Constitution 090.

There seems to be a little confusion – to be charitable about it – about precisely why the Republican party insisted on reading the Constitution out at the beginning of the 112th Congress. It’s not actually that complicated, really. It was because of idiots like this from the 111th Congress:

That’s Phil Hare from Illinois. If you can’t see the video: this fellow was so clueless about the US Constitution that he couldn’t tell where it ended and the Declaration of Independence began.  Which is embarrassing enough, but as Glenn Reynolds noted in passing elsewhere there were a lot of idiots in Congress who were demonstrating a similar lack of elementary understanding of the actually rather straightforward document that they were operating under.  And it wasn’t just legislators: the Volokh Conspiracy discovered this gem by Dana Milbank where Milbank quite relentlessly demonstrated that he knows less about the history of the suffrage movement than the people he’s sneering at. Continue reading Constitution 090.

Phil Hare (D, IL-17) lies about corn growers’ endorsement.

You know, in some ways I’m going to miss this miserable ignoramus, once he’s gone: Phil Hare’s such a marvelous chew toy, and the ones that I had expected to be savaging this season were unexpectedly unsatisfying.  Alan Grayson?  Too slimy; I wanted to take a shower every time I saw him in the news.  Carol Shea-Porter?  The room-temperature IQ problem made it kind of unsporting.  Okinawa Jack Murtha?  Died on me.  But Hare (and Russ Carnahan, who I will also kind of miss smacking around) has been reliably bad since he first hove into view.

His latest goof-up?  Claiming the endorsement of the Illinois Corn Grower’s Association, only to have the ICGA explicitly contradict him in public. Needless to say, the Bobby Schilling campaign – which will not miss Hare in any way, shape or form – was happy to point this out… and to point out that people don’t like career politicians for a reason.

The Schilling campaign also has a van, of which they are very pleased:

I mention this because, again, they are very pleased with the van.  And with their last campaign ad, which can be seen under the fold.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Continue reading Phil Hare (D, IL-17) lies about corn growers’ endorsement.

#rsrh Pretty good week for Bobby Schilling (R CAND, IL-17).

This would be the guy running against two-termer Phil Hare – who, I have just recently found out, had pretty much just inherited his seat from the previous incumbent (Hare’s former boss), and who was coasting on that for 2006 and 2008.  Good luck for Hare then, bad luck for Hare now, huh? In other words; don’t assume that this guy will have to be pulled out of his district like a rotting tooth.

Anyway, Bobby Schilling‘s Good Week:

Continue reading #rsrh Pretty good week for Bobby Schilling (R CAND, IL-17).

Bobby Schilling (R CAND, IL-17), pizza-swirler.

That’s not an euphemism, by the way: Bobby Schilling‘s new ad shows him making a pizza.

An interesting skill to have, and frankly more useful than the skill set exhibited by his opponent Phil Hare, which these days mostly seems to involve lying about his opponent and being in deep, deep denial about the federal debt.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Interestingly, the bipartisan John Deere PAC endorsed Bobby yesterday.  Something about him being more likely to help with starting up job creation again.

Democrats Acting Badly Watch: IL-17 AND IL-18!

This cropped up at one of Phil Hare’s events. Some background (you can see the raw video here): Phil Hare was doing his best to ignore his constituents’ rather pointed questions about Hare’s lack of awareness when it came to Constitutional law; eventually Hare fled to an area where said constituents could not follow; they turned to leave; and then a Democrat called one of them a seven letter obscenity.

And that’s when the fun started.

Turns out that the guy is apparently Charles Giger, the husband and the chief of staff of DK Hirner, who has been tapped to lose the IL-18 Congressional election to Aaron Schock. Which leads to an interesting question: did Giger try to hide his wife’s campaign button to protect her, or to protect Phil Hare? – Because Hirner’s not only far too progressive for IL-18 (R+6); these days she’d be iffy for IL-17 (D+3). The last thing that the Hare campaign needs right now is any sort of association with left-wing extremists.

After all, isn’t Nancy Pelosi enough? Continue reading Democrats Acting Badly Watch: IL-17 AND IL-18!

Meet Bobby Schilling (R CAND, IL-17).

He’s running against Phil Hare; yes, Hare’s the guy that can’t tell the Constitution from the Declaration of Independence. Interestingly, Bobby reported in the interview that apparently this isn’t the first time that Hare’s done this. It’s always sad when our elected officials start treating their seats as rights, not privileges…

Bobby’s website is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Phil Hare (D, IL-17) does not know the first Rule of Holes.

[UPDATE] This is the guy who shot the original video, apparently. It never hurts to put your contact info in the end credits…

Think of this as a teachable moment, Congressman Hare.

Background here: and check Hot Air for more.

Moe Lane

PS: He read the bill, mind you. Three times.

PPS: Bobby Schilling for Congress.

Crossposted to RedState.

Please upgrade Phil “I read the bill 3X” Hare’s (D, IL-17) status, Mr. Cook.

Because after this performance surely ‘Safe Democrat‘ is too generous. Phil Hare did everything wrong:

…from claiming that he didn’t worry about the Constitution, then proving it by mixing it up with the Declaration of Independence; to bragging that he read the bill three times, after falsely claiming that said bill protected uninsured children; to running away at the end, only to have to sit there embarrassingly because he had to make a left-hand turn out of the parking lot. Really: that last bit was what did it for me. Democrats tend to be much better at the panicked fleeing of inconvenient questions.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

[UPDATE] In my haste to get this up I omitted mentioning Hare’s opponent: Bobby Schilling.