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Tue. Apr 12, 2005

snacilbupeR

It’s a very busy week for me (if fact, I started writing this Saturday), but I simply have to take time out to note the ongoing antics in DC, as our Republican Congress tries to turn our three legged government into a biped.

Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, escalated his talk of a battle between the legislative and judicial branches of government on Thursday, saying federal courts had “run amok,” in large part because of the failure of Congress to confront them.

Mr. DeLay criticized Congress as failing to act vigorously enough. “I believe the judiciary branch of our government has overstepped its authority on countless occasions, overturning and in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people,” he said.

NY Times: “DeLay Says Federal Judiciary Has ‘Run Amok,’ Adding Congress Is Partly to Blame”

That’s nice. Personally, I see daily overwhelming evidence the legislative branch of our government has overstepped its authority on countless occasions … just in the past three months … overturning and in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people.

But I suppose that’s different, eh? It must be, because they’ve been having official gatherings to discuss how to handle judges; tar and feathers, or vats of boiling oil? “The organizers of the conference and Congressional staff members who spoke there called for several specific steps: impeaching judges deemed to have ignored the will of Congress or to have followed foreign laws; passing bills to remove court jurisdiction from certain social issues or the place of God in public life; changing Senate rules that allow the Democratic minority to filibuster Mr. Bush’s appeals court nominees; and using Congress’s authority over court budgets to punish judges whom it considers to have overstepped their authority.”

Because, of course, Congress is the final arbiter of all things. The Courts? They’ll simply strip them of their budget and jurisdiction over any matters where they disagree. Heaven help George Bush if he ever figures out how to use that Veto Thing. Congress could strip the White House’s toilet paper budget.

Because Congress is King.

Oddly, Rep. DeLay seems to have retained the ability to say occasionally reasonable things, but they are so occasional you have to wonder if they are merely ancestral echoes of rational thought: “As passionately as we all feel, especially about issues of life and death, the fact is that constitutional rule of law is a matter for serious and rational discussion … People on all sides of this debate need to approach the issue for what it is: a legitimate debate by people of good will trying to clarify the proper constitutional role of courts.”

One would assume this is one dictate “The Hammer” won’t be enforcing strictly, judging by the plans of his allies: “Conservative leaders meeting in Washington yesterday for a discussion of ‘Remedies to Judicial Tyranny’ decided that [Supreme Court Justice Anthony M.] Kennedy, a Ronald Reagan appointee, should be impeached, or worse.”

I think that “or worse” part is the debate over tar and feathers or a vat of boiling oil. But why would these people want to pop a judicial wedgie on an appointee of their Dear Departed Leader, Ronald Reagan? “Phyllis Schlafly, doyenne of American conservatism, said Kennedy’s opinion forbidding capital punishment for juveniles ‘is a good ground of impeachment.’ To cheers and applause from those gathered at a downtown Marriott for a conference on ‘Confronting the Judicial War on Faith,’ Schlafly said that Kennedy had not met the ‘good behavior’ requirement for office and that ‘Congress ought to talk about impeachment.’”

I see. Justice Kennedy refuses to execute minors, so he’s Evil in a Black Robe. Anything and everything else he’s done is irrelevant.

Now, I think much of what we’re hearing is chest thumping self-importance, as the newly empowered bully about, knocking things over, and in the process, finding their boundaries (or having them harshly pointed out for them). It’s discomfiting to watch, and this 109th Congress (plus their closest supporters) seems particularly hard headed and clumsy about it.

But some of this goes considerably further: “lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering [...] his ‘bottom line’ for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. ‘He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: ‘no man, no problem,’’ Vieira said. The full Stalin quote, for those who don’t recognize it, is ‘Death solves all problems: no man, no problem.’”

A Republican favorably quoting a Communist tyrant on the subject of murdering one’s opposition. It’s some Bizarro World where Republicans have become snacilbupeR. Their goal is “abolishing the concept of binding judicial precedents, by allowing Congress to vacate court decisions, and by impeaching judges such as Kennedy.”

