"The Need To Vent"

I can't help but appreciate the irony. As Rachel Maddow has pointed out on her Maddow Blog, Republicans lately have been pointing to their need to "vent" in the wake of president Obama's executive action concerning immigration:

The Republican-led House may vote this week to undo President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration, House Speaker John Boehner told lawmakers Tuesday as he sought to give outraged conservatives an outlet to vent over Obama’s move without shutting down the government.

            

Boehner, McCarthy and Scalise need to craft a process that will allow conservatives to vent, but prevent a shutdown.

           

The resolution to undo the president’s action, however, would largely be a way for House Republicans to vent their displeasure, and could come as early as Thursday.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, who has pleaded with fellow Republicans to avoid a contentious government shutdown fight, appeared to win support on Tuesday for a plan that would allow members of his party to vent anger at President Obama while keeping the government open beyond next week.

Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/homeland-chief-faces-gop-critics-on-immigration/2014/12/02/a83c0b4c-79fa-11e4-8241-8cc0a3670239_story.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/lame-duck-congress-agenda-113222.html?hp=t1_r

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/us/house-gop-weighs-symbolic-immigration-vote-in-plan-to-avoid-shutdown.html?_r=0

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/12/02/boehner-plan-avert-shutdown-appears-gain-support-congress-races-finish-its-work/kfdQyZVBhZHaL2ordY12GL/story.html

The president hurt conservatives' feeling, so now they need to "vent" in order to make themselves feel better.

One of the big straw men that many conservatives often knock down about liberals is our supposed reliance on feelings and self-esteem. Conservatives, they argue, are made of stronger stuff that isn't offended by ideas that run contrary to theirs.

Yet Republicans in office are apparently such big babies that Obama taking action without them - which, by the way, is completely within his authority - cuts them so much to the quick that they have to take symbolic, empty gestures to make themselves "feel better". Those actions, it should be noted, come at the expense of what is best for the country.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.