Comedians

Everybody loves comedians, don’t they? The funny ones, not the bad ones. And not clowns— some people are frightened of clowns. No, I mean the ones who are actually funny.

Like the US’ Republican politicians, pundits and preachers.

They say some of the funniest things I’ve ever heard! Take the latest one from those Republican politicians, pundits and preachers, the one about how President Obama is a “dictator” because he’s made “unprecedented” recess appointments to get around Republican obstructionism. They joke that it’s unconstitutional, which they know is funny because their deliberate defiance of their Constitutional duty really is unprecedented, and because the fact that their doing this in order to block the Executive Branch means their actions really are unconstitutional, and also because lots of presidents have made loads of recess appointments.

Wait, what? They meant that seriously? Hm, perhaps history can help us here:

• President William J. Clinton made 139 recess appointments, 95 to full-time positions.
• President George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments, of which 99 were to full-time positions.
• President Barack Obama had made 28 recess appointments as of December 8, 2011, all to full-time positions.

Neither the US Constitution nor court rulings have specified how long the Senate must be in recess before a president can make a recess appointment. President Obama has made far fewer recess appointments than either of his two predecessors. So, there’s nothing even remotely “unprecedented” or “unconstitutional” about President Obama’s actions and saying so is a joke—well, apparently, it’s actually just a routine Republican lie.

And that’s an example of why I have zero respect for those Republican politicians, pundits and preachers: They say bald-faced, outright lies and think no one will bother to check. It’s bad enough that they scream whenever anyone has the audacity to quote their own crazy words back at them verbatim, but to think we’ll also ignore historical facts that they lied about or distorted is far too contemptuous of mainstream Americans to let them get away with it.

Republican politicians, pundits and preachers are serious even when they spout utter nonsense, and that makes them and their party a huge joke. The sad and scary part is that we must take them seriously instead of laughing them out of office.

Maybe they’re not really such great comedians after all.