SCOTUS And OLC: It’s All About The Right-Wing Moolah
Jane said it all here, but I’m risking a repeat:
Boy, does this sound familiar:
While conservatives say they know they have little chance of defeating Mr. Obama’s choice because Democrats control the Senate, they say they hope to mount a fight that could help refill depleted coffers and galvanize a movement demoralized by Republican electoral defeats.
“It’s an immense opportunity to build the conservative movement and identify the troops out there,” said Richard A. Viguerie, a conservative fund-raiser. “It’s a massive teaching moment for America. We’ve got the packages written. We’re waiting right now to put a name in.”
That’s exactly what NARAL did when Sandra Day O’Connor retired…
And when NARAL and others pulled their penny ante sideshow wimpery? We called them on it, day in and day out, for months on end. And took heaps of shit from Beltway insiders for being publicly honest about what everyone knew was privately going on: milk the base and cynically rebuild the coffers for the next election cycle PR, while doing nothing substantive about judicial nominees whose philosophies honestly threaten choice.
What are right wing bloggers and pundits doing about their version of frothing, fundraising hackery?
Playing along and hoping to reap some payback reward out of their lockstep shilling for the moneyed few. Some of them enjoying it far too much, frankly.
The fact that these people keep getting airtime and column inches? All the more infuriating because these specious arguments aren’t grounded in any legal reality that I ever experienced in all my years of courtroom work. Especially galling when it pours out of mouths of people who know better because they have also been working lawyers.
Recently, ThinkProgress cataloged crapola hurled not just at Sotomayor, but also at OLC nominee Dawn Johnsen and others:
The right’s disingenuous claim that Sotomayor’s nomination must be obstructed are far from novel. Indeed, Sotomayor is only the most recent of Obama’s well-qualified nominees to receive the same shoddy treatment. Consider Dawn Johnsen…who may be the single most qualified attorney in the world to lead [OLC]. A former acting head of the OLC during the Clinton Administration, Johnsen was among the most outspoken opponents of Bush’s pro-torture policies. Nevertheless, Senate conservatives have successfully prevented her nomination from receiving a floor vote, often citing her pro-choice views for justification even though OLC’s role has little or nothing to do with abortion….
If Senate Republicans want to rediscover sanity, they could take a page from Dahlia Lithwick’s recent on-the-mark Slate column and ask a question that would tell us all far more about Sotomayor than any of the manufactured idiocy being peddled publicly:
…it strikes me as intuitively obvious that in order to succeed in a white man’s world, women must learn to see both sides in ways that men do not. If that is true, it just might make them "better" judges, at least in some circumstances….But if I could ask her just one question at her confirmation hearing about that Berkeley speech, that would be it.
But that would require them honestly caring about Sotomayor’s core and thought process, instead of making even bigger arses of themselves by catering to their crazed base.
Sadly, it’s all about the moolah.
Especially consistently rev up the frothing base on abortion and scary gay people.
Whether they have any real merit or none whatsoever? Doesn’t seem to matter. Beyond shameful.
Conservatives with any conscience ought to stand up and say so. Now.
Because "bilk the base" is as cynical as it gets. And any sucker who falls for it gets exactly the vile level of leadership they deserve.
I just wish the rest of us didn’t have to suffer through the aftermath.
(YouTube — Christiane Amanpour’s documentary about "God’s Warriors" — and their mission to remake the courts and the nation according to their belief system — and only theirs — one judge at a time. Which also happens to be a fundraising self-promotional bonanza for far too many.)
Good Morning….I hope you are feeling better…enjoying Peanut and your guests.
I think I recall a prediction from yesterday TV that Sotom. will be confirmed by likely 80 votes. Just to say I hope these folks look like a bunch of fools (Oooooohm, that shouldn’t be so hard;))