The Founders and the Insulating and the What Now?
Turdblossom on Meet the Press:
MR. ROVE: Yeah, look, here’s the issue. There is a tension between Congress and the executive. Congress wants to be able to call the—this Congress in particular—wants to be able to call presidential aides up at its whim and convenience and have them testify. That would have a chilling effect on the ability of a president to get candid, straightforward advice from his aides. We have a constitutional separation of powers. The founders talk about this. They, they understood this issue, and they wanted to insulate the judicial, the executive and the legislative from each other in this respect.
Mr. Zatkin didn’t mention this “insulating” thing in American Government class. ‘Course I was asleep a lot during his lectures (I had him fifth period, right after lunch). Dollars to donuts, Rove has some footnote from the Federalist Papers in mind when he talks about the desire of the Founders “to insulate” the branches of government. One which could be easily debunked, like Hamilton made an off-the-cuff remark about how cold it gets in legislatures in the winter or something.
But really, this sort of thing just goes to show you that the left blogosphere needs something like the Bat Signal, only instead of a bat, it lights up the night sky with the silhouette of a giant hammer pounding a nail, and when you shine it, Glenzilla swoops in and explains how various wingnuts are dead wrong on the Constitution.
Can we get one of those? A Glenzilla Signal?
Gavin adds: You want me to make one? I like the moon + bat symbology just fine, but perhaps there’s something in a giant silhouetted wingnut.
Above: I’m just thinking out loud here…
Could we get a giant silhouetted wingnut rampant on a field of the constitution? Or is that just way more like a flag than a batsignal?
I never understood the whole bat-signal thing anyway. I mean, what the hell did it reflect off of?
I’d probably get it if Righteous Bubba didn’t have all the Smartrons buried in old Folgers cans in his back yard…
mikey
Maybe we could have like a Justice League.
We’d need to keep these guys in the loop:
Jonathan Schwarz & Dennis Perrin
I’m sure there are some more I’m forgetting…
How about a silhouette of that Cheetos tiger character?
Is that supposed to be a mammogram of testes?
How’s about just a picture of Gomer Pyle and Richard Perle?
I’d probably get it if Righteous Bubba didn’t have all the Smartrons buried in old Folgers cans in his back yard…
I have been assured by government representatives that the more Smartrons I hoard the more Smartrons accrue to other more contemptible people.
I’m thinking a picture of Bob Denver and Glenn Reynolds.
Or would that be redundant?
So, I take it the wingnut signal is sort of a warning sign–like a biohazard or toxic waste…
hope you don’t mind me rendering a quick interpretation of your work, Gavin:
link
Dollars to donuts, Rove has some footnote from the Federalist Papers in mind when he talks about the desire of the Founders “to insulate” the branches of government.
Federalist No. 8 makes mention of insularity, in the island sense:
Less literally and more seriously, I’d put those dollars on Federalist No. 51:
Strip that passage out of the context of the essay’s overall argument, and you have Rove’s footnote.
We have a constitutional separation of powers. The founders talk about this. They, they understood this issue, and they wanted to insulate the judicial, the executive and the legislative from each other in this respect.
I think this is in Federalist #51, ain’t it? Oh, wait a minute … Federalist #51 says something pretty much quite the opposite — “ambition must be made to counteract ambition”. Part of the point of Separation of Powers was so that way people in Congress, e.g., would have an incentive to go after the executive branch (c.f. Truman, Harry S and WWII war profiteering) as it would be in the interest of an ambitious politician to score political points by going after another branch of government.
Oh, but scoring political points is bad. And we all know that the Founders absolutely hated political gamesmanship and would never politicize anything as that would be tantamount to treason during a time of national crisis. And we know how them Founders felt about treason don’t we?
It must be a very interesting civics/history class these wingnuts take — I guess, in it, our country was established by people who got fainting spells because of how nasty some of those whigs could be and wanted a country that would stand behind that poor sack of a feller, King George.
4 out of 5 Glenn Greenwald sockpuppets agree with Glenzilla.
Good DAY, sir!
