alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

November 16, 2007

Why Do They Do the Things They Do?

by AltHippo @ 6:38 pm. Filed under Bush

I’d like to ask a question based on a common theme found in today’s Glenn Greenwald Salon editorial, and Dan Froomkin’s White House Watch. Both are partly motivated by the timing of the Federalist Society Convention in our fair city, which I think we all agree is icky.

Glenn excerpts Bush’s speech at the Zombie Fest, aghast that Bush appears to claim to respect the constitution, and the three branches of government as co-equals. Here’s what Bush said:

When the Founders drafted the Constitution, they had a clear understanding of tyranny. They also had a clear idea about how to prevent it from ever taking root in America. Their solution was to separate the government’s powers into three co-equal branches: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. Each of these branches plays a vital role in our free society. Each serves as a check on the others. And to preserve our liberty, each must meet its responsibilities — and resist the temptation to encroach on the powers the Constitution accords to others.

I was walkin’ down the street, and was ambushed by these dudes from the Congress and Judiciary. They encroached on me, shoving all kinds of checks and balances in my face. So I showed ‘em who’s boss, heh heh. Just sayin’: some of us are more co-equal than others, heh heh.

If I could hazard a guess to what Bush means by preserving our liberty, I guess he’s picturing a world where young aristocrats blow-up frogs with firecrackers. That’s the liberty that needs to be preserved.

Froomkin instead focuses on the way in which Bush has permeated the Supreme Court with the candidates for Zombiehood that you will find in this week’s Whigathon:

So last night’s 25th anniversary gala for the Federalist Society, complete with a keynote from Bush himself, was an orgy of self-celebration. Membership in (or at least affiliation with) the reactionary legal group is practically a requirement for Bush appointees to the bench or top legal jobs.

Which brings me to my question: Why? Why do the things they do? Why do tthey care so much about expanding the power of the president? And, since this is a purely neo-Republican movement, why don’t they consider the possibility that the president could be, very soon indeed, not a neo-Republican?

The evangelical part of Bush’s base I can actually understand. They start with the idea that Christ, the Messiah was the Son of the Creator of the Universe. But, Christ did many other things beyond this, various miracles: turning wine into a prohibition against wine or raising from homosexuality into leprosy. This while teaching a philosophy based on the idea that the unborn were sacred, but the living needed to pay their own health insurance.

To fix the institution of Christianity into a permanent foundation, Christ would return to Jerusalem where he would defeat the anti-Christ, who walks among us. Then, he would throw all the non-Christians into a lake of fire, and there would be an enormous secular barbecue.

Therefore, it’s important for evangelicals to get someone on the court who will overturn Roe v. Wade.

Crazy? Sure. But, though there be madness, there is method in it.

The Federalist Society on the other hand? I’m totally lost on their motivation.

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