Cantor Rails On Unaccountable Obama ‘Czars’ By Citing Officials Who Were Confirmed By The Senate
Cantor Rails On Unaccountable Obama ‘Czars’ By Citing Officials Who Were Confirmed By The Senate
In today’s Washington Post, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) rips President Obama for “appointing a virtual army of ‘czars’ — each wholly unaccountable to Congress yet tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for the White House.” His evidence:
At last count, there were at least 32 active czars that we knew of, meaning the current administration has more czars than Imperial Russia.
The administration has a Mideast peace czar (not to be confused with the Mideast policy czar), a Sudan czar and a Guantanamo closure czar. Then there’s the green jobs czar, sometimes in conflict with the energy czar, who talks to the technology czar, who sometimes crosses paths with the urban affairs czar. We mustn’t forget the Great Lakes czar or the WMD czar, who no doubt works hand in hand with the terrorism czar. The stimulus accountability czar is going through a rough time right now, as is the TARP czar — but thankfully they have to answer to the government performance czar. And seemingly everyone falls under the auspices of the information czar. In a government full of duplicative bureaucracies, adding more layers with overlapping responsibilities hardly seems the way to go.
Cantor admits that appointing these “czars” was not illegal, nor are they “bad people.” The problem is that they were “not subjected to Senate confirmation and congressional oversight.” Ironically, Cantor’s link to the outrageous “TARP czar” goes to the bio of Herbert Allison — who was confirmed by the Senate:
There’s also Cantor’s “technology czar” Aneesh Chopra and the “government performance czar” Jeff Zients. Both men have already been confirmed by the Senate; Chopra is the Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Zients is OMB’s Deputy Director for Management. Zients is serving in two roles — in both the OMB and as Chief Performance Officer — but he was fully vetted by the Senate.
Obama did appoint Cantor’s other “czars.” But as even Fox News has admitted, the practice of presidents naming high-ranking advisers goes “back as far as FDR, and maybe further.” In fact, the debate over the role of unconfirmed Presidential advisers reaches back to 1832, with critics accusing President Andrew Jackson of running a “Kitchen Cabinet” in place of the official one.
President Bush was also a fan of czars, although Cantor wasn’t complaining about them at the time. In fact, the “Sudan czar” is actually the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, and during his tenure, Bush appointed several people to hold that position. Bush had so many czars that in 2007, satirist Andy Borowitz suggested the White House needed a “lying czar” to “oversee all distortions and misrepresentations.”
The thing about Imperial Russia is that as a centralized autocracy it only had one czar. Having multiple people in positions of authority makes a political system less, rather than more, autocratic. Consider, “under Hitler, Germany had only one Fuhrer, but in the contemporary United States there are dozens of important political leaders.” Do you find that idea alarming? Are we worse than the Nazis? Of course not.
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Who cares? Repiggies lie, cheat and steal as much as possible.
Their word on anything is worthless.
Cantor shills for corporate wealth and privilege.
Why isn’t he arrested for prostitution? That is what he does.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:44 amIf the Republicans are so disturbed by all the “czars” then they should introduce a law in Congress. This is just more posturing. Cantor is a whiner.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:47 amGive Cantor a break. He was tired after going to the Britney Spears concert…without his kids.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:48 amwell he should be glad there isn’t a czar for being a dumb a$$ then he and most of his colleagues would be in trouble. how about a facts czar or a rebuff the other sides lies czar.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:48 amMight I suggest to President Obama a “Kicking Ass and Taking Names Czar?”
July 30th, 2009 at 11:49 amThis whole “unaccountacle czar” talking point was debunked definitively a while ago (and even by Faux – go figure). Why is this being reported still? The continued attention to a demonstratably false “point” gives it legs, especially when the demonstratably false point is given the same attention as the reasons why it is, in fact, not Fact.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:49 amjust one more example of just how stupid eric cantor is….
how is this man in a position of power?
he clearly just talks out of his ass
July 30th, 2009 at 11:50 amWho appointed Cantor the Czar Czar, anyway? Can we call him Czar Czar Binks? He is just as annoying as his Star Wars counterpart.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:54 amWhile such advisers have been around for more than 150 years, wasn’t it the Republican Hero Ronald Reagan (last known whereabouts – dead) who appointed the first one publicly referred to as a “czar”? (And this while we were opposing that “Evil Empire”, the Soviet Union.)
