Republicans shocked... shocked...

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... that President Obama would abuse his Executive power.

Pushing the limits of his recess appointment powers, President Obama on Wednesday bypassed the Senate to install three members of the National Labor Relations Board and a director for the controversial new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - moves Republicans said amounted to unconstitutional power grabs.

Mr. Obama said the appointments, which he previewed during a campaign-style speech in Ohio, were necessary because Senate Republicans have blocked him at every turn. But in making the move, he rejected three precedents, including two in which he played a part, that would have blocked the appointments.

“I refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer,” Mr. Obama said in Shaker Heights, drawing applause from his audience. “When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.”

Mr. Obama tapped former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the consumer protection agency and named three others - two Democrats and one Republican - to the labor board. Those nominations had all been stymied by congressional Republicans, who said Mr. Obama was accruing too much power to himself through those two agencies.

The president acted just a day after the Senate held a session, albeit a pro forma one without any business transacted.

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So, let's get this straight: Boehner and McConnell, respective leaders of the Republican House and Senate, whine about a (not in) recess appointment but are entirely complicit in the passage of a Defense Authorization Bill that includes the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil without cause? Got it.

While we may be game for a certain degree of politics-as-usual up on the Hill, we also believe there needs to be a serious re-racking of priorities when it comes to raising a ruckus over appointing a new HMFIC of yet another worthless new federal bureaucracy as opposed to casting aside some of our most treasured and cherished American liberties such as due process and the prohibition against illegal search and seizure.

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That may just be us. Let us know what you think.

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