Wow:
On Monday McKenna, the state’s Republican attorney general, said he’d join GOP colleagues and sue to stop the Democrats’ comprehensive health care reform law from taking effect. President Barack Barack Obama is expected to soon sign the measure passed by his party in dramatic fashion Sunday night.
“I believe this new federal health care measure unconstitutionally imposes new requirements on our state and on its citizens. This unprecedented federal mandate, requiring all Washingtonians to purchase health insurance, violates the Commerce Clause and the 10th amendment of the US Constitution,” McKenna said in a statement.
So let me get this straight. When the federal government implements a requirement that all people buy into a health care system that we all use and benefit from, this is an unconstitutional violation of the Commerce Clause and an egregious imposition on our state and its citizens. But when the Supreme Court says that a voter-approved Washington law allowing for sick people to grow marijuana plants for their own medicinal use can be nullified under the Commerce Clause, Rob McKenna not only enthusiastically endorses that argument, but also uses attorney-client privilege to cover up the fact that he was using it to undermine the state law and prevent sick people from having access to medicine.
If you believe that the federal government telling a terminally ill patient being advised by a doctor that he or she can’t grow a pot plant on their property, not sell it to anyone, and then use 100% of it by themselves – in a state that has legalized this by popular vote – is something that can be regulated by the Commerce Clause (as was decided in Raich v. Gonzales), then you have absolutely no leg to stand on when you turn around and claim that individual mandates within a national health care system are unconstitutional. That’s so blatantly hypocritical, it should completely discredit Rob McKenna from ever seeking elected office in this state again.
This man is a complete fraud. He’s a political opportunist who can hold two completely contradictory legal opinions at the same time, without a care in the world for the lives he needs to destroy in order to keep up the facade. Hopefully, Washington voters – and the media – will finally regard this man as the extremist and shameless hypocrite that he’s always been.
Gregoire in 2012!
@1
My god, if this keeps up, a pile of leaves with a D next to it could beat the most qualified Republican.
AG Rob McKenna is a hero. He is standing up to the neo-slavers, Obama, Pelosi and Reid.
Not sure that Lee’s passion over MJ is going to have much mielage here, but isn’t there another message here?
WHO DOES ATTNY MCKENNA REPRESENT?
Who is his “client” here?
Look at the AG’s own words:
Is all this a feint? Does the McKenna know he has NO standing but sees this as a way of throwing red meat to his Reprican base?
Lee’s quote from McK’s memo is intriguing …
By the same logic, does the office of the AG want to take a stand against the will of the people, the legislature and the governor of WA State?
It seems to me that the legislature can and should pass a resolution declaring itself not in support o0f this action of the AG. The Rod can claim to represent Some Redacted Radical Republican as his client?
McKenna never really practiced law. He got his law degree solely to pursue a political career, and pursuing his political career is all that he has done as a lawyer. What did he have, a couple years with Perkins Coie as a transactional attorney? Never tried a case? That’s my recollection.
@3 McKenna is a made-for-tv attorney general with a tin star from a cereal box.
McKenna does not represent me.
I would expect this in Mississippi or Alabama with some self righteous tin star. Really resent paying for this sort of BS to finance the dorks run for gov.
As I understand it, the RCW statute regarding recall petitions doesn’t address anything McKenna has done yet, so we can’t recall him. But if we the people put together a petition with the proper number of signatures for an initiative directing that the State of Washington shall spend no money in pursuit by any public official or private citizen to overturn any law passed by the Federal government, when could it be voted on? Would we have to wait until November?
Not that I expect McKenna’s quixotic crusade to succeed, mind you, but it wouldn’t be the first time an initiative was used to get people’s attention.
http://www.petitiononline.com/.....ition.html
What is McKenna thinking I think he may have just cost himself the governor’s mansion in 2012 with this lawsuit. So much for his Democratic support.
I thought he had a real shot at winning if not for this.
I suppose if he runs again for AG I may have to rethink voting for him again.
My friends, let’s not sound like crazy wingnuts by calling for McKenna’s impeachment or recall, or filing complaints with the bar association. That stuff leads nowhere, and makes our side look bad. I think grassroots political pressure on McKenna is the way to go.
Conservatives Crushed In French Elections
While most Americans were transfixed by the vote in Congress on health reform, France was holding mid-term elections on Sunday, and right-leaning President Sarkozy’s party got walloped, winning only 35% of the vote to 54% for the socialists and greens. It appears the sun is setting on conservative ideology in Europe, too.
http://www.economist.com/world.....s_box_main
The World Can Be Fair
Conservatives love to say “life is unfair” as though the mere fact of unfairness justifies it. That’s the way it is, their meme goes, and you can’t change it.
Bullshit.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia conducted a series of experiments to determine whether unfair behavior results from innate human psychology handed down from caveman times, or is a product of contemporary human culture.
