Buying Votes Is Ok, but by God There Are Rules about Lapel Pins
Posted at 11:21 AM ET, 11/ 9/2007
House Parliamentarian Vetoes Article 1
Who'd a thunk that a little 'ole button would get freshman Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) in such a pickle?
Yarmuth made up a bunch of small lapel buttons last month bearing the seemingly innocuous words "Article 1" when he began a walking civics lesson to remind folks that Congress, not the president, is Numero Uno under the Constitution. He thought the buttons would be the perfect subliminal message to his colleagues and the entire viewing audience of C-SPAN. And he enlisted a slew of members to join him in wearing the pins.
But now, just as the emasculated legislators are beginning to feel somewhat empowered again, comes... the button police.
The House parliamentarian has told Yarmuth and his button battalion that they may no longer wear their Article 1 buttons during speeches on the House floor. People will just have to learn some other way that the Founding Fathers intended the elected officials under the dome, not in…