McConnell tells Obama to "back off" on Supreme Court

J. Scott Applewhite

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday continued to blast President Obama for his recent remarks regarding the Supreme Court, in spite of the administration's continued attempts to explain the comments.

"Respectfully, I would suggest the president back off," McConnell said in a speech at the Lexington, Kentucky Rotary Club, according to his prepared remarks. "Let the Court do its work. Let our system work the way it was intended."

Earlier this week, Mr. Obama said that if the Supreme Court were to overturn his health care overhaul, it would be "unprecedented."

The president has sought to clarify his remarks, noting that the court traditionally pays heed to Congress, and Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday sent a letter to an appellate judge arguing that Mr. Obama's remarks were "fully consistent" with longstanding views of judicial review.

Holder: Obama's remarks on judicial review "fully consistent" with precedent
Analysis: Holder's letter a crafty piece of advocacy

Still, McConnell charged today that the president "seems to be saying that you're an activist if you're not stretching the limits of the limited powers the Constitution gives to the federal government." He said that Mr. Obama's statements amounted to the beginning of "a political campaign to delegitimize the Court."

"He looked at the line that wisely separates the three branches of government, and stepped right over it," McConnell said. "But what the president did this week went even farther. With his words, he was no longer trying to embarrass the court after a decision; rather, he tried to intimidate it before a decision has been made. And that should be intolerable to all of us."

When asked Thursday whether Mr. Obama would mount a political attack against the court should it overturn the health care law, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "The president believes that the Supreme Court has the final word on matters of judicial review on the constitutionality of legislation. He would, having been a professor of law."

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Complete Coverage: Health Care

[USSAmerikan]

I hate to be the bearer of reality, but Obama is a once-percenter. He makes $450K per year (salary plus expense account) and he's worth $7M (sales of his two books on his long and illustrious life)!! Not bad for someone who never held a job in his life!!!

[audemus]

Your comments prove that most people are not opposed to a person being financially successful. It takes more than an impossible-to-bounce-a-check bank account to be a true 1 per-center. It's a corrupted, selfish, self seeking, self-serving attitude that completely lacks compassion or even the capacity to understand anyone elses suffering, AND financial success that really define a true 1 per-center.

[Thinkbeforeyouwrite]

So being a state senator is not a job? How about a professor in a law school? A US senator? An suthor who writes best selling books? And, of course, being the President of the United States is not a job as any sensible person knows! Golly, there are more people without jobs that we thought.
Speaking of the 1%, I do not see them as the enemy. I believe there are many in the 1% who see things as those us who aren't and might even be called, brace yourself, liberal. There are some in the 99% who think low taxes for the richest and gutting entitlements is just fine. We cannot steretype and those that do are foolish.

[notyrants]

Medicare for all

[TimeToEvolve]

This clown masked extremist is just a useful idiot for the Top 1%. I am stunned at the corruption at the highest levels and the more extreme of an obsolete Republiclown you are the worse it seems to get.

The "Supreme" Court told the world where they stand with the Citizens United decision. The conservatives are clearly a corrupted bunch that work for big business instead of the law and the American people.

[audemus]

Hypocrite.

[nearl451]

When the law is overturned, there will be no backing off as the issue will weigh into the election.

BTW, McConnell and the President are pre-spinning the issue for effect.

At that point in time the choice will be stark:

GOP -All holds barred for profit only health industry where everyone pays for their own and there is no cost control whatsoever. This approach focuses on controlling the fiscal Govt outlay only.

DEM - The only Constitutional coverage and control option left is to tax and run a universal or public program to ensure inclusion.

Without the mandate, insurers will never agree to any coverage perks voluntarily.

So.......the issue and the Court's role will become apparent, even if Obama had said nothing at this point (which in hindsight he would have been wise to do).

[fixingit2002]

wow, pay for your own consumption? what a novel idea. Sorry folks but why shouldn't you pay for your own healthcare? And as for 'out of control costs", that's a problem created on many fronts and just forcing us to buy insurance will not solve it, nor will a 3000 page bill no one ever really read.

You know what? I have a dermatologist who got tired of it all. She stopped accepting any insurance. You pay as you consume services. Without having to mess witn insurance forms and claims and waiting months to be paid she 1) eliminated half her staff 2) lowered the cost of her operations and 3) passed the savings on to me. I now pay half as much for a visit as I used to be billed, which the insurance company then declined anyway.

You want to fix this get RID of insurance and pay for what services you use.

It's call personal responsiblity.

[rightbehind]

It's hard to believe the good people of Kentucky would send a clown to the senate.

[Lindag10]

Many of them aren't smart. We had Jim Bunning who got so strange the party made him retire, only to replace him with Rand Paul.

[julesarcher1]

McConnell should shut the he77 up. Nothing he says is ever worthwhile.

[Obama4more]

by DJ332013 April 5, 2012 6:14 PM EDT
And you can do the same!
----

Been there DJ and I don't like the way you run it!!!!

[Thinkbeforeyouwrite]

This criticism is coming from a man who did not make the recovery and health of his country the most important thing to consider back in 2008. No, his main objective was to make the President a one termer. Does that mean he had to agree with Obama in every way? Of course not. How about an effort to compromise as we have done in this country since the 1700s and is a big reason we are a great country. No, Mitch, act like a patriot before you dare to criticize the President.

[TimeToEvolve]

Republicons like McConnell haven proven it is about power first, then big corporations then country, then human beings. What a sad clown this guy is.

[TimeToEvolve]

I wish this clown would take off his Halloween mask so we can see what he looks like. Maybe part of his beauty comes from the fact he is a Republicon, one of these folks that wants to take us back to the Gilded Age.

At the close of the Gilded Age, the U.S. infant mortality rate was around 10 percent—a number you find today in impoverished Central African nations. In some cities, it exceeded 30 percent. Women could not vote, and their lives were controlled by men. Blacks lived apart from whites and constituted an economic, social, and political underclass. Corporations exerted an unchecked and deleterious influence on the lives of workers.

[TimeToEvolve]

History and the truth has a liberal bias.