Rachel Maddow attacks the 10th Amendment Movement, Nullification

[FrankRep]

Rachel Maddow is no friend of the Constitution and of Liberty.


Rachel Maddow’s Blog Targets VA Tenthers (http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/03/rachel-maddows-blog-targets-va-tenthers/)


Tenth Amendment Center (http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/)
26. Mar, 2010


I guess we should be pleased; Rachel Maddow’s blog (http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/03/23/4053662-the-tenther-attack-on-health-reform) reads the Virginia Tenth Amendment Center.

It’s true, her blog linked to a picture we posted from the January 18th Lobby Day. Of course, it was done in the context of describing us tenthers as “out-there,” but when you’re as unappreciated as the Constitution is these days, any press is good press.

Later, Rachel Maddow’s blog weighed in on the audacity of Virginia’s very own Ken Cuccinelli:



At the head of the line of states planning to sue the federal government over health reform stands Virginia, where Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced Monday that he would file papers as soon as the Presidents “signs it into law.” …Cuccinelli thinks it’s unconstitutional for Americans to be told they have to buy something, an argument he’s been making for a while now.


As Rachel’s blog has brilliantly perceived, such “arguments” are merely partisan grandstanding. I mean, it’s the 21st Century; who has time to actually follow the Constitution anymore?

But then Rachel’s blog noticed something really interesting (read: seditious)



If you call the AG’s office to ask about all this, you first get Cuccinelli’s director of communication, Brian Gottstein… Gottstein is himself a veteran of the tenther and Tea Party circuit. The former Libertarian columnist, who joined Cuccinelli’s staff in February, was still listed last week as the VP for communications for Tertium Quids, whose president appeared (http://tertiumquids.org/index.html#amendment10) at [a] 10th Amendment rally with Cuccinelli…


Unbelieveable. Not only does Virginia’s new Attorney General read the Constitution (including the 10th Amendment) and take it seriously, he hires people and appears at events with organizations that do the same!

This aggression will not stand, man.

Tune in next week as Rachel Maddow’s blog continues its quest to speak truth to power by bravely licking Joe Biden’s bootheel.

Josh is a proud "tenther", freelance writer, and activist originally from the Washington, D.C. area. Josh is the State Chapter Coordinator for the Virginia Tenth Amendment Center (http://virginia.tenthamendmentcenter.com/).


SOURCE:
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/03/rachel-maddows-blog-targets-va-tenthers/

[FrankRep]

Rachel Maddow’s Blog:


The tenther attack on health reform (http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/03/23/4053662-the-tenther-attack-on-health-reform)


Rachel Maddow
Mar 23, 2010


Virginia's newly installed AG Ken Cuccinelli addresses the Virginia 10th Amendment Revolution, 01.18.10. Photo from the Virginia 10th Amendment Center (http://virginia.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/01/virginia-10th-amendment-rally-draws-2400-to-the-capitol-grounds/). Red arrow ours.

At the head of the line of states planning to sue the federal government over health reform stands Virginia, where Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced (http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/240770) Monday that he would file papers as soon as the Presidents "signs it into law." Cuccinelli objects to the mandate that individuals buy health insurance so people with coverage don't end up footing their medical bills for them. Cuccinelli thinks it's unconstitutional for Americans to be told they have to buy something, an argument he's been making for a while now. In January, he told a rally (http://www.roanoketeaparty.com/10th-amendment-rally-a-rousing-success/) of the Virginia 10th Amendment Revolution (http://www.va10thamendment.org/):



"What we can do where we live is advocate again to bring back to life the 10th amendment, to bring back to life those boundaries in our Constitutional system that were supposed to be the critical checks in the checks and balances system. Without them, we lose, gradually, our liberty....

"If the federal government can order you to buy anything, with the penalty of going to jail, then you are not a free man or woman in the United States of America."



The Virginia 10th Amendment Revolution is a local manifestation of the national movement known as the tenthers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenther_movement). Tenthers, not all of whom like the name, share an intense devotion to the 10th Amendment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) of the Constitution, the one that reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

The tenther argument against health care is a long one (http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=rally_round_the_true_constitution ), extending all the way back to whether the government had the right to establish programs Social Security and Medicare (http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/23/pelosi-serious/). The New York Times spells out (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/health/policy/23legal.html?ref=policy) much of the counterargument today: that the Supreme Court has generally accorded the federal government broad power to regulate economic activity; that the mandate for buying insurance is framed as a tax, which Congress has the right to levy; and that the federal government pulls the reins on personal freedom when it suits a national purpose, like when it forced hotels and restaurants to serve African Americans with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

As practiced by the out-there crowd, being a tenther may mean declaring yourself sovereign (http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/04/sovereign-citizens/) and immune from federal laws and taxes, issuing your own ID papers and calling your home an embassy.

As practiced in the halls of power, the tenther movement looks like Virginia's Cuccinelli -- and AGs from Utah, Pennsylvania, Alabama, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Florida, Nebraska, South Carolina, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan and Texas -- planning to sue the federal government (http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/03/13_attorneys_general_sue_over_health_care_overhaul .php?ref=fpa) over health reform. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's looking into a suit (http://thecuckingstool.blogspot.com/2010/03/return-of-tenther-tim.html). Mississippi's Gov. Haley Barbour wants one (http://nems360.com/view/full_story/6804991/article-Barbour-to-Hood--File-health-care-suit-or-I-will?instance=home_news_2nd_left).

