Shaddup, loser!
Posted on 07/09/2005 4:48:28 PM PDT by kralcmot
Good morning.
I'm Harry Reid, the Democratic Leader in the Senate.
This past week, we celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and parades and backyard cookouts. I spent the day with my family and friends in my hometown of Searchlight in the high desert of Nevada .
On the 4th, Americans remembered why we love our country so much and what makes this nation special. But this week, we were also reminded that the freedoms we hold dear are a threat to those with a very different view of the world.
On Thursday, terrorist extremists -- fueled by an ideology of cowardice and hatred -- struck the people of London . Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. Our strength must be devoted to rededicating ourselves to the effort of eradicating these murderous thugs.
We need to bring to justice those responsible and thus bring greater justice to the world. We need to finally bring Osama bin Laden to account for his crimes. And we need to get much more serious about protecting America from attack, about securing our roads and rails, our borders and bridges, our seaports and airports, our nuclear and chemical plants. On Monday, the Senate will have a chance to do just that. I hope we take this chance to do much more to protect Americans and our American way of life.
That American way of life is built on the foundation of our Constitution. It's more than a piece of paper behind glass in Washington D.C. It lives and breathes. Its promise of a more perfect union is guarded and shaped by the decisions of the Supreme Court. And as you know, last week Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from the Court.
As the first woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, she blazed a trail that hopefully many will follow. Justice O'Connor decided cases the old fashioned way -- based on law, not politics, and I salute the people of Arizona for giving us such an inspiring public servant. But now comes the challenge of finding her replacement.
A Supreme Court Justice has a lifetime job. Their decisions last for generations. And on many important questions, Sandra Day O'Connor has been the deciding vote in favor of moderation and in defense of our basic rights.
Her vote made all the difference when it came to letting patients get a second opinion when an HMO tries to deny them care, in making sure students from all backgrounds can have access to a college education and in stopping polluters from poisoning the air we breathe. In all this and more, Sandra Day O'Connor held the balance, and with her retirement, all this and more is at stake.
That's why I hope that President Bush and the Senate can work together to nominate and confirm a Justice who lives up to that word: someone who can build on our national consensus on important issues. Someone with a deep respect for the Constitution. And someone with enough common sense to know that Supreme Court justices should not impose a narrow partisan ideology, but make rulings with an open mind and a big heart.
We need an independent thinker who will follow the Constitution, not a knee-jerk conservative crusader who will march in lock-step to the tune of partisan pressure groups.
But radical right activists are hungry for something else. President Bush's far right allies are spending millions of dollars to pressure him to pick not just a conservative, but an extreme conservative, someone out of the mainstream, someone who will impose their narrow partisan agenda from the perch of the highest court in the land, instead of faithfully interpreting the law. America deserves better. Today marks the anniversary of the passing of former Chief Justice Earl Warren. When he was appointed in 1953, the Supreme Court -- and our country -- was bitterly divided on the issue of racial segregation. But Earl Warren -- the son of a railroad car repairman -- used the arguments of Thurgood Marshall -- the son of a railroad dining car waiter -- to end the division and bring unity to the Court. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court said that we could not be both separate and equal. When Chief Justice Warren read the ruling from the bench and announced that the decision had been reached unanimously, a wave of emotion and excitement spread across the courtroom. On one of the most difficult issues America has ever faced, Earl Warren was able to forge a consensus that today is our national consensus.
Mr. President, that's the kind of justice we hope you'll nominate; someone who will bring us together; a mainstream justice who won't use their judicial robe as a cloak to impose their political ideology on the country.
That's what Ronald Reagan did when he chose Sandra Day O'Connor. Both parties cheered the decision. That can happen again if President Bush says no to the far-right and instead follows in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan to choose a Supreme Court Justice who will unite the country. I hope President Bush will seize this opportunity to bring us together and give America a Supreme Court Justice we can all be proud of.
This is Harry Reid.
Thanks for listening.
I'd rather fight than barf.
Well I've got to agree with Reid here, we need a strict constructionist who is going to abide by the Constitution rather than adjudicate new laws based on their political ideology.
Article says, "someone who will bring us together; a mainstream justice who won't use their judicial robe as a cloak to impose their political ideology on the country."
Yeah, that statement always makes me think of Ruth Ginsburg or David Souter - no out of the mainstream ideology there! Since when did Dems NOT want to impose ideology on the country by using the bench???
double speak at its finest
accuse your adversary of doing exactly what you are doing.
point the finger at the innocent
while you slip the noose around
their neck.
got your 6
He is praising O'Connor for being the deciding vote in a case that assures that students from all backgrounds have access to a college education...
He seems tor remember that afftimative action case JUST a little different than I do...I don't think it has been in doubt for a very long time whether students of various backgrounds HAVE ACCESS to college educations....just whether certain students have MORE ACCESS than others based solely on the color of their skin..
Shaddup, loser!
they do not have an ideology
how could they possibly impose it on anyone?
what they want is whatever we don't
we are choosing the agenda
they are opposing it
or, put another way, their ideology (if you call it that) is anything different from what we have or want
cute
is that your squeeze?
The United States is the ONLY country in the world where ANYBODY who tries hard enough can go to college and money is readily available for people who can't afford it.
These damn Democrats have been doing everything in there power to circomvent the constitution.
Ried is two faced liar, like the terrorist's he represents.
Shoot, in Texas, even illegals can go to college easier than Americans from other states!!!
THAT is a crime!
. . . killing babies. And you'd better believe, we Death-o-crats want 'em dead, dead, dead!!!
It lives and breathes. THAT is the key phrase in all of this. Libs always tell us the constitution "lives and breathes".
What does that mean?
To libs it means the Constitution can be changed, altered or interpreted differently at different times, depending on the situation. In other words: Judicial activism rather than literal Constitutional interpretation.
Their entire constitutional philosophy in 4 little words.
They MUST constantly repeat that phrase as it 'verifies' some of the idiotic and un-constitutional decisions that seem to be coming more and more.
We need originalists on the SCOTUS and the Federal benches. We do not need those that believe the Constitution "lives and breathes".
"Death-o-cRATS"
where did you learn to spell?
sending this to Wikipedia for immediate posting.
thanks
counting all the money the casinos pay us, you know several of my children are on the take.
but,
if it does not "live and breathe" then it must be dead. what are we supposed to do with a dead Constitution?
call the paramedics and save it before its too late
Bush needs to appoint a Doctor/Lawyer to fill Sandra's seat
ooops, silly me,
Bush needs to appoint a Lesbian Doctor/Lawyer to fill Sandra's seat
/sarc>
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