July 30th, 2009 at 11:55 amI want a HYPOCRISY czar …….to keep track of the Reich hyopocrites.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:57 amI thought that was supposed to be Rahm’s job?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:00 pmIt appears that such a trait holds enormous charm for large swaths of the voting populace.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:01 pmOT: Billo is on Rachael Ray
July 30th, 2009 at 12:04 pm?????????????????
I think this is a great point, Republicans will exploit issues with no intent or effort to do anything about it. Abortion and gun control are two more examples of them exploiting fears and stirring hatred, without every doing anything meaningful about the issue. Afterall if abortion were illegal the voters with this concern would be free to go off and vote for stuff that actually has impact on their own lives.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pmalso – caller to stephanie miller told of watching cantor going ballistic about the ‘free markets’ during a tv segment with katrina vanden heuvel…
i don’t know the details… sorry.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pmralph the wonder llama says:
Zooey says:
Might I suggest to President Obama a “Kicking Ass and Taking Names Czar?”
I thought that was supposed to be Rahm’s job?
No Rahm is the “Capitulate to Big Business Czar” didn’t you know?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pmhe done his job… this is the operative line:
“the current administration has more czars than Imperial Russia.”
RUSSIA!!! COMMIES!!! RED SCARE!!! ETC!!!
July 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Czars come and czars go. The important thing is that we now have a President who is accountable. For the eight years prior to his inauguration, we had an empty-suit (and empty-headed) sock-puppet who occupied the Oval Office while Darth Cheney schemed in the shadows and pulled the strings.
I would have to say that we’ve made a lot of progress in the past six months.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pmralph the wonder llama says:
I thought that was supposed to be Rahm’s job?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
He needs his ass kicked, too — right out of the White House.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pmDeuce Coupe says:
July 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Yeah, I wonder why George W. Bush appointed Michael Brown as head of FEMA, too.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pmDuece is the number of cylinders running?
This one’s eligible for the clunker rebate.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:16 pmZooey says:
Yeah, I wonder why George W. Bush appointed Michael Brown as head of FEMA, too.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
_________________
Hey now! You take that back!
I’ll remind you that not ONE Arabian horse was lost during Hurricane Katrina. NOT ONE.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pmHow about a czar for politicians who commit adultery.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:22 pmRead between the lines… They can’t obstruct what doesn’t come before them for a vote!
July 30th, 2009 at 12:25 pmIf you have to bring something to be approved then the childish, idiotic, scumbag republicans can obstruct it, stall it.
Notice how the bio doesn’t note that Mr. Allison is called a “czar”.
Let’s just drop the use of the word altogether if that will make Mr. Cantor happy.
It probably won’t but oh well.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:26 pmsscncturn64 says:
How about a czar for politicians who commit adultery.
Sandford, Ensign, and Vitter all turned down the offer for that one.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:28 pmRemember “freedom fries”? Maybe Cantor should start a campaign to rename “czar salad” in the Congressional cafeteria. How about “word salad”?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pmPerhaps Cantor would like to be Czarina?
(I bet that he’s embroiled in a sex scandal with someone of the same sex before the end of President Obama’s first term. Just sayin’.)
July 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pmchiroptera toasterhead says:
Hey now! You take that back!
I’ll remind you that not ONE Arabian horse was lost during Hurricane Katrina. NOT ONE.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
That’s cuz Drownie wasn’t in charge of them!
I won’t take it back! Hmph! *arms crossed*
July 30th, 2009 at 12:35 pmPatrioticLiberalChristian says:
Remember “freedom fries”? Maybe Cantor should start a campaign to rename “czar salad” in the Congressional cafeteria. How about “word salad”?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Sarah Palin should be Word Salad Czar.
