Circuses used to have people (usually women) who would twist their bodies into bizarre positions that were almost unrecognizable as human; they were called contortionists. This morning I realized that in the media there is a group of commentators who twist facts until they have no relationship whatsoever with reality; I am going to name them the "distortionists". Okay, distortionists is a more polite way of saying that these are a bunch of liars, but I always strive to be polite (even to this group.)
I came up with the name today when I read the latest column from major distortionist Sally Kohn at CNN. I have written about Kohn many times, but her effort today hit a new low. The topic is the proposed lawsuit by the House of Representatives against president Obama for violating his constitutional duties to enforce the laws as written. The Constitution is very clear that laws can only be passed by a vote in Congress. The president has no power to make or change laws; he is supposed to enforce the laws not create them. The lawsuit by the House will focus on some recent actions by Obama that clearly violate that constitutional structure. One in particular will be Obama's action on the Employer Mandate contained in Obamacare. The Obamacare law expressly requires that the Employer Mandate go into effect on January 1, 2014. For political purposes, Obama chose to change that date by delaying it for a year. In other words, this is a clear example of the law clearly requiring one thing and Obama instead doing something else.
For her part, however, distortionist Kohn says that the proposed suit by the House "for not implementing Obamacare quickly enough." She says that Republicans have lost their minds for first voting to repeal Obamacare repeatedly and then suing because Obama did not implement the law quickly enough. But she knows as do I that her rendition of the lawsuit is a major distortion. The issue is whether or not the president must follow the law, not the merits of Obamacare.
Let's use a similar situation to show how distorted Kohn has gotten this time. Suppose the Boston Marathon bomber were placed on trial for terrorist acts and that the punishment for that crime is life in prison. Then suppose that one day after the trial was over and the bomber was convicted, president Obama sent troops to the prison to retrieve and execute the prisoner by firing squad. Under the law, the punishment was to be prison, but Obama had him killed. It would be a clearly illegal act. If voices were raised to oppose the killing, Kohn would tell us that these are nutty people who first denounced the bombing of the Marathon and then complained about president Obama because he punished the perpetrator.
I don't mind there being a vigorous debate of the issues. It is part of what makes this country great. I take issue, however, with those who consistently and purposefully distort the facts for political gain. Kohn may be relegated to CNN, so her audience is probably no larger than mine is with this blog. Nevertheless, she ought to be ashamed of her conduct. Spreading misinformation is never a good thing.
I came up with the name today when I read the latest column from major distortionist Sally Kohn at CNN. I have written about Kohn many times, but her effort today hit a new low. The topic is the proposed lawsuit by the House of Representatives against president Obama for violating his constitutional duties to enforce the laws as written. The Constitution is very clear that laws can only be passed by a vote in Congress. The president has no power to make or change laws; he is supposed to enforce the laws not create them. The lawsuit by the House will focus on some recent actions by Obama that clearly violate that constitutional structure. One in particular will be Obama's action on the Employer Mandate contained in Obamacare. The Obamacare law expressly requires that the Employer Mandate go into effect on January 1, 2014. For political purposes, Obama chose to change that date by delaying it for a year. In other words, this is a clear example of the law clearly requiring one thing and Obama instead doing something else.
For her part, however, distortionist Kohn says that the proposed suit by the House "for not implementing Obamacare quickly enough." She says that Republicans have lost their minds for first voting to repeal Obamacare repeatedly and then suing because Obama did not implement the law quickly enough. But she knows as do I that her rendition of the lawsuit is a major distortion. The issue is whether or not the president must follow the law, not the merits of Obamacare.
Let's use a similar situation to show how distorted Kohn has gotten this time. Suppose the Boston Marathon bomber were placed on trial for terrorist acts and that the punishment for that crime is life in prison. Then suppose that one day after the trial was over and the bomber was convicted, president Obama sent troops to the prison to retrieve and execute the prisoner by firing squad. Under the law, the punishment was to be prison, but Obama had him killed. It would be a clearly illegal act. If voices were raised to oppose the killing, Kohn would tell us that these are nutty people who first denounced the bombing of the Marathon and then complained about president Obama because he punished the perpetrator.
I don't mind there being a vigorous debate of the issues. It is part of what makes this country great. I take issue, however, with those who consistently and purposefully distort the facts for political gain. Kohn may be relegated to CNN, so her audience is probably no larger than mine is with this blog. Nevertheless, she ought to be ashamed of her conduct. Spreading misinformation is never a good thing.
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