Althouse: "Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto blasted Republicans on Wednesday for preparing to file a federal lawsuit challenging the executive actions of President Barack Obama."

June 25, 2014

"Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto blasted Republicans on Wednesday for preparing to file a federal lawsuit challenging the executive actions of President Barack Obama."

"During an interview with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Cavuto belittled the effort as 'an enormous waste of effort' and 'a political football,' suggesting that President George W. Bush used similar executive authority."

41 comments:

Bob Boyd said...: The lawsuit will be just about as effective as Cavuto yelling at Bachmann, "Just fix it! Just fix it!"
Suppose for the sake of argument Boehner won his suit, it would then be up to Obama to enforce the decision.
Obama will keep cranking this dial until the people are in the streets then he'll back it off one click. And we're a long ways from people in the streets.; 6/25/14, 9:30 PM
The Godfather said...: I've never thought Bachmann was the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she makes Cavuto look like a blithering idiot.

From what little I know, the lawsuit idea sounds like a sure loser. I think Boehner is just trying to protect his right flank.

The effort right now MUST be to preserve the Republican majority in the House and gain a Republican majority in the Senate. THEN let's work on rolling back the illegal expansion of arbitrary executive power, when the Republican elected officials are in a position to do so.; 6/25/14, 9:45 PM
Oso Negro said...: Bob Boyd. Not so far as you might think.; 6/25/14, 10:15 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Oh, honestly. BHO is in a completely different league from GWB in the executive-privilege dept. The man barely bothers to consult Congress at all these days. You name it, some Federal agency or other is prepared to draft a regulation that'll "fix" it. Look, Ma, no Congress!

That said: this is a bad, bad idea.; 6/25/14, 10:18 PM
rcommal said...: The problem is that once a tool is brought out of the storage box/basement workshop/garage workplace, sharpened and then put in the kitchen utility drawer, it's the tool that's most likely to be grabbed for when a sharp tool is needed, whether or not it's the correct tool for the job.

C'mon, folks, surely you know that to be true. Don't you?

---

It's not as if misusing tools is/misused tools are a new story.; 6/25/14, 10:23 PM
rcommal said...: So it continues/begins. Cavuto is also now not smart and also is not worth listening to. He was at one time considered at least somewhat smart and worth listening to, but now he is a blithering idiot. On account of in comparison to.

So it goes, so it goes, so it goes, and so it goes again.; 6/25/14, 10:35 PM
David said...: He's right. The proposed suit is a colossal waste of time, energy and money. It also will result in bad publicity. Trust the Republicans to put a plastic horn on a pony and paint it up like a unicorn.; 6/25/14, 10:55 PM
tim in vermont said...: Well, Obama has an affirmative action exemption from impeachment. This is a tough one.

Maybe that is the reparations, that we don't impeach Obama.; 6/25/14, 10:57 PM
Unknown said...: Impeachment has been pointed out as the proper legal remedy. This may be technically the case but impeachment is a political contest disguised as a legal one. It doesn't matter what the president has done if the political stars are not aligned. If they can get past the question of standing, Republicans might actually breathe some life into the lawsuit golem. I doubt Boehner intends any such thing. The idea alone serves his entire purpose, which is throwing oil on the troubled waters to his right. It's just a political head fake. Not quite as crazy sounding as tossing the I word around.; 6/25/14, 11:20 PM
Michael K said...: Thad Cochran, if he remembers where Washington is, will take good care that the GOP does not control the Senate. As usual, the blacks will not miss an opportunity to forge their chains to the Democrats tighter.; 6/25/14, 11:31 PM
chickelit said...: I detect a media doesy doe: Fox News is becoming more liberal with blithering idiots like Cavuto (cf. past participle of the Latin verb "to beware"), while Jake Tapper brings some real journalism back to that premiere bastion of Obama fellators, i.e., CNN.

More please (and faster); 6/25/14, 11:39 PM
chickelit said...: Obama will keep cranking this dial until the people are in the streets then he'll back it off one click. And we're a long ways from people in the streets.

This prompts me to add a big hearty "fuck you" to all you 2008 Obama voters who imagined that McCain and Palin would be getting sued or be threatened with impeachment.; 6/25/14, 11:42 PM
Michael in ArchDen said...: Impossible. Everyone knows that Faux News is a wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP and never says anything to disparage that party.; 6/25/14, 11:42 PM
SteveR said...: Well its a bit too much to expect people to properly explain and people to remotely understand the difference between Bush's use of executive power and Obama's.

