January 7, 2012

Sherman, set the WABAC machine for 2005

What with President Obama using Recess Appointments to appoint five new bureaucrats last weekend (despite the fact that Congress was still technically in session). It is interesting to look back a few years to an earlier administration. From the Rochester, Mn. Post-Bulletin:
As senator, Obama blasted Bush on recess appointments
President Barack Obama�s compliant media support sustains his popularity. Obama�s �contempt of Congress� has galvanized his intention to circumvent lawmakers and do more �signing statements� and �recess appointments,� which Senators Obama and Harry Reid chastised President Bush for doing. Obama is doing recess appointments while Congress is in pro forma session, a likely court challenge.
A bit more:
In 2005, Senator Obama said Bush�s recess appointments were �the wrong thing to do,� to appoint people who �couldn�t get through a Senate nomination.�

And Democrat Senator Harry Reid (2005): �I will keep the Senate in pro forma session to block (President Bush) from doing an end run around the Senate and Constitution with his controversial nominations.� The Democrat leadership declared that Bush�s recess appointments were �an abuse of presidential power� that �ignored the will of the Senate.�
From The Examiner:
Nancy Pelosi opposed recess appointments before she supported them
It seems that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) opposed recess appointments before she supported them.

On Thursday, she said that she was "very glad" and "proud" that Barack Obama usurped the Constitution by making recess appointments while the Senate was technically still in session.

But Pelosi, one of the most partisan liberal Democrats in the House, opposed the same type of appointments in 2005, according to an article at the Daily Caller.
In 2005, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California said President George W. Bush�s decision to �circumvent the Senate� and appoint John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador during a congressional recess was a �mistake� that would �harm the United States� reputation.� But Pelosi said on Thursday that she is �glad� President Barack Obama made �bold� recess appointments while the Senate was technically still in session.

�The President�s decision to circumvent the Senate and use a recess appointment naming John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations is a mistake,� Pelosi said in an August 2005 statement.
WABAC machine? Here. All right for me but not for thee. Time to clean house or as Woody Harrelson playing the part of Tallahassee in the 2009 movie Zombieland said: Time to nut up or shut up!. Posted by DaveH at January 7, 2012 5:07 PM
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