Boehner Pulls a Bachmann; Virginia GOP Engages in Break In of Governor's Office

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As a former Republican from a family of generations of Republicans the GOP's continued descent into insanity and lawlessness is difficult to watch.  And I'm not talking just about Tea Party and Christofascist extremism and detachment from objective reality.  Cases in point?  House Speaker John Boehner who says he is going to sue Barack Obama for his "excessive use of executive orders."  Meanwhile, as the chart above shows, Obama has signed fewer executive orders than George H.W. Bush (who only held office for 4 years), George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan.  With today's GOP facts simply do not matter.  Demagoguery and pandering to the insane elements of the GOP base is all that matters.   One of Andrew Sullivan's posts looks at Boehner's disgusting dishonesty:

Never underestimate the cynicism of today’s GOP. Christopher Ingraham politely points to the above chart:

Back in February I analyzed the numbers on executive order frequency and found that Obama has actually been less likely to resort to the pen and phone than any president since Grover Cleveland. Just a few days ago, John Hudak at Brookings updated the chart through June 17 of this year and found that those numbers haven’t budged, at all. … As John Hudak writes, “claims that President Obama is issuing more than his predecessors is just flat wrong—and continues to be a talking point completely at odds with real data.”

Never underestimate the contempt for reality within today’s GOP. Here’s Beutler on Boehner’s nonsense:

[T]he fact that he hasn’t decided which laws the president isn’t faithfully executing, or which of those ill-executed laws merits legal action not to mention his indifference to executive overreach during the Bush years—all pretty much give the game away. This really isn’t about the integrity of the legislature, and in a way, it really is about impeachment.

 Meanwhile, back here in Virgina, the Virginia GOP - perhaps illegally - broke into Gov. McAuliffe's offices.  Like the Christofascists in the party base, in Virginia the Virginia GOP seemingly sees itself as above the law.  These people are a clear and present danger to constitutional government and the rule of law.    The Richmond Times Dispatch reports on this batshitery.  Here are excerpts:

At the urging of House Speaker William J. Howell, the clerk’s office of the House of Delegates enlisted the help of the Capitol Police to enter Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s unoccupied, secure suite of offices on a Sunday afternoon to deliver the state budget.

The highly unusual entry on June 15 took place without the permission of administration officials or the knowledge of the Virginia State Police, which is in charge of protecting the governor. McAuliffe was not in the building.

Three days later, McAuliffe’s chief of staff, Paul Reagan, fired off a letter to Col. Anthony S. Pike, chief of the Capitol Police. Reagan copied Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate Finance Co-chairman Walter A. Stosch, R-Henrico, as well as the superintendent of the Virginia State Police, Col. W. Steven Flaherty.

“This letter is to inform you that under no circumstances are you or any of your officers authorized to allow employees of the General Assembly to enter the secure areas of the governor’s office without my express permission, or the express permission of Suzette Denslow, the governor’s deputy chief of staff,” Reagan wrote in the letter to Pike, dated June 18.

Reagan’s letter adds: “For good reason, it is an area that is surrounded by three security perimeters. Even on a normal business day, very few people — including members of the governor’s Cabinet — can gain access to this suite of offices. We certainly do not expect to have agents and employees of the General Assembly roaming through these offices on weekends.”