Update: This was Jim McDermott, not Jim Moran. My sincere apologies to Rep. Moran.

The Congressman in question? Washington’s Jim McDermott, one of the members that could most use a refresher course on the Constitution. This is a fine eight-second clip, but of course it’s a little unfair. McDermott is objecting to the time spent on reading the Constitution at the beginning of the 112th Session of Congress, not the Constitution itself.   Contrast this with McDermott’s former House colleague Phil Hare, who was closer to the real deal on this point.  It’s an echo of the short-lived pushback against the foundational legal document of the nation in January from Democrats, before the rest of McDermott’s fellow Democrats belatedly realized that “I hate the Constitution” was not necessarily a great campaign message in 2012.

But hey, McDermott’s 7th CD keeps sending him back to Congress despite his pork-barrel politics, so who knows?  Maybe this is a winning message for McDermott in the next election after all.  Do voters in WA-07 find the Constitution annoying, too?

So how much time did reading the Constitution take, anyway?  The better part of two legislative days.  In contrast, it’s been 182 days since Democrats were supposed to produce a federal budget in the House for FY2011.  At that time, McDertmott’s caucus had a 77-seat majority in the lower chamber, and his party had an 18-seat majority in the Senate and control of the White House.  What did McDermott do for the 182 days that this budget’s been overdue?  I’d feel a lot better if he spent it reading the Constitution.

No one on that side of the aisle has any standing to complain about wasting time in legislative sessions.