Wednesday Open Thread

Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. Today is a special day because it’s my birthday. Happy birthday to me! I’m celebrating by working like a normal workday.

If you enjoy food & cooking, you might enjoy my husband’s new food blog: ZOMG Food Pr0n! Check it out.

Republicans are taking a bit of a beating for wanting to meddle with the Constitution. This time it’s Fox News analysts Andrew Napolitano taking Republicans to the proverbial woodshed:

Today, Fox News analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano slammed Republicans trying to change the 14th amendment to end birthright citizenship. When asked about the effort to change the amendment, Napolitano derided it as “nothing but political chatter.” He then went on to castigate the Republicans who are advocating for ending birthright citizenship, saying, “These people took an oath to uphold the Constitution whether they agree with it or not! All of it not part of it!”:

NAPOLITANO: The law has been upheld uniformly since 1868 and without exception. And we start with a couple of basics. The Congress cannot change the constitution of the 14th amendment on its own. It takes 2/3 of each house of Congress and 3/4 of the states to change the amendment. […] so this is nothing but political chatter by those who are concerned understandably by problems at the border. […] I can’t imagine that there’d be a consensus to change the 14th amendment. […]

HEMMER: But if the [Birthright Citizenship Act] were carried out, you had 100 co-sponsors about a year ago, it would require at least one parent to be a US citizen for a baby to become an american citizen at birth. If you were to enact the BCA as some refer to it, is that a way to get around the 14th amendment, and get done what people like John Cornyn, and John Kyl and John Mccain, and we heard John Boehner are trying to do.

NAPOLITANO: No! That would not be a a way around it. There is no way to get around the 14th amendment. These people took an oath to uphold the Constitution whether they agree with it or not! All of it not part of it! The Supreme Court has said you cannot take privileges or benefits away from a child because of a crime committed by the parent. Therefore everybody born here is an American citizen, no matter what their parents’ status was at their birth.

Napolitano makes very good points here. Amending the Constitution is extremely difficult and extremely unlikely. It’s all about wedge issues and Republicans know they’ll never have to act on it. Isn’t it interesting though that Republican amendments to the Constitution are all about limiting people’s rights? Like banning flag burning, limiting marriage and now limiting birthright citizenship.

I hope Democrats are listening to digby.

I do hope the Democrats are paying close attention to this because it might just save their bacon if they play their cards right. Here’s the lugubrious GOP star Mike Pence on the passage of the emergency state teacher, cop and firefighter funding:

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) picked up on that theme today on ABC’s Top Line, calling it a “massive state bailout.” When host Z. Byron Wolf asked what the GOP plan would be to help teachers who are about to lose their jobs — particularly the 3,600 in Indiana, Pence didn’t have much to offer:

PENCE: Well, look I’m married to a school teacher. My wife spent more than a decade in a public school classroom. So I love teachers! Teachers, firefighters, policemen are all Americans and they all know that the economic policies of bailouts and handouts have failed to create jobs.

can you spot the fear and dissonance there? I knew that you could.

I’m telling you, this is where the vulnerable underbelly of their “just say no” campaign. They are voting against nice, white, suburban middle class Americans this time (along with nice brown and black suburban middle class Americans) with this crusade. And going after teachers, cops and firefighters is a very, very dangerous thing to do. And as I wrote before, the Democrats should throw it right in their face.

Republicans are against jobs for “special interests” like teachers, police and firemen. They’re pretty incoherent about this too – they throw a hissy fit if it’s not “paid for” (although tax cuts are free) and even when it’s paid for they still vote against. It’s almost like they want the economy to be bad or something.