Cavuto gets too emotional and Bachmann's too simple minded for this to be a useful indicator of anything but that there is too much TV that's not very good.; 6/26/14, 12:12 AM
Bob Loblaw said...: The effort right now MUST be to preserve the Republican majority in the House and gain a Republican majority in the Senate. THEN let's work on rolling back the illegal expansion of arbitrary executive power, when the Republican elected officials are in a position to do so.

I agree, but the problem should be addressed at its source, which is Congress has been perfectly willing, even eager, to cede authority to the courts and the bureaucracy as a way of avoiding difficult political decisions. There's no point in attacking a president for arbitrary decisions when so many laws contain clauses that give him that power.

Of course Obama has overstepped the bounds of his office more aggressively than anyone since Coolidge (Cavuto is simply wrong), but much of what he's done that gets people exercised is legal and it's legal because Congress made it legal.; 6/26/14, 1:30 AM
commoncents said...: Courtesy of Coach Jurgen Klinsmann - Who needs a "Get out of work" card for today's World Cup Match between Team USA and Germany?

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2014/06/who-needs-get-out-of-work-card-for.html; 6/26/14, 5:35 AM
Mark said...: This is the same body that voted 30+ times to repeal the ACA knowing it would not progress past the House, right?

Boehner's crew are experts at useless votes that waste the taxpayers money and time.; 6/26/14, 5:44 AM
Michael said...: If Obama shot the Pope it would not garner as much press as some fruitless litigation against the president.; 6/26/14, 6:06 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Turley thinks the lawsuit has a good chance of winning.

As he is a very knowledgeable man on these issues, and as he is, in this case, 'arguing against interest', I put a lot of weight on it.; 6/26/14, 6:07 AM
Rusty said...: More DC kabuki.; 6/26/14, 7:13 AM
J Lee said...: Bob Boyd said...

The lawsuit will be just about as effective as Cavuto yelling at Bachmann, "Just fix it! Just fix it!"
Suppose for the sake of argument Boehner won his suit, it would then be up to Obama to enforce the decision.
Obama will keep cranking this dial until the people are in the streets then he'll back it off one click. And we're a long ways from people in the streets.

I don't think Obama could get people into the streets at a moment's notice, or even several moments, unless the Republicans were openly planning to take away their 'stuff' -- Remember, three months after the 2012 election, Obama and his staff thought they were going to get people to take to the streets to protest the Republicans' sequestration, and nothing happened.

A large number of the people who voted for Obama didn't do so because they're all-in on his agenda; they did it so they could feel good about themselves for their tolerance and their forward-thinking. To them, Obama's more like a trophy wife that a rich person marries more to show off to others than anything else. They want him smiling and waving like Miss America from the White House, but they're not going to the mat for him for what they see as political causes that don't personally affect their lives.; 6/26/14, 7:20 AM
Larry J said...: rcommal said...
The problem is that once a tool is brought out of the storage box/basement workshop/garage workplace, sharpened and then put in the kitchen utility drawer, it's the tool that's most likely to be grabbed for when a sharp tool is needed, whether or not it's the correct tool for the job.

C'mon, folks, surely you know that to be true. Don't you?

---

It's not as if misusing tools is/misused tools are a new story.

The problem isn't the tool, it's the intent of the person wielding the tool. My father was a carpenter. In the hands of a skilled carpentar, a hammer can be used to build houses, schools, churches, etc. In the hands of a thug, a hammer is a murder weapon.

In the case of executive orders, Bush used them more like a carpenter uses his hammer while Obama uses executive orders like a thug.; 6/26/14, 7:23 AM
wildswan said...: Doing something is better than doing nothing - and maybe discovery will turn up some emails.

By the way, we shouldn't forget that the NSA has all Lois Lerner's emails; 6/26/14, 7:29 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: More fools blathering about impeachment. Just a regular day at the office for Althouse.; 6/26/14, 7:31 AM
machine said...: Bachmann is your voice of reason?!?!

hmmmmm......; 6/26/14, 7:37 AM
Matt Sablan said...: I'd compare and contrast the two presidents, but all my notes were lost in a hard drive failure.; 6/26/14, 7:49 AM
Hagar said...: "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"; 6/26/14, 7:59 AM
Phil 314 said...: Noise

(Crack would say "white noise"; 6/26/14, 8:06 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: They're losing now - it's obvious - and these are the death throes. Attacking one another because they never had a strategy.

