GOP orders reading of U.S. Constitution to please Tea Party

The U.S. Constitution text was read within the House of Representatives Thursday as Republicans kicked off the 112th Congress with obvious Tea Party pandering. The meaningless gesture gave the media a good amount of fodder to fill column inches and airtime. Republicans neglected passages of the original U.S. Constitution text and a birther disrupted the proceedings. Looks like somebody can be needing payday loan to buy their way out of trouble.

What the Tea Party does

In the House, the U.S. Constitution was read as a Republican gesture to Tea Party activists. This was after the election for 2010 was handed to republicans due to the Tea Party efforts. The reading lasted about an hour and a half. In order to emphasize the new Republican rule that states anything that becomes law must first clarify why it is allowed to become law in the U.S. Constitution. The preamble words were spoken by new Speaker of the House Re. John Boehner, R-Ohio:

“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Not allowing Three Fifths Clause

Partisan bickering over the U.S. Constitution text began before it was read. Any parts of the Constitution that had an amendment changing it needed to be deleted, if you ask Republicans. There was one section in particular argued. That "Three-Fifths Clause" was the section. The Three-Fifths Clause states slaves are only to be considered “three fifths of all other persons.”. Rep. Jesse Jackson, D-Ill, said “Many of us don’t want that to be lost upon reading of our sacred document.” Many think that the Three-Fifths Clause should remind conservatives that the Constitution isn't set in stone as it can change with the nation when amendments are passed.

Woman yells ‘Help us Jesus!’

The final bipartisan gesture for the 112th Congress between Republicans and Democrats was likely the reading of the U.S. Constitution. Then, things went wrong while Frank Pallone, D-N.J., was reading. The part that requires a president to be a "natural born citizen" was read. In the audience, a woman yelled, “Except Obama, except Obama, help us Jesus!” They arrested the woman. She was escorted out.

Information from

ABC News

abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-representatives-read-constitution-floor/story?id=12555114&page=2

Washington Post

voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/huck_finning_the_constitution.html

NPR

npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/01/06/132708560/birther-disrupts-u-s-house-constitution-reading