They should have started reading the Constitution aloud in Congress a long, long time ago. Â The last night and day we’ve been treated to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s ruminations on the 14th amendment. Â Here comes Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) to, one, agree with her unique interpretation of that amendment, and second, to add that the “pursuit of happiness” requires that government force Americans to buy health insurance or face the loving embrace of the IRS. Â Or something. I wish I was kidding.
It’s pretty clear now that there is a hidden hand behind spreading these Democratic talking points. Either that, or there’s simply no one on that side of the aisle who knows what the “equal protection” clause actually does, or that the phrase “pursuit of happiness” is nowhere to be found in the Constitution.
They heard it read and they STILL dont know what the Constitution says. Oh wait…. thats right. they read their portion and left for photo ops.
What’s a juewge or hefcare? Oh judge and healthcare, oops am I racist?
Shouldn’t there be a congressional IQ test?
These folks are actually smarter than their constituents. Imagine that.
Lewis lost all credibility, ANY reason to listen to him, when he lied about the tea party people calling him nasty names just so he could use them for political purposes.
Maybe he’s under the influence of James “Beam me up Scotty” Traficant?
“pursuit of happiness”; isn’t even in the Constitution! So, what is Lewis’ excuse for not realizing that even though the document was just read in the chamber?
Actually it is. Back in the Th century congress passed a law stating that the declaration of independence, the northwest ordinance and the articles of confederation are part of the organic law of the US in addition to the constitution. That said my ‘pursuit of happiness’ is not subsidizing her parasite constituents
@bobbymike, do you always hand ammunition to the other side? Let’s talk about the semantics of the statement rather than the accent. Would it be better if he had a plummy English accent?
John Lewis holds a sinecure in the 5th district of Georgia not because he is smarter than his constituents, but rather for what he did in the past. I disagree with that, but I don’t get to vote in his district.
So please, let’s call him out on what he says rather than insult his constituents or accent.
Handing the other side “ammunition”? Watch your civil discourse metaphors, Lewis and Co. are coming for ya.
The truth hurts indeed. Lewis is an idiot. So is Jackson-Lee. That’s a demonstrable fact. Being Black does not give them a pass from their willful ignorance and idiocy.
And Lewis is a proven liar. I mean, Breitbart still has his $100k….yes?
Raise your standards, across the board, or we are doomed.
Just a joke so relax. By the way did you forget the eight years of making fun of the way George W talked and how he pronounced words?
No, I haven’t forgotten the abuse of Pres. Bush. That doesn’t mean we ought to adopt the same behavior. We need to persuade citizens in the middle that we are better than the nutter left; it ought not to be hard to do.
As far as Rep. Lewis, he is an old man and prone to muddled thinking these days. That doesn’t mean he is literally an idiot, and I doubt you can demonstrate that is a fact. He and Rep. Johnson (4th district, Cynthia McKinney’s old district) are undoubtedly not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but insulting them with ad hominem is not as smart a policy as dissecting their statements to show the errors. Who knows, if we quit rallying their constituents to their defense by insulting their choice, we might get a reasonable Democrat elected.
IMHO, YMMV.
Barack Obama has embraced the idea of a dichotomy between Negative rights and positive rights: “…generally, the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties, says what the states can’t do to you, says what the federal government can’t do to you, but it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf.” -Barack Obama January 18, 2001 WEBZ-FM
The problem with “positive rights” like health care is that they all require that the government forcefully confiscate resources from those with ability and distribute them to those who need.
And conservatives are roundly denounced for suggesting that Marxism lurks in the Obama administration.
Translation: Mo’ welfare, mo’ welfare, mo’ welfare…
I would assume it would expecting far too much to point out to Democrats that the word ‘democracy’ doesn’t appear in any founding document since they have a problem thinking the Preamble has any legal standing.
I’m going to exercise my freedom of religion, and you’re welcome to join in: “Oh Lord, please put a mojo on the sorry ass of the fool who’s been spiking the moonshine in the Congressional office liquor cabinet of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) with hallucinogenics, because he’s taken to imagining all sorts of wild nonsense on camera, and if you can’t do that, please bless Mr. Lewis with a tremendous hangover and a sober opponent in the next election. Amen.”
Gerrymandered districting by race has had the same effect that inbreeding has had on the British monarchy. Fools with lifetime priviledge speaking and acting without fear of consequence.
Congress is a prime example of the failure of affirmative action.
SJL and JL give new meaning to the old English term “rotten boroughs”.
Your reference is to pocket boroughs where an individual or a small group could control the choice of candidates for election.
Rotten boroughs were voting districts which, though formerly populous, had few or no voters. The prime example of the latter was Old Sarum: in the 13thCent when it was created a seat of Parliament, it was the city of Salisbury. Over time, the businesses and populace migrated to a location about 2 miles away which became New salisbury. By 1750 or so, the riding of Old Sarum had no residents and had reverted to farmland, the owner of which could appoint its MP. However the status of the riding had been fixed by statute in the 13thCent, and was not corrected until the Reform Acts of the mid 19thCent.
Cheers
I can’t wait for Congress to discover that I have a right to a house, a car, expensive clothes, gourmet food, a cruise every 3 months, etc. It’s all right there in the Constitution.
Oh, wait…
The undiscovered positive right that scares the hell out of me is the right not to be offended. Lurking in the penumbra of the Fourteenth Amendment, or somewhere in Europe or Canada, it will be discovered not by Congress, but by the Supreme Court.
This week has been a carnival of disclosure. We have had two African American Democrat members of Congress show frightening levels of either ignorance of the Constitution or of rank stupidity (could be both) and a Jewish Democrat member using Nazi references in a policy debate. We are suffering under the worst governing class in American history.
There is so much wrong in what he said, but I’ll only pick one. The Federal government does not require anyone to have auto insurance. The State governments do. The States have that right, the Feds do not. Why? Because the States are governed by their own constitutions and the Feds by The Constitution. 10th Amendment limits what the Feds can do but and says the States do the rest. So stop it with the talking point that ‘we’ require auto insurance.
More proof that 63 Representatives voted out was enough. Our country is in dire straits because of the imbeciles in Congress, the 535 is the problem. Just because Mr. Lewis knew Rev. King shouldn’t give him a pass for stupid remarks and stupid voting that has put our countries back against the wall. He is one of the main backers of the $4 Billion Dollar Pigford scam and criminality. $4 billion used to be a lot of money before Obama’s gangsters and Mr. Lewis took over, we have to have more Progressives or what ever they really are thrown out of Congress.
http://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/12/27/incoming-judiciary-chair-pigford-right-subject-for-oversight-hearing/
John Lewis has an excuse for his ignorance about the Constitution in that his college training was in theology. Sheila Jackson Lee is a product of affirmative action admissions at Yale and U of VA law school. Obviously she is unqualified to practice law. So she chose a career in politics. This enables her to demagogue, race bait and otherwise demonstrate her stupidity and incompetence.
Lewis is the perennial winner of the Stupidest Looking Person in Congress. You see, kids–sometimes you CAN judge a person by his looks!
John Lewis is indeed a MORON and it’s obvious that he is just another CLOWN in our Federal Government who is clueless about what the Constitution allows the Federal Government to do.
I might be wrong about John Lewis’ lack of intelligence, he may in fact just be totally disingenuous in his ridiculous claims about the “Preamble to the Constitution” and the 14th Amendment somehow allowing Congress to DICTATE to the American People what they MUST PURCHASE. Next thing you know, we’ll have our diets regulated by Congress.