Moore is upset with Lieberman because he is, in part, responsible for the watered-down version of healthcare reform currently pending in the Senate. Moore blames Connecticut voters for empowering Lieberman, and he wants them to rectify the situation:
People of Connecticut: What have u done 2 this country? We hold u responsible. Start recall of Lieberman 2day or we'll boycott your state.Two things strike me as problematic with Moore's position. FIRST, the Constitution does not provide for the "recall" of members of Congress. Accordingly, the substance of his demand is illegal. SECOND, boycotting Connecticut does not seem like an awesome economic threat. Aside from October leaf-touring season, Connecticut is not a major tourist destination. And in December, most of the trees in Connecticut are completely naked. Moore needs to go back to the drawing board!
4 comments:
I know my problem with his stance on healthcare reform isn't the fact that he's against it: there are plenty of people whose opinion I can respect who are. It's the fact that it's so inconsistent with his past position, and is obviously a way to curry favor with the right wing since he knows he's pretty much cut himself off from having any sort of leadership position with the Dems.
But, while Lieberman is an opportunistic hypocrite, but he was fairly elected. And since it seems that Connecticut does not have a recall process, Moore is out of luck.
Even if CT had a recall process, it would probably violate the Constitution. The Court has invalidated state term limits, for example, on the grounds that states cannot add to the "qualifications" for members of Congress spelled out in the Constitution. The Constitution provides for expulsion of members of Congress- but not voter recall.
Some states do have one though, and not sure if the courts would ever be willing to address the issue, or whether they'd just consider it a political question.
The SCT addressed term limits; I think this presents the same issues.
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