Paul Ryan: U.S. "has increasingly lawless presidency"

[LiberalElite]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/02/02/Paul-Ryan-US-has-increasingly-lawless-presidency/UPI-80711391361621/?spt=rln&or=1

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the United States has "an increasingly lawless presidency" and accused President Obama of circumventing the constitution.
In an appearance on ABC's "This Week" Sunday, Ryan said he took issue with Obama's threat to use executive orders to advance his agenda in his State of the Union speech.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/02/02/Paul-Ryan-US-has-increasingly-lawless-presidency/UPI-80711391361621/#ixzz2sBy8KIxV

[Vox Moi]

1. Then why not impeach?

Lemme guess ...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Wasn't the Emancipation Proclamation an executive order?

Why, yes; it was. Why do you ask?

[Igel]

11. And it didn't apply to any of the states in the Union at the time.

It was issued by the CiC to cover territories that were under military occupation and territories that would eventually be occupied.

If you were a slave in Pennsylvania, it had nothing to do with you. It left out somewhat fewer than a million slaves. You were under Congress and the Constitution/laws of the US, and Lincoln didn't have the authority to address that.

[DFW]

3. Lyin' Ryan is talking out of his ass as usual

Obama has issued less executive orders per year during his presidency than any other president in over a century.

If Ryan wants that to change, Obama would have to start issuing executive orders right and left starting tomorrow just to climb out of last place.

[Igel]

13. That's just not true.

Fewer than any in the last 50 years, but not the last century. FDR was a master at EOs.

It's also not the #, it's the content. A lot of the Bush II EOs dealt with terrorism-related issues--movement of resources by people involved in terrorism, countries involved in terrorism, setting up ad-hoc mechanisms for intelligence gathering and analysis prior to Congressional action. Remove those and adjust for the length of time in office, and Obama's neck-and-neck with Bush II.

Most of the EOs are fairly mundane. Implementing pay increases approved by Congress, shuffling order of succession in the event of a dept. or cabinet position coming open, etc.

Think about how we reacted to the faith-based initiatives that were a kind of end-run around Congress to accomplish some sort of policy goal and you're a bit closer.

A lot of the EOs (R) are afraid of are things like not implementing a law. We get bent out of shape because Christie didn't implement a state law monitoring Sandy relief for 10 months. We rejoice when Obama decides to ignore a law for a year. There's also a fear that he'll again decide to a priori exclude classes of people from being subject to prosecution, deciding a priori that in the competitive bidding process that Congress assumed as the basis of its budget the definition of "competitive" would be different.

It comes out as haggling over a deal in an unexpected way.
You say, "$50!"
The seller says, "$100!"
You come back with "$150!" Now, if that's *your* money, that's fine. But if you're working for somebody else and you've just spent over $50 of another person's money unnecessarily, it's a problem. (I do this routinely: If a charity is selling a shirt for a good cause for $15, I'll pay $20. But if a friend gave me a $20 to buy a shirt for him I'm going to ask for change. Or reimburse him the $5 of his money I decided to donate.

[DFW]

16. I got the impression Ryan WAS talking about quantity, not content

ergo, I stand by my opinion.

To call Obama's use of EOs dictatorial flies in the face of the eight years of his immediate predecessor

[RobertEarl]

4. What?

This guy is so regressive he is living in the 2000 era still. Y'know, when bush was the president.

Those were some lawless times. Obama, compared to bush, is like a schoolkid.

[wilt the stilt]

5. give Obama a hoodie

so they can shoot him and use "stand your ground".

[indepat]

6. The volume of crap-ola that oozes from the mouths of Paul Ryan and his ilk is

akin to that released in a large volcanic eruption, but decidedly more noxious.

[Kablooie]

7. That's it. Scare 'em Paul! Scare those conservatives into voting Republican.

It's their only tactic today. Scare the hell out of the electorate.
The Devil himself is in the heart of the Democratic party so vote Republican to banish the Devil back to hell!
We're going to hear a lot more of this crap.

[factsarenotfair]

8. Translation:

A coup is needed.

[Blue Idaho]

9. I see Jughead got the memo...

I guess the Koch Bros congressional investment is really paying off.

What a sock puppet.

[ladym55]

10. Spare me, Paul

Did you attend ANY of your classes at Miami? Apparently you missed all the classes in American history as well as the Intro to Government class. Guess you were too busy reading Atlas Shrugged and lifting weights.

Since Paul is so happy to collect a nice, fat paycheck from the federal government and enjoy his nice public health insurance, perhaps he might actually want to learn just a wee bit about the way the federal government actually works. So glad ABC had his well-informed self on their program this morning.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. To which I respond by saying:

Who established the precedent of "indefinite detention" of terror suspects, Gitmo, and, most chillingly, "Enhanced Interrogation" (AKA Torture). Did Ryan and other Republicans rant about and struggle against Bush/Cheney's "lawless (p)residency" and how their policies actually harmed (and in some cases KILLED) people? Case closed. If Ryan, et. al are so disturbed by President Obama using Executive Orders (of which he has issued fewer than all recent Presidents), then maybe that's their cue to start getting busy and doing some work done instead of sitting around on news shows carping about him circumventing them (legally) because of their obstructionism pact that they all (Ryan included) entered into on Day 1 of his Presidency- and I don't mean continuing to send the Senate a bunch of poison-laden bills that the Senate, let alone President Obama isn't going to give a single thought to but I mean to start figuring out what needs to be done and working with the President and Democrats to get them done on a genuinely bipartisan basis. Methinks that Ryan, et. al are really upset that their obstructionism strategy is backfiring on them and that they won't be able to stop President Obama from occasionally being able to do something positive for the rest of us by circumventing them (legally) via Executive Orders. Personally, I'd rather see President Obama doing more with Congress to get stuff passed but it's clear that he doesn't have a Congress to work with at the moment, so I'm willing to let him do what he can to get at least a few things done until Ryan, et. al get off their butts and work to earn their overly generous paychecks and bennies.

[BlueMTexpat]

14. And Ryan is what passes for an "intellectual"

in the GOP.

No comment.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

18. We have an "increasingly idiotic" Congress...

The problem is, a third of the American people lap this up like kittens on a saucer of milk.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

15. Poor Eddie Munster

He will never get over the ass-whipping he was handed on national TV by Joe Biden which forced him to go into hiding while the SS Rmoney sank like a stone.

[Jakes Progress]

17. Actually, Wisconsin has an increasingly stupid representative.

If only congress critters had to pass some test about the constitution and government.