Bob Vander Plaats is the biggest idiot in Iowa

If I were interviewing to be an attorney and said I was interested in the position because I have a deep-seated passion for riding around in a van and solving mysteries, I wouldn’t get the job.  Why?  Because lawyers don’t ride around in vans and solve mysteries; they sit at desks for 9 to 10 hours, drink heavily, and play golf on the weekends.

Bob Vander Plaats has a similar problem.  He’s a Republican candidate for governor in Iowa.  In response to the Iowa Supreme Court recently ruling that the Equal Protection Clause of the Iowa Constitution requires marriage be available to all Iowians, Platts has some fighting words:

Republican candidate for governor Bob Vander Plaats demanded Culver immediately intervene rather than wait as gay-marriage opponents work to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The earliest voters could see the issue would be in 2012, and that seems unlikely given opposition by Democratic leaders in the Legislature.

“I don’t want to wait two years,” said Vander Plaats. “I want this governor to issue an executive order that says there will be a stay on all same-sex marriages until the people of Iowa have the right to vote. If I were governor today, I would issue that executive order immediately.”

Plaats has one small problem: Governors can’t issue executive orders staying Supreme Court decisions.  This is one of the bedrock principles of American jurisprudence that’s been established at the federal level since 1803 (Marbury v. Madison, perhaps the most famous case ever) and in Iowa since probably soon after (I don’t feel like looking it up because it’s such a fundamental principle of law that it’s practically self-apparent.).

Plaats might want to read up on, you know, what the executive branch does–especially since he isn’t a lawyer.

Second-in-line for biggest idiot in Iowa is conservative activist Bill Salier, who was quoted as saying to voters, “Let the Supreme Court know, thanks for your opinion, it’s just that and this law is still on the books.”  I imagine he views opinions from the Iowa Supreme Court regarding Iowa’s law like he views opinions from his next-door neighbor regarding lawns–“Thanks for your opinion, Steve, but I think I can handle the crabgrass in my own yard.”

This kind of thing has always amazed me.  When baseball players step onto the field, they know the rules of baseball.  If you’re going to run for office, you should probably know the rules of our government.