The AP's Scathing Take on the GOP's Distaste for the Constitution

From the AP's Ben Evans, writing under the brutal headline "SPIN METER: GOP hot, cold on Constitution":

Republican Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia won his seat in Congress campaigning as a strict defender of the Constitution. He carries a copy in his pocket and is particularly fond of invoking the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

But it turns out there are parts of the document he doesn't care for — lots of them. He wants to get rid of the language about birthright citizenship, federal income taxes and direct election of senators, among others. He would add plenty of stuff, including explicitly authorizing castration as punishment for child rapists.

This hot-and-cold take on the Constitution is surprisingly common within the GOP, particularly among those like Broun who portray themselves as strict Constitutionalists and who frequently accuse Democrats of twisting the document to serve political aims.

Republicans have proposed at least 42 Constitutional amendments in the current Congress, including one that has gained favor recently to eliminate the automatic grant of citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

Republicans, apparently, love the Constitution so much they want to radically alter it to return America to the social contract by which it was governed before even the Civil War. It's awfully hard to maintain the veneer of strictly constructing the Constitution when you at the same time advocate for upending the Constitution -- and it's about time that the establishment media said as much.