The Federalist Papers weren’t about the branches “insulating” themselves from the others; they were about convincing the American people that 3 co-equal branches of governemnt, entrusted with popular will, would ensure that no one branch could consolidate power, and – wait for it – form a tyrannical regime like the one we just told to fuck off!!
Checks and balances and separation of powers has never been about “insulation.” Our 3 co-equal branches are based on ensuring the public good and ensuring that those entrusted with the popular will are held accountable – that at least 2 other bodies are keeping an eye on every 1 branch.
It’s a perfectly seemless and lovely concept that the Rovians and their barking brood have managed to shit all over and desecrate in less than 8 years, in order to ensure not the public good, but their own unearned power and wealth.
James Madison. Federalist #51, widely considered one of the most important documents in fixing Constitutional meaning. This gets quoted in every Poli Sci 101 class:
“TO WHAT expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.”
He also said, “In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates”
Three winger absolutes that unambiguously end all discussion about … pretty much anything:
1. Dan Rather, blah blah, blah. This is convenient because it PROVES that almost 3 years ago the right wing loon o’ sphere got something right (kinda) and therefore every blunder and cock up is irrelevant.
2. Greenwald allegedly used a “suckpuppet” one time and therefore everything he ever publishes about … anything is necessarily incorrect. This is very convenient for your average wingnut because Glenn often uses more than the 15 words they are used to reading, and he tends to avoid overly-simplistic bumpersticker slogans passed off as “arguments.”
3. Any examination of the tactics they support is necessarily “moral equivalence,” and should be discarded as such with zero consideration. This is the most important to the wingnuts because it permits them to never have to confront their own hypocrisy, and they think it permits them to attempt to “argue” from a position of moral credibility (which is hilarious).
James Madison says ALOT of things wingers despise, tasteless. His “Memorial and Remonstrance,” against integrated religion, and Federalist No. 10, which essentially preemptively bitch-slaps Rove’s brand of divisive politics, are both remarkable works. Madison was an anti-factionalist. He believed that the most dangerous concept to liberty was the small, factional interest aquiring too much power at everyone else’s expense.
History shows again and again
Constitutional Law’s beyond the ‘nut’s ken.
Glennzilla!
I like the wingnut silhouette, not least because it resembles the top of Dubya’s head as drawn by several political cartoonists. I like the secondary implication of a giant cartoon Dubya peaking over the Oval Office stonewall — like an Evil Twin Kilroy for our era.
2. Greenwald allegedly used a “suckpuppet” one time
Legalize has my undivided attention. Where can I buy a suckpuppet?
Where can I buy a suckpuppet?
Well Karl Rove’s dad should be able to – wait, he’s dead.
Where can I buy a suckpuppet?
You get one of those stuffed monkeys at the flea market. Empty out the filling, it’s likely to give you a rash. Refill it with dense foam. Push the vacuum hose up from the bottom. Hang it from the ceiling with bungy cords. Watch out for Ceiling Bob Allen.
Now, take off your pants. Go ahead and call 911 now, as you are very likely to need medical attention in the very near future. Now, flip on the vacuum and get busy. By the time the paramedics get there, you’ll be glad to see them.
If, however, the landlady happens to come to the door first, I dunno, I see that as HER problem…
mikey
wingnut alert jpg using actual wingnut.
Above: I’m just thinking out loud here…
LOUDER!
wingnut alert2 using glenn reynolds. the wingnut makes a nice cap.
D. A.: That would be “Chester the Cheetah™.” Know your wingnut icons.
The sheer volume and quality of pwnage doled out by Greenwald is almost painful to witness. Not since the Cole-Goldberg debacle has there been so much blood on the ice. Salon’s Opinion Page, they name is Schadenfreude.
Also “thy.”
Is that supposed to be a mammogram of testes?
Uh, I think it is only a mammogram if it is of mammaries. I guess that would be a teste-gram.
Ugh. A teste-gram sounds like a telegram with a very…..unique method of delivery.
A teste-gram sounds like a telegram with a very…..unique method of delivery.
Either that or a telegram with a bad attitude.
Easily-converted-to-icon version here.