Will the president’s turkey pardon start a wave of unauthorized poultry immigration? By Dahlia Lithwick This is how it begins. Photo by Larry Downing/Reuters This week, President Obama will pardon a turkey in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Office of Legal Counsel has released a 4,000-page memorandum setting forth the constitutional and statutory justifications for this controversial executive action, rooted largely in the authority granted to him under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Eighth Amendment and also the Perdue Family Farms Charter. Moreover, as the OLC memo notes, presidents have been pardoning turkeys for decades. As the OLC opinion further indicates, the president’s constitutional authority to pardon turkeys may well date back all the way to the Lincoln administration, pursuant to President Lincoln’s son Tad pleading with his father to let the turkey destined for the family’s Christmas dinner live. Lincoln cheerily allowed the turkey to roam the White House, and the family feasted on a Tofurky in its stead. Obama’s Republican critics were quick to denounce presidential claims that the turkey pardon authority rests squarely within the enumerated powers of the executive branch. Sen. Ted Cruz published an op-ed in Politico titled “Obama Is Not a Monarch” in which he excoriated Obama’s plan to pardon the turkey as “lawless.” In it, Cruz posited that despite widespread popular resistance to turkey amnesty, “President Obama appears to be going forward. It is lawless. It is unconstitutional. He is defiant and angry at the American people. If he acts by executive diktat, President Obama will not be acting as a president, he will be acting as a monarch.” Other Republicans pondered what might ensue if millions of turkeys were spontaneously granted amnesty. Some warned that a wave of unauthorized turkeys will soon flood the country, trailing illegal giblets and stuffing, and taking up space on supermarket shelves that should have been held by Americans. House Speaker John Boehner tweeted, “The president has said before that ‘he's not a king’ & he’s ‘not an emperor,’ but he sure is acting like one.” Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum called the turkey pardon “just another in a long line of power grabs by this administration.” And Michele Bachmann, in a Nov. 20 email fundraising appeal for her PAC, charged President Obama with going far beyond giving lawless turkeys amnesty, affording them the actual rights and privileges of full citizenship: “What could more fundamentally transform our nation than making our precious American citizenship—and the rule of law—merely commodities to be dispensed with as our Imperial President sees fit, flooding our land with illegal turkeys which will forever alter our way of life?” Bachmann also added that the newly pardoned turkeys would soon be able to vote: “The Democrats are licking their wounds after their terrible defeats this month, and are viewing these millions of illegal turkeys as the delicious shock troops for their leftist agenda.” Perhaps the most damning critique came from Sen. Tom Coburn, who warned on Capital Download that the lawless presidential turkey pardon could lead to widespread anarchy and violence. “The country’s going to go nuts, because they’re going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it’s going to be a very serious situation,” said. “You’re going to see—hopefully not—but you could see instances of anarchy. ... You could see violence.” In the heat of the debate, amid threats of criminal sanctions, impeachment, and defunding the Department of Agriculture, conservatives pondered where this amnesty would end. “First you pardon a turkey, then you’re giving clemency to a sweet potato pie, and where does it end?” wondered Rush Limbaugh. “If the Congress had wanted turkeys pardoned, don’t you think they would have passed a law?” “So go ahead and issue your pardon, Mr. President, but be prepared for the disastrous consequences of turkey amnesty,” Fox News’ Sean Hannity declared in a special Thanksgiving address. “Because when turkeys get the vote, this country won’t be called ‘America’ anymore. It will be called Turkey.”
you think your posts are popular because they show up with many views. I am one who views them and quickly realizes, "It is just another DB cut and paste." You've lost your ability to communicate intelligently. More and more your replies are things like, "You're not very smart are you?" with no intellectual defense of your posts. Basically, you have just become a trouble maker who thinks it is funny to make fart sounds in class when the teacher turns her back.
typical DB. Cut and paste. Other than that, no ability to communicate. Your job is to post something outrageous. The reason you should care what I think is to communicate. But once your side gets complete control of my health care, my pay check, and what I eat, and what I smoke, communication and free speech will not only be unnecessary, but also outlawed. Enjoy your freedom while you have it. Your enemies fought and died for it. And you waste it for what you think are clever replies.
What outrageous? It's a parody for Christ's sake. Your humorlessness is your own defect, as is the characteristic rightwing rant mode. If what I post offends you so much, don't read it. If you can't help yourself, that's not my problem.
well, that's a start. No, I am not easily offended. I like free speech. I learn very little reading the posts of those who take my basic values and twist them into a justification for hate. I enjoy a good debate if both sides are honest. Cut and paste and stupid replies don't qualify. Unlike you democrats, I believe most men are good. They will do the right thing if given the opportunity. Your party believes most men are evil and need to be controlled. And of course, it goes way beyond democrats and republicans, which now are nothing more than the other side of the coin being flipped. I only single you out because I know that other than at election time you agree. I am bi. I can go both ways. Most of the time the government is a total failure, but we are the USA and there is no reason, no reason at all that we cannot create a good government. Unless of course, government is just bad. And then you and I will always be enemies. You and your party will believe men and individuals are always bad and will always do the bad thing and must be controlled. And me and my party will believe government is always bad and will always do the wrong thing and must be controlled. Two sides, same coin.