Congressional Sovereignty Caucus Launching Next Week
A new group is set to launch in the House of Representatives, made up of conservatives set on defending American power and interests against encroachment from international institutions: The Congressional Sovereignty Caucus.
Their kickoff meeting will be this coming Wednesday, featuring co-founders Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), plus Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) -- and special guests Oliver North, Frank Gaffney and Doug Feith.
Rep. Lamborn declined to comment, but his office did point us to an opinion column he wrote last week, mainly targeted at the nomination of Harold Koh to be the legal counsel to the State Department, in which he explained the importance of American sovereignty.
"Sovereignty is vital for America because we are an exceptional nation," wrote Lamborn, "one uniquely blessed with a vibrant Judeo-Christian heritage, as demonstrated both through its founding documents and by the witness of history. For any nation, and I believe especially for America, to give up any degree of control of its destiny to transnational bodies is irresponsible and wrong."
Their first meeting sure will have an interesting line-up. North, for example, covertly sold weapons to the Khomeini regime in Iran and then wore his Marine uniform at a Congressional hearing in order to justify himself. And Gaffney has written opinion columns in which he's raised suspicions that President Obama might not be a natural-born citizen, or could be a secret Muslim.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
What am i supposed to say when confronted with such stupidity at such high levels of government?
June 19, 2009 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Any secessionists from Texas?
June 20, 2009 12:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
This reads kinda like an article right outta' the Onion. And to think there are people who will actually take these crackpots seriously. Scary!
June 19, 2009 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Doug Feith? DOUG FEITH??
I luv it. Luv it.
Maybe process servers can give him his subpoena at the conference.
June 19, 2009 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's got a lot of nerve showing his face in public. Will this important initiative (Go Judeo-Christians! Stop Buddhism!) get off to a wobbly start if Feith is tarred and feathered?
June 20, 2009 5:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
At least they're finding something to do with all that time they're not doing their jobs.
June 19, 2009 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
The only thing exceptional about America is the fact that Old White Crusty Cavemen refuse to enter the 21st century.
June 19, 2009 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just weep like the rest of us.
June 19, 2009 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
You realize, don't you, that this says nothing at all? Exactly who are they saying is giving up sovereign control to whom? Is this a UN thing again? Or maybe they're going with "Obama is going to get rid of the dollar in favor of some heathen world currency." Maybe we've already given up sovereign control because...wait for it...Obama's not an American! Pass out the tin foil hats!!!
June 19, 2009 7:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
BZZZ! Disqualification. Violation: A child-like, at best, understanding of the world around him.
June 19, 2009 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sovereignty is vital for America because we are an exceptional nation," Lamborn challenged the infidels, "one uniquely blessed with a vibrant Talibangelical heritage..."
June 20, 2009 5:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
File this under "AIPAC sub contractors".
June 19, 2009 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
"For any nation, and I believe especially for America, to give up any degree of control of its destiny to transnational bodies is irresponsible and wrong."
Then we'll be pulling out of NATO, right? I mean, if a NATO member is attacked, all other members are obligated to come to its defense. That's an abrogation of Sovereignty.
We'll also be withdrawing from the WTO, IMF, and World Bank, right? And NAFTA? All of those impose limits on our Sovereignty - force us to 'give up' a 'degree of control' over our destiny.
Wait, didn't 13 Sovereign States give up control of their destinies by agreeing to a transnational Union? The original 13 States did, after all, assert that they individually held all of the powers and rights of sovereign political entities. Is Lamborn calling for the dissolution of the Union?
Whadda maroon.
June 19, 2009 7:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wouldn't getting our troops out of Iraq, Pakistan & Afghanistan help on that "control of [our] destiny to transnational bodies" thing-y?
June 20, 2009 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess those multinational corporations have got to go, too...
June 20, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coburn signing on to the birther bill, these idiots and their white citizens, er, I mean, soverignty counsel. Why don't they just cut the shit, break out the Turner Diaries and be done with it?
June 19, 2009 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Stay tuned for the Congressional White Supremacy Working Group, coming soon to a Republican caucus near you.
As for any kind of "Judeo-Christian heritage" demonstrated in the U.S. "by the witness of history," has anyone bothered to mention to this dork that such a statement could apply to ANY type of heritage in the country to which one ascribes? Swear to god (with the little "g"), Chris Cillizza at the WaPo will eat this right up. Idiots all.
