Congressman Phil Hare, Take A Bow

In an exchange likely to trigger a law making it a felony to place a recording device within range of a Congressman’s mouth, a now formerly obscure politician, Illinois House member Phil Hare, was quoted – on camera – responding to a constituent’s question about the health care bill’s Constitutionality with a dismissive, “I don’t worry about the Constitution on this, to be honest”.

The interviewer laughed in amazement, and responded with words that, in an America ruled by law, would make the perfect epitaph for Mr. Hare’s political career, “Jackpot, brother!”

Having long waved good-bye to my elementary school civics texts, I am not the least surprised by Representative Phil Hare’s frank admission. I am merely happy that the man was good enough to provide such a perfect example to highlight how rotted this corpse of a republic truly is.

Due to the widespread disregard for the rule of law that blankets D.C., I predict Representative Phil Hare will not only see no move by Congress to impeach him (as required under the Constitution that, let’s be frank, nobody else worries about, either) but he will find himself stoutly defended, to boot.

Mr. Hare issued a feeble response on YouTube, asserting “that comment was taken completely out of context…I said, I quote, I’m not worried about the Constitution on this, meaning the health care bill. I was not worried that the health care bill would be ruled unconstitutional”.

Mr. Hare not only shoots his mouth off too quickly, he was also foolish enough to put his rejoinder up on YouTube without being in possession of an accurate recording of what exactly he said. The resulting YouTube makes him look either foolish or dishonest, take you pick.

Here is exactly what was said:

Interviewer: Where in the Constitution…

Rep. Phil Hare: I don’t worry about the Constitution on this, to be honest.

Interviewer: (laughing) Jackpot, brother!

Rep. Phil Hare: What I care more about, I care more about the people that are dying everyday because they don’t have health insurance.

Then, to make things even worse he went on to claim that he read the entire health care bill three times over before he voted on it – the crowd wasn’t buying it – and further claimed the Constitution (the one he’s not worried about) “says we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” only to have an audience member correctly point out “that’s the Declaration of Independence” to which the good Congressman replied, “it’s doesn’t matter to me”.

Lucky for Congressman Phil Hare’s political career, it doesn’t matter to anyone else, either.