Glimers of Hope

Yep, the Republic Just Might Survive. From the latest Patriot Post Digest:

Recess? What Recess?

A few House Republicans are holding the fort against Barack Obama's recess appointments this month while the rest of their colleagues are on August recess. According to the Constitution, the president may make unilateral temporary appointments to various agencies when Congress is not in session. However, neither the House nor the Senate may adjourn without the consent of the other chamber. The nine GOP representatives are holding pro-forma sessions every three days, thereby blocking the Senate from adjourning and preventing any Obama appointments. They are freshmen Jeff Landry (LA), Andy Harris (MD), Jeff Duncan (SC), Mick Mulvaney (SC), Jeff Denham (CA), Trey Gowdy (SC), Steve Stivers (OH), Allen West (FL), as well as three-term Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

The most recent benefit of this maneuver has been the House's blocking of Richard Cordray's appointment as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These Republicans are living up to a promise made by 77 freshmen in June to do whatever was necessary to prevent Obama's ability to make another recess appointment. This procedure isn't new; Obama's two most recent predecessors were also stumped by it. Yet it still didn't stop Bill Clinton from making 139 recess appointments, or George W. Bush from making 171. Obama has made 21 in two-and-a-half years, due in part to the actions of Republicans like the group currently meeting in the House.

Unions Stumble in Wisconsin Recall Elections

Earlier this year, Wisconsin's Republican legislature and GOP Gov. Scott Walker made a series of reforms that took a bite out of public unions' lavish benefits. Predictably, the unions threw a tantrum. First, they spent millions to defeat a conservative justice on the state supreme court to help them win legal challenges. That didn't work, but they also forced several GOP lawmakers into recall elections. Those were held Tuesday, and, for the most part, that didn't work either. Republicans won four out of six elections -- a major blow to the unions and their allies, who once again spent millions to try to buy victory. One of the losing Republicans represented a heavily Democrat district, and the other was plagued by scandal and lost only narrowly. The four victors, however, also represented districts Barack Obama won in 2008.

Round three will be recall elections next Tuesday for two Democrats who fled the state earlier this year in a vain attempt to obstruct Republicans in passing budget legislation. Delusional Democrats are trying to cast Tuesday's outcome as a win, but it's possible that the unions could go 0-for-3 if Democrats lose next week. Who would have thought it possible in Wisconsin, the home of "progressivism"?