Gene thinks I think Rand Paul is a pest because he doesn't agree with me on a few things. Not really (although like most politicians... like most people actually... I'm sure he's not above being a pest at times). The post was just about how obnoxious I find the way people treat the Paul's as the last guardians of liberty and the Constitution. My blog - I sometimes share what I find obnoxious.
There's actually a lot to be said for the stand that Paul took here. Unlike most obstruction in the Senate lately he's doing it how James Madison intended and actually bringing his values and views to the floor of Congress. Most obstruction (and I use "obstruction" as a descriptive term, not a perjorative) lately has done exactly the opposite - it's kept things off of the floor and ensured that there is effectively no majority party in the Senate.
Bernie Sanders did that in 2009 too to protest a tax deal Obama was doing.
Now, do I think it would be nice if we had a good old-fashioned filibuster over spending and immigration reform rather than in opposition to drones and in favor of tax hikes in the middle of a recession? Sure. But Washington doesn't always do what I want, it turns out.
Paul is doing exactly what in the post and comments I said he ought to do and what we ought to think of this: he's presenting a disagreement and weighing in on something he ought to weigh in on as a Senator - the approval of a nominee. That's precisely what a Senator from Kentucky is supposed to do. What he's not doing, of course - but what a lot of Facebookers and twitterati apparently thought he was doing - was reminding us terrible non-libertarians about how important the Constitution is.
Gene's also got this zinger: "If Obama begins arresting people for criticizing these policies, I'm quite sure Kuehn will tell us he can "read the constitution for himself" and that it certainly doesn't prevent a president from shutting up nuisances."
So Gene is zero for two today. I am quite decidedly against arresting people for criticizing policies.
Sorry Gene, can't win 'em all. Better luck tomorrow.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
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DK wrote: "Gene's also got this zinger: "If Obama begins arresting people for criticizing these policies, I'm quite sure Kuehn will tell us he can "read the constitution for himself" and that it certainly doesn't prevent a president from shutting up nuisances."
ReplyDeleteSo Gene is zero for two today. I am quite decidedly against arresting people for criticizing policies."
You really don't understand what is going on, do you?
At first I thought you were just trolling but now I think you're just blinded / oblivious.
Well perhaps I am oblivious because I have no idea what kind of point you're trying to make with this comment.
DeleteHave I ever shown any hint of thinking that people should be arrested for criticizing policy?
Jesus - criticizing policy (Congressional or the administration) is a big chunk of what I do here! It would be awful masochistic of me to act in the way Gene describes.
"Have I ever shown any hint of thinking that people should be arrested for criticizing policy?"
ReplyDeleteNo, of course not. How is that relevant?
The thing that you don't seem to comprehend is that with the kind of power that Obama has assumed for himself and for his successors, and given his track record and his broad broad interpretations of the power he has and the conditions under which he thinks he is allowed to use it, arresting, indefinitely detaining or murdering people who Obama and his fellow thugs think somehow pose a threat, even if that only means that these people are merely criticizing policy, is starting to become more and more likely.
(hell, it's not even clear (although, to be sure, my general point doesn't depend on this example) that Al Awlaki really did more than that. Let me also remind you as I will again and again, just for funzies, that Obama then also went on to murder Al Awlaki's 16 year old son)
Dude - for the umpteenth time al Awlaki's son was killed in a strike on Ibrahim al-Banna. Nobody was saying "let's hunt down this sixteen year old because he was al Awlaki's kid".
DeleteDaniel
ReplyDeleteAs for Rand Paul "actually bringing his values and views to the floor of Congress," your right. He doesn't have any and it really showed yesterday.
A.H.