Posted on 07/20/2005 7:33:31 AM PDT by Babu
After pretending to consider various women and minorities for the Supreme Court these past few weeks, President Bush decided to disappoint all the groups he had just ginned up and nominate a white male.
So all we know about him for sure is that he can't dance and he probably doesn't know who Jay-Z is. Other than that, he is a blank slate. Tabula rasa. Big zippo. Nada. Oh, yeah...we also know he's argued cases before the supreme court. big deal; so has Larry fFynt's attorney.
But unfortunately, other than that that, we don’t know much about John Roberts. Stealth nominees have never turned out to be a pleasant surprise for conservatives. Never. Not ever.
Since the announcement, court-watchers have been like the old Kremlinologists from Soviet days looking for clues as to what kind of justice Roberts will be. Will he let us vote?
Does he live in a small, rough-hewn cabin in the woods of New Hampshire and avoid "women folk"?
Does he trust democracy? Or will he make all the important decisions for us and call them “constitutional rights.”
It means absolutely nothing that NARAL and Planned Parenthood attack him: They also attacked Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Hackett Souter.
The only way a supreme court nominee could win the approval of NARAL and Planned Parenthood would be to actually perform an abortion during his confirmation hearing, live, on camera, and preferably a partial birth one.
It means nothing that Roberts wrote briefs arguing for the repeal of Roe v. Wade when he worked for Republican administrations. He was arguing on behalf of his client, the United States of America. Roberts has specifically disassociated himself from those cases, dropping a footnote to a 1994 law review article that said:
“In the interest of full disclosure, the author would like to point out that as Deputy Solicitor General for a portion of the 1992-93 Term, he was involved in many of the cases discussed below. In the interest of even fuller disclosure, he would also like to point out that his views as a commentator on those cases do not necessarily reflect his views as an advocate for his former client, the United States.”
This would have been the legal equivalent, after O.J.'s acquittal, of Johnnie Cochran saying, "hey, I never said the guy was innocent. I was just doing my job."
And it makes no difference that conservatives in the White House are assuring us Roberts can be trusted. We got the exact same assurances from officials working for the last president Bush about David Hackett Souter.
I believe their exact words were, "Read our lips; Souter's a reliable conservative."
From the theater of the absurd category, the Republican National Committee’s “talking points” on Roberts provide this little tidbit:
“In the 1995 case of Barry v. Little, Judge Roberts argued—free of charge—before the D.C. Court of Appeals on behalf of a class of the neediest welfare recipients, challenging a termination of benefits under the District’s Public Assistance Act of 1982.”
I'm glad to hear the man has a steady work record, but how did this make it to the top of his resume?
Bill Clinton goes around bragging that he passed welfare reform, which was, admittedly, the one public policy success of his entire administration (passed by the Republican Congress). But now apparently Republicans want to pretend the Party of welfare queens! Soon the RNC will be boasting that Republicans want to raise your taxes and surrender in the war on terrorism too.
Finally, lets ponder the fact that Roberts has gone through 50 years on this planet without ever saying anything controversial. That’s just unnatural.
By contrast, I held out for three months, tops, before dropping my first rhetorical bombshell, which I think was about Goldwater.
It’s especially unnatural for someone who is smart and there’s no question but that Roberts is smart.
If a smart and accomplished person goes this long without expressing an opinion, they'd better be pursuing the Miss America title.
Apparently, Roberts decided early on that he wanted to be on the Supreme Court and that the way to do that was not to express a personal opinion on anything to anybody ever. It’s as if he is from some space alien sleeper cell. Maybe the space aliens are trying to help us, but I wish we knew that.
If the Senate were in Democrat hands, Roberts would be perfect. But why on earth would Bush waste a nomination on a person who is a complete blank slate when we have a majority in the Senate!
We also have a majority in the House, state legislatures, state governorships, and have won five of the last seven presidential elections — seven of the last ten!
We're the Harlem Globetrotters now - why do we have to play the Washington Generals every week?
Conservatism is sweeping the nation, we have a fully functioning alternative media, we’re ticked off and ready to avenge Robert Bork . . . and Bush nominates a Rorschach blot.
Even as they are losing voters, Democrats don’t hesitate to nominate reliable left-wing lunatics like Ruth Bader Ginsberg to lifetime sinecures on the High Court. And the vast majority of Americans loathe her views.
As I’ve said before, if a majority of Americans agreed with liberals on abortion, gay marriage, pornography, criminals’ rights, and property rights –liberals wouldn’t need the Supreme Court to give them everything they want through invented “constitutional” rights invisible to everyone but People For the American Way. It’s always good to remind voters that Democrats are the party of abortion, sodomy, and atheism and nothing presents an opportunity to do so like a Supreme Court nomination.
