A more generous man than me may, at some point, feel some sympathy for Speaker John Boehner. He’s a man who has ascended to a rather great height from very low beginnings, but can’t seem to do anything right.
His tenure as speaker after the Tea Party revolt of 2010 has been nothing but a comedy of errors. From shutting down the government to quixotically seeking to overturn Obamacare, his speakership has been a litany of failure.
And now he’s embarked on possibly his greatest failure of all: suing President Barack Obama for doing his job, where the Speaker has failed to do his.
Last night the House GOP voted to sue President Obama. The meat of the lawsuit: the President’s delay of the implementation of the employer mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act. It’s Mr. Boehner’s contention that Pres. Obama overstepped his authority by delaying the mandate for a year.
Let that sink in for a moment. Mr. Boehner is suing Pres. Obama for not fully implementing part of a law which the Speaker and his fellow Republicans have voted over 50 times to repeal. The House GOP has finally slid into the realm of Dada, suing to “uphold” a law it loathes.
Mr. Boehner must have good lawyers who are telling him that he and his merry band have no standing to bring the suit. They won’t be able to show where they were harmed by Pres. Obama’s executive action. The ACA allows for delays in implementation if they serve the law’s purposes. And, of course, the first judge before whom this suit appears may well wonder why Mr. Boehner is suing Pres. Obama for failing to fully enact a law which Mr. Boehner has spent four years trying to undo.
But of course, this isn’t about suing Pres. Obama.
Aljazeera: …… on the floor of the intelligence chief’s office (in Libya) lay an envelope addressed to Gaddafi’s son Saif Al-Islam. Inside, I found what appears to be a summary of a conversation between US congressman Denis Kucinich, who publicly opposed US policy on Libya, and an intermediary for the Libyan leader’s son.
It details a request by the congressman for information he needed to lobby American lawmakers to suspend their support for the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and to put an end to NATO airstrikes. According to the document, Kucinich wanted evidence of corruption within the NTC and, like his fellow countryman Welch, any possible links within rebel ranks to al-Qaeda.
The document also lists specific information needed to defend Saif Al-Islam, who is currently on the International Criminal Court’s most wanted list…..
TPM (March 2011): A number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers are concerned about the White House’s air assault on Libya, but Rep. Dennis Kucinich raised the rhetoric to 11 on Monday, suggesting President Obama should be impeached.
“President Obama moved forward without Congress approving. He didn’t have Congressional authorization, he has gone against the Constitution, and that’s got to be said,” Kucinich said…. Obama’s decision “would appear on its face to be an impeachable offense”.
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From March 2011:
CNN: Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is transforming his critique of President Obama’s actions in Libya into a fundraising plea, asking supporters to decide whether they like President Obama or the Constitution more.
After calling the president’s decision to act in Libya an “impeachable offense,” Kucinich Monday posted a letter on his website asking supporters for help in “putting together a broad fundraising structure to make sure that I’ll have the resources to continue to be a voice in the Unites States Congress.”
….Stating that he “never failed to stand up” when advocating for the “need to more our economy forward” or “internationally standing up for peace,” Kucinich asked potential donors to shore up his re-election efforts for 2012.
…. Ohio is set to undergo redistricting following the results of the most recent U.S. Census, a development that may make Kucinich’s road to re-election more difficult….
The Atlantic: …. Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal is reporting this afternoon that the Ohio congressman may have translated his opposition into outright collaboration with the Qaddafi regime.
Elshayyal claims he’s uncovered a document at Libya’s intelligence headquarters in Tripoli ….. The file explains that the congressman (who is not named in the document reproduced on Al Jazeera’s site, raising questions about how Elshayyal pinpointed Kucinich) is seeking information from the Libyan government to file a lawsuit against NATO, the U.N., and the U.S., defend Saif al-Islam at the International Criminal Court, reform the image of the regime, and facilitate negotiations to end the conflict.
….. Kucinich already landed in hot water earlier this year for traveling to Syria to meet with President Bashar al-Assad …. In a statement on Friday that sounded very similar to Kucinich’s justification for visiting Assad, the representative explained, “In my efforts to end the war, I have been contacted by many parties – including members of the Qaddafi regime and some with ties to the rebels….”
