McCain Adviser Pfotenhauer "not a constitutional scholar"

Nancy Pfotenhauer hasn't read the Constitution.

Chris Matthews has read it. I've read it (and I'm not in politics.) Kucinich carries a pocket copy around in his pocket.

I suppose many neoconservatives don't bother to read the Constitution anymore; their commander in chief has done everything in his vastly expanded power to undermine it's legality during his two terms. Besides... it's just a piece of paper. Right?

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

"I don't give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."

"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

I never understood how this incident was allowed to slide.

Bush swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. Americans have been dying for centuries to protect the rights laid out in this sacred document that defines our very democracy and our rights as citizens.

But of course, everything was allowed to slide.

And so we have yet another round of constitutionally-ignorant Republicans who somehow believe they are qualified to lead this once great democracy... right over the cliff.

Racists flushed out into the open

Angry GOPers are now accusing Colin Powell (once a Republican, now a Black man) of endorsing Obama simply because he is African American.

Powell - who spoke as eloquently as anyone I have yet heard, about the reason Obama is the best choice for America - has apparently brought the racists right out of their closets.

Note each one: as John McCain has said - we will know their names:

-- Pat Buchanan on Hardball, accused Powell of being a traitor to the Republican Party, and said that he endorsed Obama simply because he is Black.



-- Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh: Where are the inexperienced, white liberals Powell has endorsed?

Rush Limbaugh said Colin Powell's decision to get behind Barack Obama appeared to be very much tied to Obama's status as the first African-American with a chance to become president.

"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race," Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail. "OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."

As for Powell's statement of concern this morning about the sort of Supreme Court justices a President McCain might appoint, Limbaugh wrote: "I was also unaware of his dislike for John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia. I guess he also regrets Reagan and Bush making him a four-star [general] and secretary of state and appointing his son to head the FCC. Yes, let's hear it for transformational figures."

Limbaugh obviously forgot that Clarence Thomas... is Black.

-- George Will:



Who will step out next? Let's get you all out in the sunshine where we can see you... without your sheets, shall we?

Dan Burton (R-IN) is an embarrassment

Rep. Dan Burton is a joke.

I have a history with Burton. I used to live in his district.

After Katrina, I wrote to him in good faith, asking that something be done to help the people and address the profound suffering in Louisiana in the aftermath of the levee breach in NOLA. In response, I received one letter from the man, thanking me for 'supporting the war on terror.' Seriously. I showed it to my husband and we both burst out laughing.

After that, his staff would no longer take my calls at the Washington office (apparently they had put me on some 'libral list;') and when I would call his Indy office, his aides there never seemed to know what I was talking about when I asked about particular bills being debated on the House floor. I never received another letter in response to any question.

Until Dan Burton, I had never dealt with a partisan representative. After my continued experiences writing to Senator Lugar, (who always, always responds to every question, and writes thoughtful letters that directly address my questions,) I have gotten over my own partisan reaction to Dan Burton. In fact, Senator Lugar has done more to remind me that there are still good representatives working both sides of the aisles than anyone else, of either party. Senator Lugar cares.

But Burton is a piece of work. He is a little carbon-copy of Bush; he represents those who think exactly like he does, those who are rich and 'better' than the rest of us, and he is apparently fueled by hate and partisan anger. More than anything, Dan represents his lobbyists. The Dan Burtons of the world have stolen our 'government of the people,' and turned it into a corpocrisy.

Fortunately, in the right hands (with Hardball's guest host David Schuster calling him on his stupid remarks) the real Dan Burton has been exposed for all to see. In this interview, he comes off as a partisan wacko, completely obsessed with Bill Clinton... and I had to laugh, because I finally realized that 'not receiving good representation from Dan Burton' was a bit like not finding water in a sand dune. It was never going to happen.

Both Burton and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz were asked to comment on the Scooter Skate, and all Burton could talk about was Bill Clinton. He is absolutely obsessed with Bill Clinton. Interviews are, like, so hard for neocons when reason enters the discussion.

(But the Clintons did it! Waah! Its about the Clintons! blink blink Can't you see the connection? blink blink blink The Clintons did it! Waah!)