Will the real Chris Matthews please shut up

Via Pajamas Media comes this editorial from Richard Fernandez, with some commentary on Chris Matthews’ latest foot-in-mouth incident: He wants President Bush to just resign today so that Obama can take office sooner. (video at GatewayPundit)

Chris, old buddy, I know that tingling leg of yours must be enough to drive you nuts, but for all your whining about how Bush has stomped all over the Constitution you really don’t seem to give that much thought to it yourself. You realize that Obama hasn’t been elected yet, right? That pesky election nonsense just getting in the way of annointing your new messiah, and your goal of “making his presidency a success,” I know. But you need to wait til December 15th before it’s official, and January 20th before he can take office. It’s kind of how the system works – and that’s per the Constitution. We all know you really don’t care about it, but at least pay it some lip service once in a while, alright? How classless and tasteless can you get, man?

Of course, if Bush DID step down then that would make Dick Cheney the president… wonder how many heads would explode over that one.

[Edit:] Welcome, Instapundit readers, to my corner of the tubes! Take a look around, hope you enjoy what you see.

39 thoughts on “Will the real Chris Matthews please shut up”

  1. Just another example of liberals wanting to circumvent the rule of law when it suits them. Otherwise they are its biggest defenders. Such hypocrisy it’s difficult to comprehend. Just got finished reading Jonah Goldberg’s book, Liberal Fascism. It is definitely a book to be read in times such as these, as we prepare for an Obama administration where government is the answer to everyone’s problems and where dissent is discouraged for the “greater good”.

  2. “Of course, if Bush DID step down then that would make Dick Cheney the president… wonder how many heads would explode over that one.”

    No, no… Dick Cheney would have to step down too, according to Gail Collins in her NYT column on Saturday. That would make Nancy Pelosi president, but then as part of this grand scheme to get Obama in office ASAP, Pelosi would “defer to her party’s incoming chief executive.”

    Seriously!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/opinion/22collins.html

  3. If this did happen (Cheney resigns, Bush appoints O!, Bush resigns, presumably) then this would count as O!’s first term, wouldn’t it, and the term starting on 20th Jan would be his second, surely?

    Perhaps Hillary should push this…….

  4. I confess I had a premonition that Obama might demand that Bush step down immediately, so little respect do I hold for Obama’s understanding of the Constitution.

    So maybe the Matthews gaffe is really a trial balloon ;-)

    BBB

  5. Instalanche, very nice!

    Tim Russert was the last real journalist on-air at NBC, may he rest in peace, and now the loonies really are running the asylum over there.

  6. Wow, instalanche, awesome! Now I’m the one with a tingle in my leg ;)

    And SVS: no, there is no legal way in which Obama could take office before January 20th. Even if he did, to count against the term limits he would have to serve out at least half of the term he picked up. We’ll just have to beat him in 2012 the good ol’ fashioned way.

  7. As one email making the rounds says, if Bush resigned, Cheney would become Prez and nominate Condoleeza Rice as VP. Then Cheney could resign and Rice would be the first black and first woman.

    The Nutroots would all have strokes and we would be rid of them.

  8. This is not so much about liberal contempt for the Constitution as it is about liberals living in Willie Wonka-land where little children get everything they could possibly want from the Party of Free Ice Cream. The unfortunate part is that they tend to get away with living on candy, and it’s the rest of us who get the belly-ache.

  9. Chris Matthew’s is the Dennis Kucinich of his profession. Just when you think you’ve heard the most asinine comment you thought an (alleged) journalist could blurt, he tops himself. Chris’s existence serves as a warning that the Lame Stream Media ignores at their peril.

  10. Let him resign.

    That makes Cheney President.

    Liberals don’t know squat about the Constitution either.

  11. Bush resigns, Cheney resigns, Pelosi becomes president, new Speaker of the House, Electorial College changes it’s mind. Whole new ball game.

