crumbling. Should he win re-election, one might not unreasonably expect the 22nd Amendment to join the 10th in the trash bin. And the reason for the impunity is that the Democrats control the Senate, guarding his rear, and rendering the Republicans in the house toothless to do the correct thing, which would be to impeach President Obama.

Coming to the point, then, one wonders if there are a dozen or so Senators who are Democrats and who retain sufficient conscience and honor to quit the Democrats and caucus with the Republicans. The knowledge that the Worst Majority Leader in History, Senator Reid, is running interference for him allows for the President to run amok. Gather the various independent, retiring, and American Senators, leave the Democrat caucus, and restore a semblance of separation of powers.

Maybe with the Republicans in the majority, we could also get a budget.

Thank you for your consideration,

C. Smith

Alexandria, VA

Update: linked by Fausta and Daily Pundit, for whose demise as a result of my blogging I absolve myself of culpability. It was your browser, man. You may have named the Blogosphere, but I wrote OediPOTUS Wrecks. Mwahahaha.

Category: Barack Obama, Democrats, Virginia

Comments

22 Responses to “Open Letter To Senators Warner & Webb”

richard mcenroe
January 5th, 2012 @ 9:57 am

Scott Brown supported Obama’s action
Come On, Smitty, You’re Killing Me! | Daily Pundit
January 5th, 2012 @ 10:31 am

[…] On, Smitty, You’re Killing Me! Posted on January 5, 2012 7:30 am by Bill Quick Open Letter To Senators Warner & Webb : The Other McCain Coming to the point, then, one wonders if there are a dozen or so Senators who are Democrats and […]
Bob Belvedere
January 5th, 2012 @ 10:33 am

Over at Volokh, John Elwood makes a convincing case that Obama’s appointments in this case are Constitutional.

http://volokh.com/2012/01/04/recess-appointment-of-richard-cordray-despite-pro-forma-sessions/

Such a controversial appointment of Cordray, however, is certainly a shameful move. But, hey, BHO has no damn shame.

PS: Damn Scott Brown all to Hell.
Thane_Eichenauer
January 5th, 2012 @ 10:46 am

“do the correct thing, which would be to impeach President Obama”

So rather that present an impeachment in the House of Represenatives that presumably would be defeated in the Senate the best alternative is to do nothing at all until November. To me that sounds like a little tune called defeatism.

http://soundcloud.com/mike-details-detelj/defeatism-prod-by-tictax
Pathfinder's wife
January 5th, 2012 @ 10:51 am

Let’s be honest with ourselves: most of the Republicans want the same end results as the Democrats. We have no representation for the people anymore; there are no Democrats and only a few Republicans who even pay lip service to their oaths today.
ThePaganTemple
January 5th, 2012 @ 11:44 am

Do nothing until November, and then in a couple of months, if he does somehow manage to win re-election, then impeach his ass when it hopefully won’t be defeated in the Senate. Think of how much fun that would be.
Anonymous
January 5th, 2012 @ 11:49 am

Interesting move by Obama. Instead of doing what most Democratic presidents do — whine about “Republican obstructionism” of their appointments — he’s taking the fight to them. Hey, it may work in his favor.

The technical issue, of course, is whether or not the Senate is actually in recess. Apparently they’ve taken up the custom in recent years (before Obama, at least back into the Bush administration) of leaving a couple of unlucky Senators in DC over breaks to bang the gavel every three days for the express purpose of blocking “recess appointments.” If there’s a suit, SCOTUS will have to decide if that’s sufficient to constitute being in real session, or if it’s an unconstitutional fraud.

There’s every chance that Obama would lose on that question. But I’m not sure that the next Republican president (if there ever is one again) will like the precedent.
Thane_Eichenauer
January 5th, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

Do nothing?

Have you heard the line “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Finrod Felagund
January 5th, 2012 @ 12:10 pm

Yet another case where Democrats fail to comprehend the old saying ‘good for the goose, good for the gander’.

