Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:07 pm
Here is an amusing moment from yesterday’s Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing. Sen. Claire McCaskill was talking about Glenn Beck’s rant about czars, when she referred to him as, “he who shall not be named,” which was a reference to Voldemort from Harry Potter. If Beck is Voldemort, then I guess Obama is Harry Potter.
Here is the video:
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McCaskill said, “This all began by, as my kids would say in the reference to the Harry Potter series, this all began from a rant by he who shall not be named, and the rant that this person did included nine people who had been confirmed by the Senate in his list of czars, and the nine people who were confirmed by the Senate, all but two of those were unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Another large chunk of the czars that were identified report to cabinet secretaries. They do not have any power outside of the power of the cabinet secretary, as you all have pointed out as experts in this area of constitutional law, so if you whittle it down, there’s a very small number of White House advisers that we are really talking about here, and even a smaller number that are new.”
I think comparing Beck to Voldemort is giving Beck too much credit. He is not a super villain. He is more like a snake oil salesman exploiting the weaknesses of others for his own gain. Since Beck seems to get most of his information from the movies, at least McCaskill is making her point in a manner that he is certain to understand.
The Senator’s description of the czar’s power is right on the money. The all powerful czars are a concept that Beck dreamed up that has no basis in reality. The czars are nothing more than lower level departmental advisers. However, facts don’t matter in the fantasy world of Glenn Beck, so expect him and his fans to continue to rant about the evil czars.
H/T: TVNewser
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
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