Nancy Pelosi on ObamaCare: “We Wrote Our Bill in a Way That Was Constitutional”

Really? This from the former House Speaker who said the bill had to be passed in order to find out what was in it. what exactly does Nancy Pelosi know about the constitutionality of anything?

Every piece of legislation, particularly one so large Justice Antonin Scalia jokes it would be cruel and unusual punishment to read, is drafted by an army of Ivy League lawyers. At least theoretically, these lawyers ought to know the Constitution inside and ought enough to know how to bend the rules enough to suit their agenda. Judging by the three day defense before the Supreme Court, the drafters got so careless with their creativity, they jeopardized the entire healthcare overhaul with legislation so weak, even Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom progressives quietly pinned hopes on serving as the swing vote, is not likely to uphold the individual mandate.

So what is the problem? There is two of them, if you want to consider this post within its scope.

One, legal intellectuals are far more interested in twisting the Constitution to fit a progressive social agenda. Helping people, whatever that means, is more important than determining original intent from that useless old Constitution. Do you believe Barack Obama was given a job as a law professor because he is always the smartest man in the room, or because he has the correct opinions on how outdated the Constitution is for application to modern times? Take your time chewing on that one. In the meantime, realize constitutionality is irrelevant to the political left because they--meaning legal scholars, too--do not see why the law should stand in the way of promoting the progressive agenda.

Two, Pelosi had a job she was grossly unqualified to hold. I understand she rose to House leadership because she raised a lot of money for Democrat candidates. But that is when they were in the minority. What was the logic in electing her speaker? She did not lead her party to victory in 2006. The Republicans lost because of big spending and scandals. Pelosi is not a big thinker, a policy wonk, a bipartisan unifier--she does not even have any sex appeal, so she does not even make a superficial pretty face for the public.

It has been suggested she won out for speaker over Steny Hoyer, a far better choice, because the California delegation voted lockstep for her. This may be at least partially true. I suspect, however, arms could have been twisted to keep her out of the top spot if the Democrats were serious about bipartisan legislation for the good of the country rather than ramming through an unpopular, progressive agenda. If so, then Pelosi is likely an easily controlled dupe. She certainly did not appear to have a grasp on much of anything while Speaker, yet got some nasty stuff passed.

One is inclined to think progressives will do anything to push their unpopular agenda, whether it be burying unconstitutional mandates in a mess of legal jargon or putting a incompetent Speaker of the House front and center to make an embarrassment or herself promoting the agenda.