McHenry Resorts to Name Calling...Nothing Else Is Left

This afternoon Representative Patrick McHenry, Republican of North Carolina, resorted to what the Conservative Right Wing of the Republican Party has left to it. He called Special Advisor for the Consumer Financial Protetion Bureau, Elizabeth Warren, a liar.  Of course, he chose the most consequential of reasons.  No, it was not a matter of national security, it was not a pending criminal matter; it was not even a matter that dealt with consumer financial protection.  What was it that caused Rep. McHenry to call Ms. Warren, a Harvard Law School Professor, a liar?  It was a scheduling conflict.   Yes, it was confusion regarding whether a scheduling conflict existed and, more accurately, whose fault it was.

Rep. McHenry, who represents the 10^th Congressional District, which covers Mooresville, NC, the headquarters of NASCAR, is a graduate of Belmont Abbey College with a Bachelors Degree in history; not an ignorant man, but certainly not of the caliber of a graduate from Harvard Law.  Rep. McHenry became irked because Ms. Warren alleged his staff had created a scheduling conflict and she had a prior commitment to honor.  It must be something about being from one of the Carolinas that makes a politician rude.  You will recall that Rep. Joe Wilson, R-SC, yelled out “You lie!” during President Obama’s health care speech before a joint session of Congress.  It probably has a lot less to do with the fact that they are from one of the Carolinas than it is related to their being Neo-Conservative, Right Wing, True Believer, Republicans and/or Tea Baggers.  It must be a great feeling, albeit delusional, to believe that you are the only person that could possible know what is really true, right and good.

Members of the no-longer-loyal opposition have lowered themselves to the level of rude name-calling and bullying.  There is an old saying I have heard from lawyers that applies to this situation. “If you don’t have the facts on your side, argue the law.  If you don’t have the law on your side, argue the facts.  If you have neither the facts nor the law on your side, argue the Constitution.”  The final part of this has been ad libbed to be, “If you can’t argue the facts, the law, or the Constitution, then scream at the jury.”  The Right has been reduced to screaming, yelling, name-calling, and just being downright rude.

The Right can’t pass the laws they want.  They can’t massage the facts any longer and their warped interpretation of the Constitution has devolved to a reading of the document that leads some state officials to believe they have the right to secede from the Union.  Remember the argument made by 21 states couple of years ago, based on the 10^th Amendment?   I can’t help but wonder if, being part of the Bill of Rights, the 10^th Amendment is one of those “technicalities” the Conservatives are always railing against?  Apparently, only when an Amendment works for them does it really count.  Sorry, hypocrisy just makes me nuts.

My point is that, in the final analysis, the Conservatives occasionally show themselves for what they really are, and we should be afraid…very afraid.