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I'm not sh*tting you. Of course Faux News and Sean Hannity would invite Minnesota's brightest GOP star to discuss health care town halls taking place across the country. From the woman who rides a tattered broom to work each day on the Hill, Michele Bachmann:
Bachmann: It is not within our power as members of Congress, it’s not within the enumerated powers of the Constitution, for us to design and create a national takeover of health care. Nor is it within our ability to be able to delegate that responsibility to the executive.
Had Bachmann bothered to read Article I of the Constitution before going on Fox, she would have learned that Congress has the power to “lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises” and to “provide for….the general welfare of the United States.” Rather than itemizing specific subject matters, such as health care, which Congress is allowed to spend money on, the framers chose instead to give Congress a broad mandate to spend money in ways that promote the “general welfare.”
It’s unclear what the basis is for Bachmann’s claim that the public option is an unconstitutional delegation of power to the Executive. There is a 74 year-old decision — decided by the same right-wing Supreme Court which believed most of the New Deal to be unconstitutional — which holds that Congress could not simply grant President Roosevelt nearly limitless authority to do whatever he wanted in order to prevent “unfair competition.” But no one has proposed giving President Obama similarly unchecked authority over health care. Rather, pages 116-128 of the House bill that Bachmann will vote on provide extremely detailed instructions explaining how the Executive Branch must manage a public health plan.
27 Comments
Then the Veterans healthcare, Medicare, and Medicaid are unlawfulI am so embarrassed for Minnesota, this nitwit represents a part of the state.
I don’t think anyone is listening to herAnd frankly they shouldn’t….But if you where to hear what she is trying to say, she is trying to re-frame the health care debate as a governmental attempt to takeover a private industry. That is what she is claiming is constitutional and that is probably what we should avoid discussing because it only encourages more nonsense. Yes, everything the republicans and the right wingers are doing right now is crazy but when you put it all together it is very effective in re-working the national debate into what they want people to consider. Which is anything but real health care reform. And what do they want when all is said and done? A bill so weak that it will plain and simply require more of Americans to get health care and to pay for it and require less of the industry to reform itself. Like mandatory auto insurance or the social security taxes.
“The American people DO read these bills”Really? REALLY? Are they putting “Harry Potter and the Kenyan Death Panels” on the front?
Oh, that should have been its own commentOh well!
Fine…
Fine – then its also not within the power of Congres to in any way limit the power of individuals to sue these continuing criminal enterprises d/b/a ‘health insurance corporations’.
Obama as FDROf course, if he gets health care through with the public option and the economy turns around, Obama will have FDR-like accolades.
And really, other than the fact that we have a black president, there’s no difference, really, between Faux News and Colonel McCormick (The Chicago Tribune) or William Randolph Hearst. Hell, John Conyers has been sounding awfully Huey Long-ish himself.
BachmanAh?? Does she knows how to spell constitution?
Whether it’s plain stupidity or actual psychosis,this is fast becoming the dominant strain in American public discourse. It’s easy to dismiss Bachmann as a crackpot, but I’m very afraid that when we see her, we’re seeing the face of the future–a populace that is pathetically undereducated, willfully ignorant, gleefully anti-intellectual, and more than willing to substitute archaic superstitions for facts and reasoned discussion.
Bachman brings clueless to an artform
Sadly…there are plenty on the right-wing legal end of the spectrum who actually do believe that programs like Social Security are unconstitutional. They just won’t admit it out loud.
Michele Bachmann Is an Embarassment to the State of MinnesotaAnd yet, there is rumor that she might run for Gov. Pawlenty’s seat when he is done and runs for President in 2012. Let me tell you all, that no one has done more damage to health and human services, and gay rights in Minnesota than Gov. Pawlenty. And no one could make things worse in Minnesota than Michele Bachmann.
hang shiney objects around her housemaybe she’ll forget there’s a governor’s race.
That, or pelt her with Obama waffles in Minneapolis,St Paul, Duluth, and Rochester, every time she tries to speak
Rep. Dining Room Table (R-Parted Mooring)There is the Necessary and Proper Clause, as well as the Commerce Clause, which have been construed to give Congress all the leeway it needs. You’d think some of it would have rubbed off on Ms. Bizarro here.
Well this is a very significant result. Luton, normally a very sensible constituency with a high proportion of people who aren’t a bit silly, has gone completely ga-ga.
Proposed Constitutional Amendment:All who run for national office must hold an accredited degree from a school of law recognized by the American Bar Association and be in good standing with the bar. – That would keep the nutz out.
I can’t believe FAUX hasn’t hired her yet.But then she is a brunette.
You really want MORE lawyers in the government?! LOLMore Scooter Libbys? More “constitutional scholars” like Obama? No thanks. If the people of Minnesota are dumb enough to elect her, they deserve what they get.
As if electing a pro wrestler wasn’t sinking low enough for them…
I am not sure if she could spell constitution, But she will tell you everything that it says according to the bible.
why hire her,They get the lunacy for free. Hopefully when she goes the way of Marilyn Musgrave, then they might hire here. But then again, she could end up in the VP slot along side Huckabee.
Like the old poemLawyers are like the “little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her fore’ead.”
When they are good (Boies, Olson) they are very very good;
and when they are bad (Libby, Gonzalez, Yoo, etc) they are HORRID.
somehow, I’m reminded of a song……by (sadly defunct) Scottish band Idlewild, which included the lines:
I bet you don’t know how to spell “contradiction”
I bet you don’t know how to sell conviction
The title, “These Wooden Ideas”, seems equally appropriate.
I dare you……to transcribe here–in its entirety–the name of the Very Silly candidate. (No embedding of sound files allowed.)
I voted for Jethro Q. Walrustitty, but, OK …
Great moments in television, and You Are There. Come to think of it, Michelle Bachman would’ve given this candidate a run for his money.
political trivia, 1936FDR had the advantage of running against Alf Landon (R-KS) and William Lemke (Liberty League et al).
Lemke liked to be called “Liberty Bill,” after the bell. Unfortunately, he realized, too late, that the Liberty Bell is cracked.
Landon chose the Kansas state flower, the sunflower, as his emblem. FDR remarked that the sunflower is yellow, has a black heart, is useful chiefly as parrot food, and always dies before November.
FDR carried every state except Maine and Vermont. Before that, the proverb was “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” After 1936, it was, “As Maine goes, so goes Vermont.”
Laugh if you want about JesseHe was better than any of us imagined on LGBT Rights in the State.
very impressive! thank you.Sometimes I wondered why the Pythons often made fun of that old Petula Clark song…perhaps it was on the radio (the Beeb!) so annoyingly often, it fairly begged to be the target of parody.
No it wouldn’tIn the past decade or so, Regent got accredited.
No I do not understand you“But she will tell you everything that it says according to the bible.” What does that supposed to mean, that her bible narrative should be imposed on the lives of others? Who come she does not separate church from state? Quite frankly that woman does not care about no one other than herself.