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Roberts Too Clever By Half
The American Spectator ^ | 6/29/2012 | ROSS KAMINSKY

Posted on 06/29/2012 2:33:17 PM PDT by nerdgirl

While Roberts has a point that we should elect better politicians, I would argue that it is, in fact, the Court's job to protect us from time to time; framing it as protecting us from ourselves rather than from those we elect is a distinction without a difference as the members of the Court swear, as do other elected federal officials, to support and defend the Constitution, not the people.

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government
KEYWORDS: roberts; scotus
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Good article, from a good writer who is VERY conservative. The article does not excuse Roberts for the decision either.
1 posted on 06/29/2012 2:33:31 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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To: nerdgirl
"I'm heading for Malta, to hell with this!"...
2 posted on 06/29/2012 2:37:46 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: nerdgirl

3 posted on 06/29/2012 2:46:11 PM PDT by I see my hands (As Islamists perpetrated 9/11 so SCOTUS perpetrated 6/28)
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To: nerdgirl

Roberts wasn’t ‘clever’ at all - he quite apparently is a fool.


4 posted on 06/29/2012 2:47:05 PM PDT by Ron C.
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To: nerdgirl

I recalled Roberts’ confirmation hearing and made this same observation yesterday. During his hearing many marveled at how he talked and on and said little, and always seemed so slick and clever. It seems he is too slick and too clever by half, and those characteristics seem to be too much a part of him.

Some just enjoy being clever, and that’s not necessary a healthy thing, especially not for a judge of any sort.


5 posted on 06/29/2012 2:48:40 PM PDT by Will88
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To: nerdgirl

Obama threatened and Roberts folded.


6 posted on 06/29/2012 2:48:55 PM PDT by satan (Plumbing new depths of worthlessness on a daily basis.)
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To: Ron C.

Read the article, “clever by half” doesn’t mean clever at all.


7 posted on 06/29/2012 2:49:29 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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To: satan

Yeah that’s kind of where I’m leaning.

John Roberts has cast a hell of a lot of conservative votes in his tenure. That’s why so many people were surprised by this on both sides! You just can’t rewrite his record now and say he’s really a closet liberal. He’s not. You can call him a coward. A wimp. An a@@hole. But a liberal he is not.


8 posted on 06/29/2012 2:54:58 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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To: nerdgirl
Thanks for posting.

"Smart by half" is a cool statement for today, but the job of interpreting the Constitution remains, as it was intended to mean in 1787, a certain fidelity to that Constitution's intended substance as an enduring protection for Creator-endowed unalienable rights.

In "When Jefferson Dined Alone," Professor Jonathon Gross of DePaul University (Steerforth Press, May 2006) wrote:
"At a gathering of 49 Nobel Prize recipients at the White House on April 29, 1962, John F. Kennedy noted that never before had such talent been assembled in one room, except, perhaps, when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." - See.

Now, as to the intellect and wisdom of Jefferson, perhaps the Court, as well as all the rest of us, might be advised to consider Jefferson's ideas on interpreting and applying the Constitution.

"On every question of construction, let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823, The Complete Jefferson, p. 322.

Which is to be the more desired aim - "Cool by half," or to be recognized for great intellect and fidelity to the Framers' strict bounds and limitations on coercive power over the rights of conscience, property, and individual rights to liberty?

9 posted on 06/29/2012 2:57:28 PM PDT by loveliberty2
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To: nerdgirl

Fantastic article. We can no longer rely on the political process and our elected representatives to protect our freedom, that’s a joke. They manage to exempt themselves from the consequences they inflict on us, and extend their own power and enrich themselves with their wheeling and dealing. What’s not to love for a 21st century corruptocrat? They are not men of their word, that’s just something they have to pay lip service to in front of the peons to get elected-I can believe that they would be surprised that anyone would actually expect them to have integrity.

This, combined with an increasing electorate composed of people happy to vote themselves largesse at the expense of the shrinking productive class, is a recipe for the expansion of government and encroachment of freedom, which is exactly what we’re getting.


10 posted on 06/29/2012 2:57:52 PM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: nerdgirl

When the battle came, the brilliant brain in Roberts’ head proved as useful as a gun in a French soldier’s hand.


11 posted on 06/29/2012 2:57:56 PM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: loveliberty2

I’m actually yearning for Robert Bork at the moment.

We had a good laugh yesterday imagining Bork’s theoretical 5th vote.

This damn thing is BORKED!!!!!!


12 posted on 06/29/2012 3:03:39 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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To: AngelesCrestHighway; nerdgirl
"I'm heading for Malta, to hell with this!"...

He's headed for D.C. (or nearby) where he and his lily white family lives. He may have some concerns for their welfare, given what is at best indifference of OB and Eric to black racial violence against non AAs. If I had a son.....


13 posted on 06/29/2012 3:04:21 PM PDT by caveat emptor (Zippity Do Dah)
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To: nerdgirl
"“clever by half” doesn’t mean clever at all."

Yeah - it means: 'to be too confident of your own intelligence in a way that annoys other people" or "used to criticize someone for being overconfident in their thinking."

It also means, in this case to most conservatives, that Roberts was indeed not clever at all.

14 posted on 06/29/2012 3:07:26 PM PDT by Ron C.
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To: caveat emptor
Just one more thing.


15 posted on 06/29/2012 3:10:23 PM PDT by caveat emptor (Zippity Do Dah)
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To: mrsmel

Agreed. It’s our culture that is the root of this problem. I’m appalled by how teenagers behave these days. What their parents let them get away with. The sense of entitlement. The laziness. The idea that the buck stops with somebody else. As a whole, we are raising a society of complacent, fat and happy, lazy, losers.

My kids are still small, so it’s easy for me to launch criticism at others who have failed to raise responsible adults. But we are trying our best not to raise insolent brats who expect society to save them from themselves. We read the 3 Little Pigs a lot - and that 3rd pig is the goal around here. Being polite, working hard, standing on your own 2 feet... these are values largely missing in a huge portion of our young adults.


16 posted on 06/29/2012 3:13:19 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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To: Ron C.

Exactly.


17 posted on 06/29/2012 3:18:19 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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To: nerdgirl
can’t rewrite his record now and say he’s really a closet liberal. He’s not. You can call him a coward. A wimp. An a@@hole. But a liberal he is not.

What record are you looking at? - surely, not the last three! He should step down if he is as righteous as you claim. HE won't - HIS ACTIONS scream while your words mean nothing! Not every liberal is a TRAITOR but he is!!

18 posted on 06/29/2012 3:23:04 PM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: mrsmel
which is exactly what we’re getting.

which is exactly what WE GOT!

19 posted on 06/29/2012 3:27:29 PM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: presently no screen name
3 votes doesn't constitute a judicial voting record. Check here if you want to see an analysis of his voting record.
20 posted on 06/29/2012 3:33:26 PM PDT by nerdgirl
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