Update: Rep. Kucinich’s office has sent The Atlantic Wire a statement in which the congressman flatly denies Al Jazeera’s report, claiming that the document in question is simply a summary of Kucinich’s public positions on the Libyan campaign by a Libyan bureaucrat who never consulted with Kucinich himself….
Proud of Obama noted the miserably small crowd Gaddafi managed to muster for this, um, rally … which reminded me of this:
ThinkProgress (March 21): With Fox News host Glenn Beck’s ratings down and the biggest tea party rally eclipsed by a recent pro-labor rally in Wisconsin, could the tea party be losing steam? One new sign: a big tea party convention in Tampa, FL this weekend — headlined by such conservative favorites as Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Fox News Judge Andrew Napolitano, and former GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo — attracted only about 300 people. The Save America Convention’s website lists 25 guest speakers, meaning there was one speaker for every 12 attendees. If one includes the 13 musicians and other performers listed as entertainment, that ratio drops to one for every 7 and a half.
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Remember yesterday’s story about Kucinich following up his suggestion that the President be impeached with a plea for campaign donations? You can see why:
Cleveland.com: Kucinich, who won 53 percent of the 2010 vote in his western Cuyahoga County district, has a 27 percent favorability rating statewide, and is viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of voters, the pollsters found. In 2012, Kucinich will likely face voters outside his home base because of redistricting.
CNN: Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is transforming his critique of President Obama’s actions in Libya into a fundraising plea, asking supporters to decide whether they like President Obama or the Constitution more.
After calling the president’s decision to act in Libya an “impeachable offense,” Kucinich Monday posted a letter on his website asking supporters for help in “putting together a broad fundraising structure to make sure that I’ll have the resources to continue to be a voice in the Unites States Congress.”
….Stating that he “never failed to stand up” when advocating for the “need to more our economy forward” or “internationally standing up for peace,” Kucinich asked potential donors to shore up his re-election efforts for 2012.
“I’m asking you to really get engaged in this effort to not just make it possible for me to stay in the United States Congress but to make it possible even more importantly for my voice to continue to be heard on your behalf,” he said.
Ohio is set to undergo redistricting following the results of the most recent U.S. Census, a development that may make Kucinich’s road to re-election more difficult….
So, Kucinich suggests the President should be impeached over Libya, then a day later tries to cash in by appealing for money to get himself re-elected? Hoping for some Teabagger dollars too, Dennis?
Wow.
As someone posted on another site, “He’s our very own Michelle Bachmann”.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Perennial congressional gadfly Dennis Kucinich completely lost his political screws when he even uttered the word “impeachment” of President Obama over his action in Libya.
Kucinich has often been the lone, outraged voice, in blistering Obama on everything from his tax cut compromise with the GOP to his Afghan war policy, but the Libya outburst made no sense by even Kucinich’s radical rhetoric standards.
…Obama backed the Libyan no fly zone because the United Nations Security Council by unanimous vote backed it. The House Foreign affairs and intelligence committees backed the action. The Arab league backed it. And nearly every humanitarian group around has backed it. But most important, he backed it because it’s the politically and morally right thing to do.
Kucinich and others would have screamed the loudest if Obama had done nothing and Gaddafi slaughtered thousands in a revenge blood lust rampage against the rebel groups…
…Kucinich and some of Obama’s severest critics among Democrats real goal is to send the message that they don’t like a lot of what Obama does and they will pick at every little issue to dramatize their pique at him…
…At any other time, Kucinich would lustily demand and cheer the action Obama and the UN took. The fact that he and few others don’t, but chose to nitpick instead, tells us more about their ongoing political anger at Obama than any real concern over whether Obama snubbed his nose at Congress. Impeach Obama over Libya, you got to be kidding. When Kucinich uttered the word even Obama’s Democratic critics howled at that delusional thought.
Oh noes – does this mean when the Teabaggers demand President Obama’s impeachment they’re sorta implying that Ronnie should be impeached too? Like, posthumously? Jeez.
The Obama Diary 
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