They started filibustering court nominees regularly, not understanding that it could be used against them. They started filibustering bills regularly, not understanding it could be used against them. They started keeping the Senate in session to keep out recess appointments, not understanding that it could be used against them. And if this precedent is allowed to stand, it’ll get used against them by the next Republican President.
ThePaganTemple
January 5th, 2012 @ 12:29 pm

All right, calm down. What good do you think it would do to try that now? You said yourself it wouldn’t pass in the Senate. Those kinds of things take a lot of time, and cost a lot of money. All we’d do is piss people off who would think we’re just doing it because we’re afraid we can’t beat him in the election. Besides, what are we going to impeach him for? It takes time to gather that kind of evidence. By the time we got the evidence together we need, it would probably be past the election anyway.

Take a deep breath or a few of them, and chill.
Physics Geek
January 5th, 2012 @ 12:33 pm

“The technical issue, of course, is whether or not the Senate is actually in recess.”

Umm, Doesn’t Article V, Section 1 state that one house of Congress must consent for the other house to be in extended recess for more than 3 days? I’m fairly certain that the GOP leadership in the House did NOT consent, which means that the Senate is NOT in recess, technically or otherwise.
Ccoffer
January 5th, 2012 @ 1:15 pm

” Instead of doing what most Democratic presidents do — whine about
“Republican obstructionism” of their appointments — he’s taking the
fight to them.”

My, how stupid.
Republicans don’t control the Senate. They can’t stop anything from happening there. Brakabama is wiping his bony little ass with the Constitution and you’re applauding him. At least we know how little you think of your country.
Anonymous
January 5th, 2012 @ 1:23 pm

Chuck,

There’s no need to go out of your way to look like a dumbass. I don’t support the existence of the agency in question, or Obama’s particular appointee to head that agency, or his decision to pull this stunt, as you well know. It has nothing to do with “how little I think of my country” (I think a hell of a lot more of it than you do).

But I understand the purpose behind the stunt. As a political tactic, “fuck the Republicans, I’m doing this” is a stronger play than “poor me, those mean old Republicans won’t let me do this.” He’s going on the strategic offensive.

As you also know quite well, Senate minorities are quite capable of tying presidential appointments up indefinitely.
Bob Belvedere
January 5th, 2012 @ 1:25 pm

Huh?
Anonymous
January 5th, 2012 @ 1:25 pm

Yes, you’re correct, the Senate is not technically in recess (it’s in ACTUAL recess — it’s taking an extended break in which no business is being done; the gavel is being smacked on the podium every third day, which is the “technical” part).

Which is why I said that Obama will quite likely lose if this goes to court.
R.S. McCain on the Cordray recess appointment: Open Letter To Senators Warner & Webb « The Rhetorican
January 5th, 2012 @ 2:13 pm

[…] Open Letter To Senators Warner & WebbR.S. McCain on the Cordray recess appointment: Open Letter To Senators Warner & Webb: “In these appointments, as in recent adventurism in Libya, the President has revealed that […]
ThePaganTemple
January 5th, 2012 @ 2:21 pm

Don’t mind Chuckie, he probably just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning from hearing Democrat feminists little aborted fetuses wailing through the night from somewhere under it.
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William Quick
January 5th, 2012 @ 5:26 pm

They started filibustering court nominees regularly, not understanding
that it could be used against them. They started filibustering bills
regularly, not understanding it could be used against them. They
started keeping the Senate in session to keep out recess appointments,
not understanding that it could be used against them. And if this
precedent is allowed to stand, it’ll get used against them by the next
Republican President.

They know what they’re doing. They count on the MSM to cover up their hypocrisy, and to excoriate the GOP whenever it tries to do the same things the Dems are doing. So far, the strategy seems to be pretty effective.
Fausta's Blog » Blog Archive » Recess appointments while Congress is not in recess
January 5th, 2012 @ 5:47 pm

[…] Smitty has an Open Letter To Senators Warner & Webb, and points out that the Cordray appointment opens the door to large scale mortgage […]
Adjoran
January 5th, 2012 @ 5:59 pm

The statute specifically says the director takes over after confirmation by the Senate. Hard to find a recess appointment legal in there.
Recess appointments while Congress is not in recess | FavStocks
January 6th, 2012 @ 3:21 am

[…] Smitty has an Open Letter To Senators Warner & Webb, and points out that the Cordray appointment opens the door to large scale mortgage re-financing. […]