The Republicans in Washington D. C. are going to fall off a cliff as a result of the ridiculous overreaching they are engaging in over what they ‘perceive’ is wrong with the Obama Administration. Sen. Lamar Alexander is the latest Republican senator to make a reckless claim in which he compares Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, to convicted felon Oliver North, one of the key players in the Iran-Contra scandal. Um, funny a Republican would bring up one of the biggest scandals to rock the Reagan-Bush administration. Talk about hubris.

Alexander blasted Sebelius for “her efforts to solicit donations for a group promoting President Obama’s landmark healthcare reform law.” Wow, so that’s akin to what Oliver North was accused of doing? He is feeding into the notion that Americans have a short attention span and don’t remember what happened where the Iran-Contra arms deal was concerned.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Alexander said that like North, who was accused of trying to circumvent a congressional ban on providing aid to rebel groups in Nicaragua in the 1980s, Sebelius was trying to bypass Congress to find funds to roll out ObamaCare. Congressional Republicans have refused to provide funds to implement the healthcare law.

“Article I of the U.S. Constitution does not permit government officials to spend money that Congress has refused to authorize or appropriate. Federal laws such as the Anti-Deficiency Act make this behavior unlawful,” wrote Alexander.

“There is, of course, a difference between Nicaraguan rebels and health care. With Iran-Contra, Congress had also prohibited support for the rebels, while in the case of health-care funding, Congress has refused to provide the amounts that the administration has asked for. But the principle and the legal prohibitions are the same.” Source:  The Hill

Of course, the Republicans seem to have forgotten that they are also guilty of the very things they have accused President Obama of doing. For example, while serving as education secretary under the George H. W. Bush administration, Lamar Alexander also sought private money to fund the administration’s education initiative, America 2000.

As he explained in a San Diego Union-Tribune op-ed on Sep. 27, 1992, “President Bush asked Congress to appropriate a half-billion dollars to redesign such new American schools. Congress balked, the business community didn’t. The president has asked American businesses to raise $200 million to fund design teams to help communities create such schools.”

Bush made the fundraising pitch in the Rose Garden in July of 1991 during an event with private donors, with Alexander standing by his side. “Funds are pouring in — I don’t want to say ‘pouring,’ because we’re going to put the arm on you all on in a minute here — but funds are coming in well,” the president said. “[A]lready $30 million has been raised, much of it from the corporations that are represented here today.” Source: Think Progress

So, I guess Lamar Alexander should be prepared for President Obama to pull the same stunt Ronald Reagan did when he claimed ignorance to the illegal scheme. Remember Ronald Reagan was dubbed the “Teflon president” by US Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder as a result of the scandals that rocked his administration, though they didn’t seem to affect his popularity. Oliver North went on to a great run at Fox News, with his own show and the respect of many, despite the criminal element to the Iran-Contra scandal. I would urge every voter in this country who is disgusted with the politicians who are doing their own thing in Washington D.C., to go out and vote in 2014, 2016 and beyond. Lamar Alexander, John Boehner and others have been members of Congress for decades and the status quo worked just fine for them then. Do I agree with everything the Obama Administration has done and is doing? Absolutely not, but the Republicans are engaging in a ridiculous freak-out that will backfire.

Here’s a little about the Iran-Contra scandal (Irangate):

…While probing the question of the arms-for-hostages deal, Attorney General Edwin Meese discovered that only $12 million of the $30 million the Iranians reportedly paid had reached government coffers. Then-unknown Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council explained the discrepancy: he had been diverting funds from the arms sales to the Contras, with the full knowledge of National Security Adviser Admiral John Poindexter and with the unspoken blessing, he assumed, of President Reagan.

Poindexter resigned, and North was fired, but Iran-Contra was far from over. The press hounded the president: Did he know about these illegal activities, and if not, how could something of this magnitude occur without his knowledge? In an investigation by the Reagan-appointed Tower Commission, it was determined that, as president, Reagan’s disengagement from the management of his White House had created conditions which made possible the diversion of funds to the Contras. But there was no evidence linking Reagan to the diversion.

Speculation about the involvement of Reagan, Vice President George Bush and the administration at large ran rampant. Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh investigated the affair for the next eight years. Fourteen people were charged with either operational or “cover-up” crimes. In the end, North’s conviction was overturned on a technicality, and President Bush issued six pardons, including one to McFarlane, who had already been convicted, and one to Weinberger before he stood trial.

This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.