During the “filibuster” fracas, one lonely voice in the woods admonished Republicans: “Of your six minutes on TV, use 30 seconds to point out the Democrats are abusing the filibuster and the other 5 1/2 minutes to ask liberals to explain why they think Bush's judicial nominees are ‘extreme.’" Republicans ignored this advice, spent the next several weeks arguing about the history of the filibuster, and lost the fight.
Now we come to find out from last Sunday’s New York Times — the enemy’s own playbook! — that the Democrats actually took polls and determined that they could not defeat Bush’s conservative judicial nominees on ideological grounds. They could win majority support only if they argued turgid procedural points.
That’s why the entire nation had to be bored to death with arguments about the filibuster earlier this year.
The Democrats’ own polls showed voters are no longer fooled by claims that the Democrats are trying to block “judges who would roll back civil rights.” Borking is over.
And Bush responds by nominating a candidate who will allow Democrats to avoid fighting on their weakest ground – substance. He has given us a Supreme Court nomination that will placate no liberals and should please no conservatives.
Maybe Roberts will contravene the sordid history of “stealth nominees” and be the Scalia or Thomas Bush promised us when he was asking for our votes. Or maybe he won’t. The Supreme Court shouldn't be a game of Russian roulette.
You dangerously assume that FR is not perused by DU types and the NYT reporters. Run a Google and you'll get FR posts on the names.
Having said that, I'm still not convinced. Your advocacy of tact is admirable, and I generally utilize it--but there are many occasions on which I've called a spade a f*(&^% shovel, loudly, in mixed company.
They get what they earn.
Coulter's column makes the point, historically accurate, that conservatives have NEVER been pleased, long-run, with a 'stealth candidate.' I hope she's wrong this time.
AMEN ANN! Give 'em hell!! No more Souters!
I'm not shooting the guy. I'm just not planting wet slobbery kisses all over his rear end like so many are willing to do. I have not seen, or read, all the details of his career, but it will all come out in time. Seems that some of the "conservative" positions people are touting in his favor are positions he took as an attorney on behalf of clients. We'll see...and I truly hope my skepticism is unfounded.
Ann writes a weekly column.....
Believe it or not, they hyperventilated against Souter too when he was nominated. But, he has turned out to be their most reliable vote on the court.
Roberts argued 24 cases before the SC. Now of course, as you pointed out, that was his job, but I'd be very curious to see what he argued in those 24 SC cases. If he was knowledgeable enough to make strict constructionist arguments, then why wouldn't he make decisions based on the same as an SC judge.
Hard to imagine a lawyer being hired who doesn't believe in the Constitution who makes strict Constitutional arguments before the SC.
Those 24 cases would say a lot about Roberts.
We can hope, but time will prove.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conservative, I don't think so. These are just the misguided Dubya supporters exhibiting cognitive dissonance. They couldn't denigrate the message, so they denigrated the source.
Certainly no denigration in these two posts.
What were you thinking, posting this?
Nearly 800 posts, and Ms. Coulter's opposition almost never stops going after the woman as a chicken-legged drunkard who never loved Bush to begin with. How proud they must be to have demonstrated the "big tent" under which they claim Roberts falls, especially when the only argument Ann raises is that the GOP base deserved assurance and they got temperance, that the tactics here were not her own preference and that those chosen tactics have failed to satisfy constitution-loving supporters of the GOP in the past.
Surely their extended vituperation must have proven her wrong. These cannot be just the all-too-typical attacks on the person that seem to have become common in this forum whenever Bush's actions are disagreed with by anyone, regardless of their conservative credentials. Thank goodness we can expect moderators to correct such discourteous postings where they went over the line. I hope that Ann enjoyed her little foray into the FR forum to see this and appreciated how much those moderators did to ensure she wasn't Slandered herself.
i barely got through the first page of 50, i'm not sure how you made it through 450.
silly childishness... i'll be taking an extend break from fr for now.
i can't stand all the enthusiasm over a blank page nominee.
Scary thing is that on the radio today I heard that this guy later said that Roe Vs Wade was in fact sound law. If that is true then someone here should be able to find it.
I don't think he ever said it was 'sound law.' What he said on point that I know about was in a footnote in a law review article he wrote, which pointed out that he'd argued against Roe because it was his job, and to my understanding, he said in his Senate inquisition for the D.C. job that Roe was 'settled law.'
Hey......I was wondering why it got pulled too?
I didn't get to see your responses.....
Bummer.
Ann let us down. Shame on her. She's entitled to her opinion, and I sure hope she's wrong.
Sounds to me like she just gave the Dems their "talking points".
Wonder why?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.