I'm loving it,...; 6/26/14, 8:15 AM
jr565 said...: This has no chance of winning, so don't know why they are attemting it. And it's true Bush used signing statements too. So, there is some hypocrisy hee. But by the same token , Obama does seem to be abusing the principle and it does appear to be him circumventing the rule of law to get around gridlock. Just not sure what can be done about it..

isn't the better revenge though to win the White House and then have the republican president issue signing statement after signing statement overriding all sorts of liberal projects, just to tweak their noses?
Make them live by their own rules.; 6/26/14, 8:16 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Mark,

"Boehner's crew are experts at useless votes that waste the taxpayers money and time."

With the full-bodied vocal support of Glen Reynolds (and the rest of PJ Media) who tells them they're "winning" as we watch their blood, draining from below a jester's bonnet, right into the political sewer.

If you're a black guy - who hates the direction racists have led your party - it doesn't get much better than this,...; 6/26/14, 8:20 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Phil 3:14,

"Noise

(Crack would say "white noise")"

You beat me to it, but not by much,...; 6/26/14, 8:22 AM
Brando said...: This sounds just like the type of overkill that could unite the left, push the center to support Obama and completely tank the GOP's chances of winning the Senate (and maybe the White House in '16).

If Obama is abusing his power in a way that goes well beyond his predecessors, demonstrate that and pass a law to curb executive abuses. If the Democrats block it, use that as a campaign issue and make your case to the public so that it works on them. Let Obama be in the reluctant position of vetoing a popular law, but make sure the law becomes popular first.

If he's crossed the line to an impeachable offense--an abuse of power that makes it intolerable to keep him in office--then make that case too, and go ahead with impeachment. Otherwise you're just engaging in a primal scream, preaching to your own choir and doing absolutely nothing to fix the problem.

I think executive power has steadily expanded since the FDR days to a level that can be dangerous for this country--Obama is simply continuing the trend and taking it a step further. Congress should act on this, but this isn't easy to do when Congress' own approval ratings are lower than the president's. The only way this will be fixed is if the public wants it, and it doesn't look like the only reason Congress is doing something is because Obama is the guy they're trying to stop.; 6/26/14, 8:35 AM
garage mahal said...: Cavuto is a nominal Republican.; 6/26/14, 8:45 AM
Drago said...: The Crack Emcee: "They're losing now - it's obvious - and these are the death throes."

Wait.

How can that be?

We have been told repeatedly since the 2008 that the Republican party was already dead.

Dead, dead, dead.

Destined for 40 years in the wilderness.

How can it be that only now the Republicans are in the death throes?

Very strange indeed. A party long ago pronounced dead is only now in it's death throes.

Has Spacetime been reversed?

Oh, sorry. I forgot. Spacetime is racist.; 6/26/14, 9:10 AM
Drago said...: Sorry for my previous.

I meant to say "Spacetime be racist".; 6/26/14, 9:18 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Cavuto is a very smart guy. He has the ability to cut to the chase and see the same old bullshit in the Imperial City.

I don't know what the idiots here are seeing when they called him a blithering idiot.; 6/26/14, 9:24 AM
machine said...: "Boehner’s attack on Obama’s executive orders ignores presidential history"

meh...just reality man.; 6/26/14, 9:37 AM
Douglas B. Levene said...: Impeaching the president may be a political nonstarter, but why not impeach a few cabinet members? Start with Eric Holder for his various cover ups. Let the Senate do what it wants, the impeachment by the House alone would be enough to make the point.; 6/26/14, 10:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Cavuto is one of the only people at Fox News I can stand to watch (Megan Kelly is another).

But he's burying his head in the sand here. He keeps yelling to do something. This is something.

He makes the same mistakes a lot of people make when it comes to government. It doesn't work. It's clunky. You can't just walk outside, pick up a shovel, and start digging to get a hole. That's what normal people do. Government? The process takes trillions of dollars and years of debate.; 6/26/14, 12:18 PM
Bilwick said...: Submit to Dear Leader, peasants. It will be less painful that way.; 6/26/14, 1:11 PM