Blacks At Home Support A Judge Liberals Assail

New York Times ^ | 2-17-02 | David Firestone

[SpencerRoane]

An interesting story about how most local black leaders view Judge Pickering.

[Free the USA]

Bump so that I can E-mail this to both of my Socialist Senators with the prayer that it might make a difference.

[BCrago66]

And from the New York Times! Wow.

[RecallJeffords]

Great post. The Eastern liberal establishment, as usual, is talking out of its rear end on Pickering. The comments and observations from folks in his home town are precisely the qualities the Founding Fathers sought for judges -- temperament, fair, a respected figure, respect for the law. It is a sad commentary on modern America that the hard left views judgeships as just another nose-counting exercise, and just another political issue. It is really a wonder that anyone would subject themselves and their families to the kind of assaults thatliberals will launch to enhance and preserve their own personal power. .

[counterrevolutionary]

Fess up now, who drugged the Times's water coolers?

[BCrago66]

I think someone either hacked into their site, or is holding one of their wives hostage. This is quite unusual for the NYTimes.

[The Other Harry]

And from the New York Times! Wow.

I had the exact same reaction. Verbatim.

[SpencerRoane]

"Fess up now, who drugged the Times's water coolers?"

I don't know, but I'd be willing to bet that this reporter's next asignment is going to be in Finland.

[SpencerRoane]

Oops. Make that assignment.

[Dan from Michigan]

Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, which is leading the opposition to the appointment, said many of the judge's supporters in Laurel simply did not know the full details of his record

Translation...It's a Southern hick small town. They are ignorant. These hicks are ignorant of Pickering and it's up to us...the big city liberal establishment to educate them....We know more about Pickering than they do...it doesn't matter that they actually know the man... We are from the East Coast. We know more than they do...

Dan: - What an arrogant jackass. I'm for the American way. They should rename themselves...People for the Communist Way.

[The Other Harry]

I think someone either hacked into their site, or is holding one of their wives hostage. This is quite unusual for the NYTimes.

Not only did they publish it, it looks like they gave it a prominent play. Don't know about the hardcopy, but the headline is listed right up front on their website.

[gov_bean_ counter]

But they do remember that in 1967, Judge Pickering testified against Sam Bowers, a Ku Klux Klan leader based in Laurel who was on trial for the firebombing death of a black civil rights worker. Several said that just as the judge broke with prevailing white opinion in the state to do so, they have no trouble differing with black opinion.

He put his life on the line for those folks, yet the People for the American Way say they just don't know him. Go figure.

[Cicero]

I'm truly amazed that The New York Times didn't kill this article. I can only guess that they sent this reporter down there to dig up dirt on Pickering, and for some reason when the interviews came out very different from what they expected they didn't dare spike his article. I wonder if this reporter is black?

[JoeSixPack1]

If the national shakedown artists can't buy someone off they seek to destroy that someone. Sounds pretty clintoesque to me.

They sure can't have a Judge who actually has principles and reverence, when they have lobbyists and fringe voting blocks to coddle.

[SpencerRoane]

"The Eastern liberal establishment, as usual, is talking out of its rear end on Pickering. The comments and observations from folks in his home town are precisely the qualities the Founding Fathers sought for judges -- temperament, fair, a respected figure, respect for the law. It is a sad commentary on modern America that the hard left views judgeships as just another nose-counting exercise, and just another political issue. It is really a wonder that anyone would subject themselves and their families to the kind of assaults thatliberals will launch to enhance and preserve their own personal power."

Well put. Going after judicial appointees is a dirty business. The conservatives usually focus, correctly in my view, on outrageous activist opinions of liberal nominees. Most Republican nominees are non-descript technicians or conservatives who believe in judicial restraint and/or original intent. Since it is often politically difficult to attack such people honestly, the liberals trump up bogus charges of racism or "lack of judicial temperament." Nan Aron and Ralph Neas have been doing this since the Meese era, when lies were told about alleged religious and policy-based "litmus tests" at the DOJ for federal judicial candidates. I wonder if people like Neas and Aron ever have trouble sleeping at night.

[an amused spectator]

Bennie Thompson, a Democrat who represents the Delta region on the opposite side of the state in Congress, has called the judge's black supporters "Judases."

Someone on another thread said that the son of Medgar Evers was supporting Pickering. I guess he's a "Judas", too. ;-)

[Hacksaw]

It is too bad that the Klan with a Tan (the NAACP) opposes Pickering because he is pro life (in other words, he does not believe in the elastic clause.)

[SpencerRoane]

"If the national shakedown artists can't buy someone off they seek to destroy that someone. Sounds pretty clintoesque to me."

Hey Joe. The irony of all this is that Pickering, from what I can tell, is a fairly tame establishment moderate-conservative. Presumably the libs want to defeat him in order to intimidate the administration on judicial nominees. A liberal victory here might have just the opposite effect, however.

[Fast 1975]

Ralph Neas can be summed up in one word: Creepy

[NovemberCharlie]

Four of the five black council members, in fact, said they enthusiastically supported Judge Pickering's appointment. The fifth, Manuel Jones, said he opposed the nomination, largely because he differed with Judge Pickering's efforts in the late 1980's to integrate the largely black city schools with the largely white county schools.

Here's what I find interesting. If it was sufficient to influence his opinion on holding a judgeship, I assume their disagreement was more than just the practical matter of how to integrate the schools. In that case, I shall assume that Jones did not favor integrating the schools. The sole detractor the Times was able to find thinks he's too liberal!