Yes, I'm on a roll today. Third post of the day and it's only noon! But don't worry I have some real work to do today and I've got to start soon.
More from the inimitable Charles P. Pierce at Esquire:
Bravo to Jim Fallows at The Atlantic — and to Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic — for pointing out that the shenanigans that the Republicans in the Senate are playing concerning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is really nothing more than "nullification," the legislative equivalent of the doctrine first promulgated by John C. Calhoun, and which led, ultimately, to the Civil War. ...
Bear in mind, this is not about congressional obstructionism. That's another issue for another day,...
This is more serious by an order of magnitude. The Republicans had their chance to beat back the law that created the CFPB. They had more than their chance. There were committee meetings and committee votes in both Houses. There was lengthy, free, and open debate. There was a vote on the law, and it passed by a clear majority, and the president signed it. That's the ballgame. You don't like it? Win a couple of elections and pass a law eliminating it.
What you don't get to do is pretend that the law doesn't exist, even while you scream about how terrible it is. Orrin Hatch went batshit over it on CNN the other day. The latest is that prince of frauds, Lindsey Graham, who represents the home office of nullification, South Carolina:
"It is something out of the Stalinist Era," the South Carolina Republican said Sunday, defending his GOP colleagues' efforts last week to block President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Oh, for the love of god, just stop it, okay? A law passed that you don't like, and that will cripple the ability of the people who own your ass to rob people with fine print, and you'll do anything you can to make sure they can keep doing it because you're essentially a 'ho. That's what's going on here. All the people in South Carolina who are currently getting gouged by the credit-card companies will have some place to take their complaint, and you think we're all being dragged off to Lubyanka in an ox-cart. Get over yourself and do your damn job. And that means abide by the terms by which you swore to abide:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
The Constitution says that laws passed by Congress become the law of the land, whether Lindsey Graham likes them or not, and no matter how many bank CEOs find them inconvenient.
Like I've mentioned here a few times, we are in the midst of a civil war that only one side can win and the stakes are big: the very future of this country. The Republicans know it's just a matter of time before the older white angry bigots die out, and the wealthy realize that more and more of the 99% are beginning to catch on that we are being fleeced, so these people are trying their damnedest to win the war as quickly as possible, by any means available. This coming election is crucial so expect some real fireworks between now and next November (and expect all hell to break loose if the Republicans lose big).
--Trakker
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