  12. How about this? Bush resigns, then Cheny resigns, then Nancy becomes president and resigns from the House. Then, Jan 20, Obama becomes President and Nancy becomes retired and out of the House. That would be worth something, but better done around January 19.

  13. Hey you guys are missing penumbras upon emanations (or is it the other way around).

    You must be focused on what appears to be the plain meaning of “January 20th” in the XX Amendment. Have you, like The Hons. Breyer & Ginsburg, consulted foreign law? Most countries provide for the succession of their respective Chief Execs in less than a month after the election, so perhaps we should read “January 20th” as a suggestion which had some relevance in 1933, especially when the National “feeling” was down on foreign ideas, but which suggestion is obviously out-of-date now, especially with the Messiah in the wings.

  14. If Bush and Cheney resigned simultaneously, that would put Pelosi in for a few days, forcing her to resign her Congressional seat. Interesting, but the ill will would probably not be worth the gain.

  15. If Bush had a sense of humor, he’d do something like this:

    Bush should resign now.

    Then Dick Cheney becomes President (that would really P**S OFF the libs)!

    Then he appoints Condoleeza Rice as VP.

    Then Cheney resigns two weeks later and Condoleeza Rice,
    a Republican, becomes the first BLACK+ WOMAN President!!!

  16. Just dropping in from SDA…
    entertaining thoughts posted about throwing a hot wrench at the Dems prior to the big O takeover that is going to save ALL our souls and deliver the masses from the wilderness(unfondly known to some as Bushland)
    The idea is funnier than a sack of monkeys but the statement made alas would be lost on the myopic Dems. It would also most likely open a can of worms should the constitution be challenged in such a hilarious way. I tell you…those Dems don’t need much of an excuse to get started on a perceived feel -good fest now do they !
    As for what foreign countries think/do ,I say ‘Not’ but then again I am a traditionalist.

  17. Well we didn’t get where we were by imitating the rest of the world. In fact, quite the opposite, what with the revolution and all.

    I’d rather get people cracking down on preparing for what’s to come than spend a lot of time wishing upon a star for these “what-if” scenarios, as funny as they can be. Is it just me, or does this election resemble a soap opera more than any previous ones? I don’t have that many years of political awareness behind me but I can’t remember anything like this happening in 2004, 2000, or any time during the Clinton era…

  18. Is it just me or does Chris Matthews remind you of Fraizer Crane giddy in anticipation of a new kashmir caridgan or a rare Chateau Margaux?

    One is parody; the other, pathetic.

  19. I don’t know if I’m correct in this regard, but I don’t believe the elevation of vice-president Cheney upon a President Bush resignation even remotely promotes speaker Pelosi to the office of the vice president.

    If one were to read the provisions of the 25th amendment, it suggests that if the office of the vice-presidency is vacant, that the president must nominate a candidate who must then be confirmed for that office by a majority vote of both houses of the legislature.

    Someone who is a much more adept legal scholar than myself would have to evaluate how the 25th amendment might trump the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. My memory of this isn’t entirely clear, but I do seem to remember that upon the death of President Kennedy in 1963 that Speaker John McCormack became next in line of succession, however he was not the vice-president. My memory is similar in respect to the resignation of vice-president Agnew in 1973, that Speaker Carl Albert was the next in line behind President Nixon, until Gerald Ford was confirmed as the vice-president, and then was once again in the same spot when Nixon resigned in 1974, until Governor Rockefeller was confirmed as the new vice-president.

    It’s all a fun little game to play, but I don’t think the law and the precedent bears out this scenario, either for Speaker Pelosi, or for Secretary Rice. If it does nothing else it makes us read the constitution and the succession act documents again.

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

  20. Rightious post. Their so in love, they just can’t wait to jump the cliff. A lemmings life is strange indeed.

  21. The most revealing statistic from the U.S. presidential election was that of the 15 states with the highest education level, Obama won all of them; of the 15 states with the lowest education levels, McCain won 11; and of the bottom 5, McCain won all 5. Given this fact and the tone of the above posts, I can easily surmise which states “ya’ll” from!