“The results back a cultural explanation of fairness — or, at least, of the variable levels of fairness found in different societies. …
“For progressives, this finding brings great comfort. It suggests that people are, if not perfectible, at least morally malleable in positive ways.”
http://www.economist.com/scien.....extfeature
Roger Rabbit Commentary: In other words, conservatives are wrong when they argue we have to accept unfairness because that’s simply the way people are, always have been, and always will be. What this research shows is that the fairness of human behavior varies with the culture — and can be changed. In other words, it’s not a given that people will always behave selfishly; there’s a basis for hope and change.
Companies Fake Workplace Injury Statistics
In recent years, workplace injuries reported to OSHA have plunged. For example, a steel company’s reported injuries declined by 96% between 1994 and 2009. Corporations say that’s because of improved safety training and equipment. But workers are unions tell a different story: They say many workers aren’t reporting injuries to their bosses because these companies punish workers for being injured. The Obama administration is beginning to investigate the situation.
http://www.businessweek.com/ma.....616634.htm
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I can think of a lot of reasons for not working. The one I most frequently harp on is how unfair the income tax system is to workers. Here’s another one to put up on the blackboard.
I don’t believe the unfairness of our tax system to workers came from innate psychological tendencies handed down from Paleolithic times.
I believe it came from willful and premedited selfishness by the Republicans who wrote the post-Reagan tax code.
Now, I’m not saying there’s no connection between Paleolithic psychology and the unfair aspects of the tax code. All I’m saying is that you have to connect the dots properly to see the picture. What’s going on here is that Republicans are cavemen.
Health Reform — Legendary Accomplishment
Here is what a conservative blogger says:
“If Barack Obama does nothing else in his term in office, this will make him one of the most consequential presidents in history. It’s a huge transformative event in Americans’ view of themselves and of the role of government,” said National Review Online’s Mark Steyn. The conservative blogger added that it’s “hard to overestimate the magnitude of what the Democrats have accomplished.”
http://www.aolnews.com/the-poi.....?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fthe-point%2Farticle%2Fobama-pelosi-stupak-health-care-reform-winners-and-losers%2F19409302
Nazi Doctors’ Auschwitz Papers Found
A treasure trove of original documents belonging to the Nazi doctors who conducted medical experiments at Auschwitz has been found in the attic of house undergoing renovation that is believed to have been occupied by an SS officer during the war.
http://www.aolnews.com/world/a.....d/19409886
Blackwater Executives May Face Charges
Federal prosecutors may file criminal charges against top executives of Blackwater for stockpiling illegal weapons at the company’s North Carolina headquarters, the Associated Press reports.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/ar.....16/?cid=10
@12 Roger
No, take on McKenna by any and all means possible, available, and valid. Attack your fellow citizens, and you pay the price.
Rob McKenna has always been a lightweight in my mind, from the moment we became aware that he had used campaign funds to buy a suit. He defines dweeb! His association with the wingnut national Republican establishment is a blessing as it removes his ability to portray himself as a centrist Republican in the historic Dan Evans mode.
McKenna has shown himself to be just another teabagger.
Heh. Good luck with that, Rob. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out – if you want to continue your political career after this, you’re going to have to move to Oklahoma.
What are the rules for impeachment in Washington State?
Given that this suit has pissed off the Governor and the leadership of both houses in the legislature what is the likelihood an impeachment action will go forward?
So who goes after the AG who uses state resources for campaigning?
Stock Market Up — Again
They passed health reform and capitalism failed to collapse! The Dow is up again this morning, for the second day in a row, and is powering toward 11,000. If money talks, then money is saying the doomsayers are full of shit.
Rog–
My favorite advisor is Bob Doll of Blackrock.
His weekly newsletter predicts employment numbers will be up in March and the market will continue to rise LONG-TERM…however, he also lists the risks he sees.
A Trust we have, have recently been in a variety of Blackrock Funds. Good performance.
Opportunity to make $$ always exists.
Today, I am glad the market is going up Rog.
23. Chris Stefan spews:
ZERO!
The AG is an independently elected official.
Gregoire insisted on that independence when she was AG.
Question is why the change of heart.
Recall is available for misfeasance or malfeasance in office.
You need to go out and get signatures and draft your Recall and take it to Court.
This would mean getting off your lazy ass and doing something Chris.
Naaaaah, easier for you to just bitch and hurl ignorant, hollow threats.
12. Roger Rabbit spews:
Rog–
Telling certifiable lunatics like YLB, rujax, headlice and other raving Leftist maniacs to be reasonable is a lost cause.
2 Lee
What kind of leaves?
I was in the seattlepi.com thread on this issue, and poster after poster said they had voted for or considered voting for Robbie because he was so “moderate,” but that now that’s completely and utterly OVER!
I’m just glad Robbie pulled back the curtain.