More on Stupid Republicans
Jim Geraghty at NRO speaks for many exasperated conservatives when he says:
For starters, when you’ve just shot yourself in a foot with a howitzer, and managed to change the one lawmaker caught with piles of cash in his freezer from a Democratic problem to a Republican problem, stop bragging about your high-minded refusal to score quick political points. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, pal, but the GOP hasn’t been scoring any political points these days. When you’re getting shut out 21-0 heading into halftime, it’s not the right time to take such pride in your good sportsmanship.
The legal folks I read and trust seem to think the constitutional argument is pretty weak; at the very least, Hastert’s logic would establish lawmakers’ offices as no-search-zones, where any lawmaker could stash any evidence he wished, beyond the reach of law enforcement. Hmm. Better rethink those “potential consequences for future generations.” . . .
The Speaker of the House apparently, passionately believes that everyone in his base who is cheering the FBI’s collection of evidence from Jefferson’s office is wrong, and that taking them on directly is worthwhile.
Taking on your base is a risky game on the best of days, and these are not the best of days for the GOP. We heard a lot about the growth of blogs’ power and influence in 2004 and 2005. Well, at this point, it does not seem that any Republican leader is aware of the tone of incredulousness and fury on NRO, or Red State, or Instapundit, or Volokh, or Best of the Web, or any of the others?
I’m not saying that lawmakers have to bow and scrape to bloggers; but the people who read and post at these kinds of sites are among the most vocal and motivated members of the GOP base. And right now, too many Republican leaders are metaphorically giving them the finger.
At this moment, I completely understand the anger of the Tapscottians, those who are content to see a GOP majority fall. Although honestly, at this moment, I don’t want to wait until November to see this kind of behavior punished.
Instapundit notes that Senate Majoritiy Leader Bill Frist proves some brain cells still exist within the GOP:
FRIST: … if there are accusations of bribery, of having lost the trust, abused the trust of the American people, criminal activity, no House member, no senator, nobody in government should be above the law of the land, period.
And a search warrant was obtained to go in. So to answer your question, no, I don’t think it abused separation of powers. I think there’s allegations of criminal activity, and the American people need to have the law enforced.
I don’t think it was a separation of powers question. I’ve looked at it very carefully.
UPDATE:
Mark Levin at NRO simply shakes his head:
(b) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT. Consultations between United States and Mexican authorities at the federal, state, and local levels concerning the construction of additional fencing and related border security structures along the United States-Mexico border shall be undertaken prior to commencing any new construction, in order to solicit the views of affected communities, lessen tensions and foster greater understanding and stronger cooperation on this and other important issues of mutual concern.
The Dodd amendment was included in a “Manager’s amendment” offered by Arlen Specter—which included several additional amendments. It was adopted by the Senate.
Just when you think the Senate can’t disgrace itself any further, it disappoints again.
UPDATE II:
More on our worthless government from someone who knows and wrote to David Frum at NRO:
I decided to disassociate myself from the management of a small business because I kept accidentally hiring illegals. Their driver’s licenses and social security cards looked exactly like my own. After having unknowingly hired approximately 20 illegals in a four year time frame, I simply changed jobs (the company went out of business about a year later). You see, when you telephone the Social Security Administration to verify the accuracy of the information, you will be told that they do not verify the accuracy of a number as a precondition for employment. That’s the official policy. Until you change that, there’s little that most employers can do. I wanted to follow the law, and could not. Changing this policy of the Social Security Administration is a necessary precondition for sanctioning the employers.
By the way, when you accidentally hire an illegal and pay taxes for him as any other employee, it takes anywhere from 9 to 18 months for the Social Security Administration to notify you that there’s a problem. With Mexicans, it’s about a one in five chance that they are legal, and used four names on their SS card but only three on their job application or something like that. The other four out of five simply had fake documents. And the Social Security Administration does not return to the employer or the employee all the taxes that were paid.
There’s no sense in calling INS. I tried that too.
Remind me, just why do we pay taxes again?
If it were not for The War, I simply would not know. . . .