Just sayin’…
July 30th, 2009 at 12:37 pmWith her wardrobe, Sarah should be Word Salad Dressing Czar.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pmZooey says:
PatrioticLiberalChristian says:
Remember “freedom fries”? Maybe Cantor should start a campaign to rename “czar salad” in the Congressional cafeteria. How about “word salad”?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Sarah Palin should be Word Salad Czar.
Just sayin’…
I was thinking the “Fruit Cake Czar” for Sarah =D
July 30th, 2009 at 12:44 pmSarah is the Queen B-czar
July 30th, 2009 at 12:49 pm…and saying well, Zooey!
July 30th, 2009 at 12:59 pmCantor is so stupid he can’t even remember his own name most of the time how do you expect him to keep track of something that may span the breath of six months !!!
July 30th, 2009 at 1:07 pmEric Cantor is such a geek. It’s painful to listen to him speak. In this case, read.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:16 pmWhat else can we expect? These are the same people who accuse Obama and the Dems of “doing nothing” while whining, in the same paragraph, about them “doing to much, too fast” and “overstepping their bounds”. I’m afraid that the remaining dregs of the GOP have become so unhinged that I can’t really muster any more outrage.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:21 pmPatrioticLiberalChristian says:
…and saying well, Zooey!
July 30th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Would you like some nice ranch dressing with that? ;)
July 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pmDoosieCup
It looks like you are spewing more ignorant crap programmed into you by the hivemind. You are a moron and a stupid punkass troll.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:43 pmOoooh, what a brain trust we have here!
But that’s typical, when liberals have no argument or nothing constructive to say, they criticize and attack people they don’t like or disagree with.
Very original.
Very mature.
Keep up the good work.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pmcmm says:
OHHHH another brainwashed rightwing moron regurgitating what Rush TOLD him to think. What a shock. But thats typical
Typically stupid
from the typical sheeple
Go Fu@k yourself
I see you were too stupid to notice a point WAS made that Cantor the moron, though probably a bright guy compared to YOU, cited czars being unaccountable that were confirmed by the Senate. I am sure that went right over your protruding brow ridge since morons like you avoid facts and reality like vampires avoid sunlight.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:14 pmGuess who slept through the confirmation hearings ??????
And the point about there being more czars than there were in Russia – that is because the Czars in Russia were single heads with virtually unchecked power -kind of what Bush wanted to be. Czars in the USA refer to persons ad hoc against a definable problem.
You’d hope that an Congress Critter would know that before making more laws about it.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:24 pmDeuce Coupe says:
Why would you appoint a person with no business background, no business knowledge, no economic background or knowledge, never had a job…
____________
Heck of a job, Brownie!!!!
Errr… you were talking about Bush, weren’t you?
July 30th, 2009 at 2:33 pmJust Cantor following the classic Republican playbook: whine incesently about mundane things that your own party practices to make the opposition look bad. Pretty pathetic.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:51 pmIt is my understanding that a lot of these Czars(but not all) were put in place because Cantors’ party has been obstructing and preventing key policy people from being confirmed.Some of these Czars are in place to actually get some work done!Imagine that, if you can comrade Cantor.
July 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pmHey Cantor, you should have worried about what Bush/Cheney were doing behind closed doors when they were in office and maybe you guys would not have lost the election.
July 31st, 2009 at 10:52 amYou did lose the election and OUR president is doing just fine, even though he is still cleaning up the mess that was left for him, so sit down and shut the **** up.
I often cruise the tubes with javascript disabled which requires me to type out the a href tag, as well many blogs dont have a insert link feature.
Heres the a href tag: <a href=”http://www.your_url_here”>Title of link you want here</a>
Make sure you put quotes on both ends of the link you entered as above.
July 31st, 2009 at 7:13 pmI often cruise the tubes with javascript disabled which requires me to type out the a href tag, as well many blogs dont have a insert link feature.
Heres the a href tag: <a href=”http://www.your_url_here”>Title of link you want here</a>
Make sure you put quotes on both ends of the link you entered as above.
July 31st, 2009 at 7:15 pm