Russert Fails Constitutional Law

Speaking of Ron Paul ... blogger Ben Fritz catches NBC's Tim Russert making an embarrassing error during his interview with the Republican presidential candidate on last Sunday's Meet The Press.

At one point, Mr. Russert asked his guest: "You say you're a strict constructionist of the Constitution, and yet you want to amend the Constitution to say that children born here should not automatically be U.S. citizens."

But of course, as Ben points out, this is only a contradiction if you don't understand the meaning of the term "strict constructionist". (Short version: it's a theory of judicial interpretation that has nothing to do with constitutional amendments. For instance, President Bush has said he favors strict constructionist judges, but also supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.)

Mr. Paul's response: "What's the contradiction there?" We were wondering the same thing.