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Monday, October 18, 2010

Tea Partiers Get The Constitution Wrong

Tea Party evangelists claim the Constitution as their sacred text. Why that’s wrong.

Since winning the Republican senate primary in Delaware last month, Christine O’Donnell has not had trouble getting noticed. When the Tea Party icon admitted to “dabbl[ing] into witchcraft” as a youngster, the press went wild. When she revealed that she was “not a witch” after all, the response was rabid. O’Donnell has fudged her academic credentials, defaulted on her mortgage, sued a former employer, and campaigned against masturbation, and her efforts have been rewarded with round-the-clock coverage. Yet few observers seem to have given her views on the United States Constitution the same level of consideration. Which is too bad, because O’Donnell’s Tea Party take on our founding text is as unusual as her stance on autoeroticism. Except that it could actually have consequences.

Last month, the candidate spoke to 2,000 right-wing activists at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. She wore a black suit and pearls, and swept on stage to the sound of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Most of the speech was unremarkable: a laundry list of conservative platitudes. But near the end she veered into stranger—and more revealing—territory. O’Donnell once told voters that her “No. 1” qualification for the Senate is an eight-day course she took at a conservative think tank in 2002. Now she was revisiting its subject: the Constitution.

GO HERE to read more.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

An obvious hit piece by a notoriously-biased rag (Newsweek-- with Obama on the cover how many times over the past 18 months..??)
Give me a break.

Mardela said...

8:43, you're right on target, its ashame the title of the rag has news in it because one would think it was full of facts. Instead we get a left rally rag.

Anonymous said...

Call it a rag when you can't argue against the premise?

Do you do the same with all the "Obama is a muslim terrorist' post?

O'Donnells constitution double speak is on full display every time she rails about "activist judges". 'activist" simply meaning a judge excercising their duty to strike down laws they judge to be against the constituion.

Anonymous said...

Hey 8:43, did you bother to read the piece?

For those of us who are constitutional originalists in the same vein as Justice Scalia, this should be required reading. Many of these candidates are co-opting those ideas into political slogans that they (probably) have no intention of backing up with action.

Far from a "hit-piece," I think the author hit the nail on the head.

Anonymous said...

Outstanding article! Amen, 9:20!

Anonymous said...

The only qualifications I believe for US Senate is to be a US citizen and 35 yrs of age.
The current memembers of Congress don't even read the bills in front of them, they just pass them!
Remember in Pelosi's own words-We have to pass the bill to see what's in it.
Not only do they just rush to pass them they haven't a clue as to the US Constitution.
And that's why they will pay in November.

Anonymous said...

Nice try it's bogus!

Anonymous said...

Dem's getting desperate ...LOVE IT !