Image: Pelosi/Boehner, AP/ Pablo Martinez Monsivals
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is not impressed with the way her Republican colleague has done her former job of Speaker, and who can blame her. John Boehner (R-OH) has presided over the most do-nothingiest congress in recorded history. So it should come as no surprise that upon word that Boehner has hired Washington attorney Jonathan Turley as the third lawyer in an on-going attempt to get someone to take House Republicans seriously in DC, Pelosi’s office could hold back no longer.
Pelosi’s office released a statement in which they conjure up the image of John Boehner staggering about DC begging someone to take the House GOP lawsuit after repeated rejection until they finally settle upon a TV personality.
The spokesman for Pelosi, Drew Hammill, released a scathing statement, “Even for $500-per-hour in taxpayer dollars, Speaker Boehner has had to scour Washington to find a lawyer willing to file this meritless lawsuit against the President. Now, he’s hired a TV personality for this latest episode of his distraction and dysfunction. When Speaker Boehner can’t legislate his way, he shuts down the government and files lawsuits. While he’s staggered from Washington law firm to Washington law firm, the American people are wondering when he will stop the nonsuits and nonsense, and sit down with Democrats to address the real challenges working families face.”
The truth hurts. The first lawyer quit out of concern that the suit could impact his credibility. After the second lawyer quit, Boehner couldn’t find a lawyer willing to take the House GOP’s case against the President for the implementation of Obamacare. Republicans were considering forcing a lawyer already on payroll to take up for them on the taxpayer’s dime (either way, the taxpayers pay) at $500.00 an hour, since they couldn’t find an outside source willing to do it.
But on Tuesday they got lucky with Jonathan Turley, who is apparently undeterred by the fact that the lawsuit against the president has absolutely no legal merit.
The only thing Republicans in the House do is manufacture a lot of drama over made up Obama scandals in an effort to avoid legislating. The two previous law firms dumped Boehner due to… well. Due to the fact that the lawsuit is meritless and their clients didn’t want to be seen bumming around with the likes of a Boehner/House GOP witch hunt against affordable insurance options for average Americans.
It should come as no surprise that the person willing to do Boehner’s bidding is a civil libertarian who has accused Obama of an “imperial presidency”. Turley does this by accusing the President of taking unilateral measures when Congress won’t act. The examples he uses to prove this point exemplify that he dislikes the power of the executive office under all presidents (and we should assume this includes when Lincoln signed an executive order to free the slaves — i.e., the Emancipation Proclamation), which is a legitimate position and one that is always needed for pushback against expansion of executive power.
But there are problems with the way Turley goes about this. For example, Turley accuses Obama of unilateral action on the DREAM Act, saying Obama “simply ordered the very same measures on his own authority”. Actually, they weren’t the very same measures because Obama only ordered the measures under his purview; the law has not changed. Only Congress can change the law. And this is where we get to the most embarrassing part of this story for both Turley and Boehner.
Ironically, it is the man who hired Turley who could limit Obama’s power if he chose to. Boehner and House Republicans could enact a statute that would amend or overturn President Obama’s actions, but they refuse to do their jobs. Instead, House Republicans are spending even more taxpayer money on Pretend/For Show Executive Power checks. Republicans only hope to inhibit this president from using the power of his office; not to actually limit the power of the executive branch. A unilateral actor in the White House is the GOP dream.
Boehner has finally found someone willing to go to the dance with him in his relentless effort to distract from his party’s failure to legislate in the House, and Leader Pelosi is not impressed.
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