The tenther movement also looks like Cuccinelli suggesting (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/video-virginia-ag-ken-cuccinelli-worried-about-government-tracking-his-son-%E2%80%93-told-crowd-he-m) last year that he might not get a Social Security number for his new baby:



"We're gonna have our seventh child on Monday, if he's not born before. And, for the very concerns you state, we're actually considering – as I'm sure many of you here didn't get a Social Security number when you were born, they do it now – we're considering not doing that. And a lot of people are considering that now, because it is being used to track you."

YouTube - Cuccinelli Social Security (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-ie2WFZkMY)

As a candidate, Cuccinelli promised that he would decide for himself which of Virginia's laws pass muster (http://bit.ly/cwlz1x). "I will not defend what I, in my judgment, deem to be an unconstitutional law," he said a debate in April. The AG's mission (http://www.oag.state.va.us/OUR_OFFICE/Mission_Statement.html) includes "defending the laws of the Commonwealth when they are challenged on constitutional grounds."

If you call the AG's office to ask about all this, you first get Cuccinelli's director of communication, Brian Gottstein. On Monday, Gottstein referred political questions about his boss to the AG's campaign, which didn't respond to a request for information. Gottstein is himself a veteran of the tenther and Tea Party circuit. The former Libertarian columnist (http://www.roanoke.com/special_reports/12748.html), who joined Cuccinelli's staff in February, was still listed (http://tertiumquids.org/staff.html) last week as the VP for communications for Tertium Quids, whose president appeared (http://tertiumquids.org/index.html#amendment10) at 10th Amendment rally with Cuccinelli. Gottstein spoke (http://bit.ly/9sGSQR) at the Roanoke Independence Day Tea Party last year.

Gottstein wouldn't say whether he himself is or has been a member of the Tea Party. He says he no longer works for Tertium Quids and that the website likely hadn't been updated because he was the one who used to do the updating.

And did he ever. As a writer for the Tertium Quid blog, he attacked global warming as a myth (http://tertiumquids.blogspot.com/2008/09/myth-of-global-warming-part-1.html) and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (http://tertiumquids.blogspot.com/2009/12/mcdonnell-other-republicans-not.html) as perhaps not as big on small-government as he claimed. Now that Gottstein's job includes representing Cuccinelli when he takes the birther line on President Obama's birth certificate http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=128137 and the tenther line on health reform (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/cuccinelli_to_file_suit_as_soo.html), Gottstein says he can't talk about his own politics anymore. "I don't bring my politics to work with me, and I don't want to highlight them for the media," he says. "It's a distraction to what I'm supposed to be doing in the AG's office....I'm plenty happy with what I've done before. I can't get into politics in my position."

With a boss like his, Gottstein hasn't got to bring his politics to work. Politics are written into the job, and it's the politics of the tenthers (http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/10/tenth.amendment.movement/index.html).


SOURCE:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/03/23/4053662-the-tenther-attack-on-health-reform

[amy31416]

She should have Napolitano on her show so he can set her straight.

[Condor Bastadon]

Ugh..."tenthers"...do they have to make one of these for everything?

[torchbearer]

Ugh..."tenthers"...do they have to make one of these for everything?

I find it funny that they are literally attacking the constitution as if that is a good thing to do.
And Rachel's balls aren't big enough to debate the Judge on the issue.
not saying her balls are small, they just aren't big enough to step in the ring with someone who isn't a demagogue.

[AlexMerced]

yeah, lol, I like maddows show, but man her logic can be flawed, but she is pretty funny and one of the more honest tv people even if I disagree with her on almost everything.

[Bruehound]

How could this possibly be a surprise to anyone?

[AlexMerced]

I find it funny that they are literally attacking the constitution as if that is a good thing to do.
And Rachel's balls aren't big enough to debate the Judge on the issue.
not saying her balls are small, they just aren't big enough to step in the ring with someone who isn't a demagogue.


She does only argue with people who are obvious hypocrites and idiots, and when smarter people like Ron Paul appear she really doesn't try to argue her ideas with them cause well... she'd get rwned

[RforRevolution]

Tenther?! (face in palm)

Why is that people become instant philistines when 'their guy' is in office?

[Juan McCain]

Ugh..."tenthers"...

Well . . . we are also "firsters" that are allowing her to say that crap . . .
and she shouldn't forget that she is lucky we are "seconders" too.

[Depressed Liberator]

Liberals are very misled on many things. Talking about nullification or any states rights can only mean succeeding, of course.

[Juan McCain]

Maddow just acts like she is a foolish left-wing wacko on about everything really.

[yokna7]

She's an airhead, an intellectual lightweight. She proved that in her complete absent mindedness in the civil rights debate.


Liberals are Sixteenthers.

[jclay2]

She's an airhead, an intellectual lightweight. She proved that in her complete absent mindedness in the civil rights debate.


Liberals are Sixteenthers.

True that! :D

[RM918]

She'd /never/ have the Judge on her show, no-one with debate chops that are tougher than hers.