June 19, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Oliver North, Frank Gaffney and Doug Feith" - Maybe they are getting together to finalize their plan on which countries to invade after the next "Pearl Harbor event".
June 19, 2009 9:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Transnational bodies...like AIPAC?
Is Doug Feith really against weighing the needs of other sovereign nations in with American foreign policy?
Isn't he the guy to whom even Condi Rice said, "Mr. Feith, the next time I need to hear the security position of Israel, I'll ask the ambassador."
June 20, 2009 5:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
And the GOP ridicules Obama about expanding the government?
June 20, 2009 7:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I give this gang's life expectancy about 3 weeks.
June 20, 2009 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
That long? I think the National Council for a New America only lasted as long as one meeting in a Virginia pizzeria.
June 20, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
And notice that it was Rush who put the end to that group too! He is still the GOP leader and Cantor, McCain et al immediately kowtowed to his command.
June 20, 2009 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Looks like these guys are the opposite of Obama: not enough on their plate.
June 20, 2009 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
What area of MI is so stupid it elects a neanderthal like this?
June 20, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hate to break it to you, Mauimom, but there's a whole lot of stupid in Michigan.
The name John Engler sound familiar? He was governor from 1991-2003 and had a Republican legislature most of that time. What Bush did to the country Engler previewed in Michigan. It will take us decades to recover...and the auto executives who give special meaning to the phrase "out of touch" aided and abetted his every destructive move.
Recall Pete Hoekstra, (R-19th Century)? He of the "I use Twitter so I know what it's like for the Iranian protesters" fame, and other stupid statements too numerous to mention? Michigan's second Congressional district. Mine. (Sigh) Running for governor next year.
And Dick DeVos, last Republican gubernatorial candidate? Scion of the House of Amway and brother-in-law of Erik, Prince of Blackwater? Whose wife opined, with great sincerity and more than once, that the reason Michigan was not competitive was the Michigan workers were paid too much?* She was chair of the state GOP at the time. The gubernatorial campaign muzzled her, but she and her husband are still major forces in state GOP politics, having, as they do, more money than God.
The fact that Michigan has Carl Levin as its senior US Senator, and for many years was governed by moderate (sane) Republicans (James Blanchard) and progressive Democrats (G .Mennen Williams), was home to one of the most successful industrial bases (Detroit) and strongest union structures in the world, has somewhat obscured the wingnuttian destruction visited upon the state by Engler and his cohorts (whose influence persists in the Republican state Senate) compounded by the willful blindness of the auto industry.
*That was in 2004-2006. The recent collapse of Michigan's industrial base has taken care of that problem. Not only are Michigan workers not being paid "too much," many of them are not being paid at all. Although I doubt Betsy DeV. is satisfied. She and her husband are believers in the social structure of the Middle Ages.
June 20, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wore his winter uniform in the middle of the summer, because it looked more impressive. And cried on cue, which is when he lost my Marine father-in-law. (Marines don't cry.)
June 20, 2009 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ollie North, Christ, I guess Ed Meese will surface next.
June 20, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
... and this will be diversion 4,217... just one more reason to spend time on attempting to remain in power... and not paying any attention to the important matters affecting the commoners down below.
Seems to work, though. These two mobs remain in power despite all their openly corrupt, nonsensical, and totally unpatriotic behaviors....
(these clowns DO protect torturers and other people who have decided to completely destroy the reasons our ancestors fought and died in several wars, don't they?)
June 21, 2009 1:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
"For any nation, and I believe especially for America, to give up any degree of control of its destiny to transnational bodies is irresponsible and wrong."
Well, except of course for the nations we invade. But that's covered in the "exceptional America" clause. Because America can do no wrong! That's because we're America!
Have any of these muttonheads ever heard of a thing called a 'treaty'?
June 21, 2009 3:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hope TPM will let us know which Representatives attend this meeting (and, of course, which of them join the caucus).
I suspect that some GOP reps will attend in order to suck up to these lunatics and to keep the base happy, but they might not be anxious for their involvement to be publicized more widely than that.
June 21, 2009 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Congressional Sovereignty Caucus or the kooKoo Caucus...lol
June 21, 2009 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
wow.
David Neiwert to the 'White' Courtesy Telephone, David Neiwert . . .
hell, even establishment media now gets it
Bob Herbert - NYT
apparently opposable thumbs are not a prerequisite for holding public office
June 21, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink