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The Ugliness Started With Bork
New York Times ^ | October 21, 2011 | Joe Nocera

Posted on 10/30/2011 4:35:50 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued

It is, to be sure, completely understandable that the Democrats wanted to keep Bork off the court. Lewis Powell, the great moderate, was stepping down, which would be leaving the court evenly divided between conservatives and liberals. There was tremendous fear that if Bork were confirmed, he would swing the court to the conservatives and important liberal victories would be overturned — starting with Roe v. Wade.

But liberals couldn’t just come out and say that. “If this were carried out as an internal Senate debate,” Ann Lewis, the Democratic activist, would later acknowledge, “we would have deep and thoughtful discussions about the Constitution, and then we would lose.” So, instead, the Democrats sought to portray Bork as “a right-wing loony,” to use a phrase in a memo written by the Advocacy Institute, a liberal lobby group.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
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1 posted on 10/30/2011 4:35:52 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
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To: Impy; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican; GOPsterinMA; little jeremiah; wagglebee; neverdem

One of Bork’s opponents admitted that liberals could never win a serious debate about the Constitution, so that’s why they resorted to character assassination of Robert Bork.


2 posted on 10/30/2011 4:37:38 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (Illegal aliens collect welfare checks that Americans won't collect)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: Clintonfatigued

Yeah, they were none too kind to Ronald Reagan.


4 posted on 10/30/2011 4:44:36 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER ( Celebrate Republicans Freed the Slaves Month.)
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To: Tzar

Not on the same scale he wasn’t.


5 posted on 10/30/2011 4:44:41 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (Illegal aliens collect welfare checks that Americans won't collect)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Well, duhhhh.... And the media was complicit.


6 posted on 10/30/2011 4:44:59 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Clintonfatigued
The Good...

The task of the judge, he once wrote, is “to discern how the framers’ values, defined in the context of the world they knew, apply to the world we know.”

The Bad...

That same Advocacy Institute memo noted that, “Like it or not, Bork falls (perhaps barely) at the borderline of respectability.” It didn’t matter. He had to be portrayed “as an extreme ideological activist.” The ends were used to justify some truly despicable means.

And the Ugly

The next time a liberal asks why Republicans are so intransigent, you might suggest that the answer lies in the mirror.

I think that Ted Kennedy here may have done more damage to America in a single act that anyone ever has.

7 posted on 10/30/2011 4:45:58 PM PDT by PapaNew
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To: Clintonfatigued

8 posted on 10/30/2011 4:46:46 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Clintonfatigued

An amazingly fair piece from the NYT.


9 posted on 10/30/2011 4:47:30 PM PDT by PapaNew
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To: PapaNew

“I think that Ted Kennedy here may have done more damage to America in a single act that anyone ever has. “

Bingo. Fat Teddy hated conservatives more than the Kenyan lizard even and put party above all else.

We right wingers should punch back twice as hard.


10 posted on 10/30/2011 4:50:00 PM PDT by y6162
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To: Clintonfatigued

It actually started with Clement Haynsworth.


11 posted on 10/30/2011 4:50:14 PM PDT by yarddog
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To: Clintonfatigued
WHAT UGLINESS?!


12 posted on 10/30/2011 4:51:06 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: Clintonfatigued

John Tower got a raw deal as well.


13 posted on 10/30/2011 4:55:00 PM PDT by Hoodat (Because they do not change, Therefore they do not fear God. -Psalm 55:19-)
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To: Tzar

Wright’s situation was completely different. He violated the rules of ethics and resigned under pressure from Democrats, who controlled the Congress at that time.


14 posted on 10/30/2011 4:55:00 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Tzar
Was Jim Wright really borked?

Wright's own corruption brought him down.

15 posted on 10/30/2011 4:59:50 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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16 posted on 10/30/2011 5:03:55 PM PDT by onyx (PLEASE SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC BY DONATING NOW! Sarah's New Ping List - tell me if you want on it.)
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To: PapaNew
I think that Ted Kennedy here may have done more damage to America in a single act that anyone ever has.

That was his 1965 immigration act which was a deliberate move to turn America into a third world hell hole. The liberals and media were on a roll from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which Republicans passed) and took advantage of the propaganda to brand anyone who opposed the vile immigration law as a Bull Connor.

17 posted on 10/30/2011 5:04:24 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Clintonfatigued.
"If this were carried out as an internal Senate debate," Ann Lewis, the Democratic activist, would later acknowledge, "we would have deep and thoughtful discussions about the Constitution, and then we would lose." So, instead, the Democrats sought to portray Bork as "a right-wing loony," to use a phrase in a memo written by the Advocacy Institute, a liberal lobby group.
It started with FDR's attempt to pack the SCOTUS. He accomplished it through attrition -- during his 13 years in office, he appointed more than nine justices.


18 posted on 10/30/2011 5:05:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Clintonfatigued

That’s when it got really out of hand, but the way they treated Richard Nixon was pretty bad . . . starting with their holier-than-thou theatrics of Watergate.

Those good moral ethical Democrats of Lyndon Johnson and Mayor Daley.


19 posted on 10/30/2011 5:08:15 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat (There's nothing more hypocritical than a white liberal calling someone else a "bigot")
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To: Hoodat
John Tower got a raw deal as well.

Agreed, but he had some baggage as well. The saddest part was that his rejection by the Senate eventually led to his untimely death.

20 posted on 10/30/2011 5:09:10 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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