Hullabaloo

Sunday, May 03, 2009

 
Sunshine Patriots

by digby

The confederate rump screams:

Having picked fights with nearly every other GOP candidate for [Georgia] governor, John Oxendine has decided to poach on the territory of states’ rightist Ray McBerry.

Oxendine today endorsed not just the sentiments of Texas Gov. Rick “Secessionist” Perry, but a advocated a fundamental rollback of federal power.

Said Oxendine:

If governor, I would support legislation which puts Georgia on record as affirming our sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States and which would serve as notice and demand the federal government, as our agent, cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.

Additionally, I would support legislation which states all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.

State sovereignty has previously been an issue copyrighted by McBerry, who ran against Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2006, drawing on the support of flaggers and other Confederate enthusiasts.

I haven't heard this kind of talk since I was a kid. But everything old is new again. Get a load of Tom DeLay and Chris Matthews talking about Perry's statement:

MATTHEWS: You can‘t secede from the union.

DELAY: We—Texas, as a republic, joined the union by treaty. There‘s a process in the treaty by which Texas could divide into five states. If we invoke that—and the last time it was voted on was 1985. If we invoke that, the United States Senate would kick us out and nullify the treaty because they‘re not going to allow 10 new Texas senators into the Senate. That‘s how you secede.

MATTHEWS: But you can‘t—can we straighten this out? Can Texas secede from the union?

DELAY: No, they can‘t secede.

MATTHEWS: Then why is he talking about it? Twice this week, he‘s talked about seceding from the union as a threat if he doesn‘t like the policies coming out of Washington. That‘s the kind of talk we heard in 1861.

DELAY: No, that‘s...

MATTHEWS: That‘s what killed 600,000 Americans. Why is he talking like this?

DELAY: Chris, Chris, we have a treaty, as I explained, and it would be the United States that would nullify that treaty because they would not allow 10 Texas senators. That‘s how it happened. And that‘s in the treaty.

MATTHEWS: So we would—so we would kick them out of the union?

That‘s nut talk.

DELAY: Yes.

MATTHEWS: That‘s nutty. Why are you talking like this, Tom? Mr. DeLay, you know this isn‘t a real conversation. This is not serious business.

DELAY: You‘re the one who brought it up.

MATTHEWS: Why are you—because the governor of your state is still talking about it. I‘m asking you, is he out to lunch here or what? What is it? What‘s going on?

DELAY: No. No. He‘s standing up for the sovereignty of the state of Texas. He‘s claiming—and they just passed a resolution in the state legislature invoking the 10 Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, claiming that the federal government has so overblown its power and so—grasped all kinds of—and now talking about grasping private enterprise and businesses and going up to anywhere from 50 percent to 60 percent tax rates on American citizens. And all the things that the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress is doing, he‘s standing up and saying, Enough is enough, and he‘s speaking for the people of Texas. We all feel that way.

(There's more lunacy at the link. It's a doozy.)

Can I just say what a bunch of whining little wimps these Republicans all are? They love to present themselves as stoic, manly warriors, loving heir country above all else, willing to lay down their lives for it.

Until something happens they don't like and then they want to blow the thing up.




h/t to ed kilgore
digby 5/03/2009 09:30:00 PM |