Posted on 08/25/2005 1:14:49 PM PDT by simicyber
Of Liberals, Toads, And Growing Up In Middle America
By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
August 23, 2005
Washington, DC – Liberal special interest groups and their sock puppets in the U.S. Senate are looking more and more foolish with each passing day as they scramble to find any piece of paper written by Judge John Roberts that will destroy his chances of confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.
One of the first salvos launched against Judge Roberts was from Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) who railed against Roberts for a decision he penned against a court ruling that the Southwestern Arroyo Toad in California was somehow involved in interstate commerce.
The case involved a real estate development company that had challenged the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) over its claim of authority over the Arroyo Toad, which lived in an area that was to be developed by the company. The DOI maintained that it could protect the toad because of the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Roberts argued that because this particular toad lived all of its life in California, it was under state authority, not federal authority. He observed: “The Arroyo Toad is not a channel of commerce nor is it in one. It is not an instrumentality of commerce, nor is it a person or thing in interstate commerce.”
Senator Kennedy, however, saw this Roberts dissent as a threat to federal authority and ultimately, as a threat to civil rights for minorities and for women. That’s quite a stretch.
Kennedy’s absurd comments quickly disappeared from the media, but now there’s a new tactic being used against Roberts. He’s being criticized for being “insulated” for having grown up in a peaceful, middle class community and home environment. Washington Post columnist David Broder recently described Roberts’ background and then noted that his early life experiences are “all commendable but insulated.” Broder noted, “…it would be comforting to know that Roberts has been ‘out in the world’ enough to know there’s more to life than law books.”
The Associated Press picked up the “insulated” theme in an August 17 article headlined, “Roberts’ nomination brings scrutiny to Indiana upbringing.” The A.P. article described Roberts’ town of Long Beach, Indiana where he grew up as “an exclusive lakefront community” that “once banned the sale of homes to nonwhites and Jews.”
That clever sentence unfairly linked Roberts with racism and anti-Jewish attitudes.
The A.P. article observed: “Just three miles from the nearly all-white community of Long Beach, two days of looting and vandalism erupted when Roberts was 15, barely intruding on the Mayberry-like community that was largely insulated from the racial strife of that era.”
There’s that word again: “insulated.” The unidentified A.P writer then continued this theme by using the word “insulation” to describe Judge Roberts’ education at an all-boy Catholic school.
Please. Is this the best that Liberals can muster against Judge Roberts? That he grew up in a quiet middle class community and attended a Catholic school? Is being non-insulated from inner city violence now the new Liberal litmus test for Supreme Court Justices? Is a person who grew up in a “Mayberry-like community” to be rejected for the U.S. Supreme Court because he hasn’t experienced race riots and looting?
Liberals should be embarrassed by these ridiculous attempts to smear Judge Roberts. Ted Kennedy’s Arroyo Toad outburst and David Broder’s criticism of Roberts for allegedly being “insulated” are the most recent examples of the desperation by hard-left Liberals to derail this nomination. What next? Will they attack his shopping habits, choice of shoes, or his hair style? I am looking forward to the next absurdity from Liberal special interest groups and their sock puppets in the U.S. Senate.
He shares a name with evangelist Oral Roberts.
He's partial to Robert's Rules of Order.
He doesn't like actress Julia Roberts.
He's read a book by Bethany Roberts to his kids.
He's never landed at Roberts Field, Oregon.
He disagrees with Cokie Roberts a lot.
He has yet to condemn Mark Roberts, the Superbowl Streaker.
He eats his Oreos whole, rather that twisting them apart and eating the creamy center first.
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