'Constitutional March Madness' Is Your Right-Wing Alternative to Fun Brackets

A Republican candidate for Senate is waging a war against President Barack Obama's decimation of the Constitution in that most timely and American of ways: the March Madness bracket.

"MARCH IS CONSTITUTIONAL MADNESS!," reads the website of Ben Sasse, a Senate candidate running in Nebraska. "Which is President Obama's worst constitutional violation? Make your picks!" The Palin-endorsed Sasse, who describes himself as a "fifth-generation Nebraskan who fixes broken institutions," is asking the public to chose the worst violation of constitutional rights committed by President Obama. We will note: the Constitution is listed second only to Obamacare, his true raison d'être, in the "Issues" section of his campaign website. And his call to move the nation's capital to his home state isn't mentioned at all.

While Sasse's campaign team have chosen an on-point gimmick, Charlie Spiering at The Washington Examiner calls the site "sufficiently wonky," but points out its ulterior motive: that the site "only lets users pick the first round of the bracket before asking for their email."

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"Wonky" is a bit of a stretch, as are many of Sasse's claims. Sasse criticizes Obama's "allowing congressional Obamacare subsidies," which is both oversimplified and not unconstitutional. In many cases, Sasse conflates the exercise of executive authority in any way with a violation of the Constitution. Four of the choices simply have "without legislation" tacked onto the end of them  (e.g. "Implementing the DREAM Act without legislation" vs. "Changing welfare work rules without legislation"). That doesn't necessarily make the moves a violation of the Constitution. It primarily means that Sasse doesn't like them. 

Given how much fun you'll have picking between exciting contests like "Forcing taxpayers to violate religious conscience by funding abortion through Obamacare" vs. "Allowing congressional Obamacare subsidies," you're unlikely to miss too many basketball games filling out this bracket. But there is good news. Thanks to Fox News, Sasse's bracket is also being televised.

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/03/constitutional-march-madness-your-far-right-alternative-fun-brackets/359437/

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