It’s only three words. What part of “checks and balances” do they not understand? Maybe they should ask the President, who said “he supports ‘an independent judiciary.’ He added, ‘I believe in proper checks and balances.’”

But it’s even more basic than that. When you’re a child playing sports, and the umpire or referee makes a call against you, you may disagree, and state how wrong he is, but in the end you have to respect the decision … and move on! It’s a kindergarten-level societal concept that Congress fails to comprehend.

I think part of their mistake is they have the highly contentious judicial issue entirely tangled in the fate of Rep. DeLay and the ethics charges against him. In fact, rather than push Social Security, rather than pass a budget, they’re organizing a campaign to fight anyone who opposes Rep. DeLay.

DeLay staff members are linking with outside lawyers — including Barbara Comstock, former research director of the Republican National Committee — to form what is essentially a campaign organization aimed at minimizing damage to DeLay and building support despite what they believe will be a continuing torrent of news stories about his travel, fundraising and dealings with lobbyists.

One Republican familiar with the strategy, who asked not to be identified in order to be more candid, described the message as “Clintonian” in that it emphasized the idea that “there’s no news, and they’re out to get us”—with the addition that “liberal media, liberal Democrats” are to blame.

Washington Post: “DeLay’s Backers Launch Offense”

When your own buds describe your tactics as “Clintonian,” not only has that gotta hurt, it’s a sign you’ve jumped the shark, and it’s just a matter of time before “your buds” slink away from you one by one.

It may take months. And it starts with just one: “‘Tom’s conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election,’ Rep. Chris Shays, a Connecticut Republican, told The Associated Press in an interview, calling for DeLay to step down as majority leader [...] ‘My party is going to have to decide whether we are going to continue to make excuses for Tom to the detriment of Republicans seeking election.’”

Furthermore, “Shays told about 50 people at a town hall meeting in Greenwich on Saturday that he considers DeLay ‘an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party [...] If he ever runs for speaker, I get to vote on the House floor, and my ‘no’ vote combined with the Democrats’ means he will never be speaker,’ Shays said, according to a report in Greenwich Time. The newspaper also quoted Shays as saying: ‘Do I think Tom DeLay will be the majority leader by the end of this term? No … I don’t think Tom DeLay is going to survive.’”

Rep. Shays has gone out on a limb to criticize the majority leader, while his cohorts sit silently with their fingers in the wind. But even the pundits are starting to blow pretty hard, like David Brooks:

The Republican Party is running into a problem: the conservatism of the American people. Over the past decade, the Republicans have set themselves up as the transformational party. That’s fine for a party with big ideals.

But the American people, who can be quite bold when it comes to transforming their personal lives, tend to be temperamentally conservative and cautious when it comes to government. They have a taste for order and a distrust of those who want too much change on too many fronts too quickly.

It’s become increasingly clear that the Republicans are bumping into some limits.

Being conservative, the American people don’t want leaders who perpetually play it close to the ethical edge. They don’t want leaders who, under threat, lash out wildly at beloved institutions like the judiciary. They don’t want leaders whose instinct is always to go out wildly on the attack. They don’t want leaders so reckless that even when they know they are living under a microscope, they continue to act in ways that invite controversy.

David Brooks: “Reining In the G.O.P.’s Parade”

That last paragraph ought to be tattooed on Rep. DeLay’s forehead, so when his fellow Republicans see him, they’re sure to get the message he has become a pariah.

My wife, a life-long Republican (suburban-raised middle-class accountant), said Sunday morning that maybe we should ask President Bush if, while he’s busy spreading democracy around the world, maybe he could throw some at Congress. She later wondered, “wasn’t it the Democrats who used to be the party that wanted government to run you life?”

That’s your core constituency, Republicans. And she’s making better and more cynical jokes about you than her Independent husband.