  22. Unfortunately, intelligence seems to have little or nothing to do with having common sense. As can easily be seen in the just concluded election.

  23. Uhh Rich — I think the problem here might be what your finding says about the current state of education.

  24. Rich, what statistics are you using? Because this (http://www.statestats.com/edrank.htm) shows a mix bag – California is fourth to last and Nevada third to last while Montana seventh from the top.

    As for education level and party affiliation, it seems less educated folks and graduate degree holders like Democrats (http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539). But because graduate degrees doesn’t necessarily indicate higher intelligence (Uhm, all those Masters of Education?) or being better informed (a physicist with a doctorate doesn’t mean he would know more about politics, economics, policies, the issues and the candidates), I think it is safer to say the Republicans draw on the more intelligent.

  25. Must be all of us folks who actually respect the Consitution and think it’s silly that you liberals resurected JAYZUS just to run for president in 2008.

  26. Respect the constitution?!!! Like Bush did when he declared war on Iraq when that right actually lies with congress. I suppose I can’t expect much of an arguement from people who supported the likes of Palin who thinks she can see Russia from her window, thinks Africa is a country, believes the earth is 5000 years old and thinks that humans and dinosaurs lived together like the Flinstones!! Oh man, you right-wingers truly do live in a permanent state of delusion, don’t you. Too funny!

  27. And you’re the one who thinks that a hoax blog that was even repudiated by the NY Times is a good source, and that Tina Fey really IS Sarah Palin, and not just a comedian pretending to be her.

    So I guess little details like what the difference is between a declaration of war and a resolution authorizing use of military force would fly right by your head. Or how the congress, not the President, was the one that passed said resolution.

    But then, I guess if one is so “educated” as yourself… facts don’t matter, right?

  28. As indicated above, this election is all about emotion, and nothing for the respect of law and the constitution. Once we start down the slippery slope of compromise of the law and the constitution to suit a certain group of people, this nation, as a nation, is lost.
    These two things have set this nation apart from the rest of the world and have allowed America to become the great nation it is today. Every other nation in the world marvels at what we are and what we can do (they may be jealous about it, but too bad).
    So, the only way American can fail, is if we start putting emotion ahead of thought, and by compromising the very foundation of this great nation. In my opinion, we are further down that slope that anybody realizes. We have lived to see the end days of America. How sad that we should ruin it ourselves!

  29. Talk about putting emotion ahead of thought! “…the end days of America.” Good lord, lighten up! If this is the end days, who put us there? Who led us into a war in Iraq based on lies and put our soldiers in that country with insufficient armour and in insufficient numbers? Who cut taxes to the rich and then expects to spend 100’s of billions of dollars on a war? It’s basic economics; if you spend more then you take in, you’re going to have a deficit. And look at the size of our deficit and debt!! This is conservative economics?!! Look at our massive trade imbalance! Look at our abysmal standing in the world these days. Is Iran scared of us? Russia? China? What about our allies? Even they were breathing a collective sigh of relief when Obama won. And now look at the fiasco that laissez-faire economics has led us to. All of this has happened on Bush’s watch. But oh no, somehow this is all the Democrats’ fault. Yeah, like the 8 years of Dems in the White House out of the last 28 years makes all the difference, huh? Listen, you lost. Get over it. And remember, 4 years from now you have Palin to fight your battle for you…… Oh man, I think I just broke a rib from laughing too hard!

  30. Come ON! This has nothing to do with liberal/conservative politics
    (these labels don’t mean squat anymore).

    The problem here – this guy is just plain RUDE. I’ve yet to hear
    him interview ANYONE, regardless of their politics, where he would
    just ask a question, then shut up and let them answer.

    I mean, really. Has anyone ever been allowed to finish a sentence
    on the Chris Matthews show??!?!/1

  31. Ginger – I hadn’t previously, but I just added that functionality. This is why people who comment on blogs rock. Thanks!

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