Thursday, May 28, 2009
As moderate as Barack Obama has proven to be...
As a general rule, I am wary of counsel from those I really don’t think have my best (political) interest at heart. So when my good friend E’ J. Dionne, in a column that advances the idea that liberals should also hold their fire on this nominee, offers Republicans some kindly words of advice regarding Judge Sotomayor…
“And even though they should support her confirmation, liberals would be foolish to embrace Sotomayor as one of their own because her record is clearly that of a moderate.. …As for Republican senators, they have to ask if it's worth alienating Latino voters to wage a fierce battle against a woman who is, from their point of view, the best nominee Obama was likely to give them.”
Puh-leez! “Latino” voters who will be put off by Republican opposition to Ms. Sotomayor are probably already firmly encamped in Democratic circles. And to his larger point about her being a “moderate”, that can only mean one thing: she’s a screaming liberal. I simply cannot imagine Mr. Dionne describing any nominee of this president as a liberal – that would divert too much from the talking point of Barack Obama, Noted Centrist.
Besides the legally useless aspect of her “Latina” background, we know that the President brought her in because he believes she can provide the Court his version of “empathy” – the Left’s new standard of appellate qualification. And, as is typical of the Left and their faux diversity, we are once again getting more of the same catering to Democratic special interests, only this time it’s repackaged as Latina empathy.
However, this will not portend “empathy” for any unborn child; it is inconceivable that a Barack Obama nominee –with this President’s well documented indifference to that non-voting sector that is unborn children – could ever vote in any way that would weaken Roe.
Nor did this nominee show any “empathy” for New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci who found that being dyslexic was not enough to overcome his innate whiteness in being denied an earned promotion. (...and Judge Sotomayor didn’t even bother to explain her lack of empathy in a written decision.)
Mr. Dionne is probably correct that Ms. Sotomayor will not push the Court to the left as she is only replacing an already fairly reliable leftist vote. That in no way supports anyone thinking that she is a judicial moderate. I would love for her to prove to be the Democratic version of the Souter nomination…but I’m not holding my breath.
“And even though they should support her confirmation, liberals would be foolish to embrace Sotomayor as one of their own because her record is clearly that of a moderate.. …As for Republican senators, they have to ask if it's worth alienating Latino voters to wage a fierce battle against a woman who is, from their point of view, the best nominee Obama was likely to give them.”
Puh-leez! “Latino” voters who will be put off by Republican opposition to Ms. Sotomayor are probably already firmly encamped in Democratic circles. And to his larger point about her being a “moderate”, that can only mean one thing: she’s a screaming liberal. I simply cannot imagine Mr. Dionne describing any nominee of this president as a liberal – that would divert too much from the talking point of Barack Obama, Noted Centrist.
Besides the legally useless aspect of her “Latina” background, we know that the President brought her in because he believes she can provide the Court his version of “empathy” – the Left’s new standard of appellate qualification. And, as is typical of the Left and their faux diversity, we are once again getting more of the same catering to Democratic special interests, only this time it’s repackaged as Latina empathy.
However, this will not portend “empathy” for any unborn child; it is inconceivable that a Barack Obama nominee –with this President’s well documented indifference to that non-voting sector that is unborn children – could ever vote in any way that would weaken Roe.
Nor did this nominee show any “empathy” for New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci who found that being dyslexic was not enough to overcome his innate whiteness in being denied an earned promotion. (...and Judge Sotomayor didn’t even bother to explain her lack of empathy in a written decision.)
Mr. Dionne is probably correct that Ms. Sotomayor will not push the Court to the left as she is only replacing an already fairly reliable leftist vote. That in no way supports anyone thinking that she is a judicial moderate. I would love for her to prove to be the Democratic version of the Souter nomination…but I’m not holding my breath.
