Monday, May 23, 2005
We're Not Getting Any O.J. Prizes In The Mail
Some folks on the left seem to think we have won something today.
We haven't won anything. When it comes time to nominate a Supreme Court nominee you can bet the house - if you're lucky enough to own one in this crappy Republican economy - that this weak-ass compromise won't hold any water. Already, one of the Republican signees threw out a caveat which could detonate the Nuclear Option against filibusters.
I don't care how many right wing bloggers are upset. Most of them are to the right of the 'public' Bush stance anyway, they'll probably never be completely satisfied unless full-on fascism is legislated or executive ordered.
For the now, the far right got what they wanted. The most radical judicial nominees - Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor - will most probably gain confirmation to appeals court seats.
My preceding post was intended to - yet again - attack (yes...attack) the Press for continuing to capitulate to the Bush Administration by ignoring or burying or lying about the facts on the ground. But The New York Times, to their credit, laid it out clearly in a May 21st editorial:
"Second, no compromise should allow unworthy nominees to be confirmed. Some of Mr. Bush's nominees, like Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen, are hard-right ideologues who would do serious damage to the law and to the parties who appeared before them. Democrats should agree only to a deal that would still allow them to block the worst nominees."
William Pryor is even worse.
A few weeks ago, Senator Ted Kennedy spoke about Pryor in a speech against the Nuclear Option:
"Last, but by no means least disturbing, the President has re-nominated William Pryor to the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Mr. Pryor is no true “conservative.” He has pushed a radical agenda contrary to much of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence over the last forty years, and at odds with important precedents that have made our country a fairer nation."
"Mr. Pryor has fought aggressively to undermine the power of Congress to protect civil rights and individual rights. He’s tried to cut back on the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Clean Water Act. He’s been contemptuously dismissive of claims of racial bias in the application of the death penalty. He’s relentlessly advocated its use, even for persons with mental retardation. He’s even ridiculed the current Supreme Court justices, calling them “nine octogenarian lawyers who happen to sit on the Supreme Court.” He can’t even get his facts right. Only two of the nine justices are 80 years old or older."
"Mr. Pryor has criticized Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which helps ensure that all Americans can vote, regardless of their race or ethnic background. He’s even called the Voting Rights Act, which has been repeatedly upheld by the Supreme Court, “an affront to federalism.” His hostility to voting rights belongs in another era – not on a federal court. As Alabama’s Attorney General, in a case involving a disabled man forced to crawl up the courthouse stairs to reach the courtroom, Mr. Pryor argued that the disabled have no fundamental right to attend their own public court proceedings. His nomination was rushed through the Committee despite serious questions about his ethics and even his candor before the Committee.
We didn't win anything today.
The moderate Republicans who signed the compromise deserve some credit for standing up against their party.
That is, unless that was what the plan was all about in the first place.
(The title of this post is a reference to a Chris Rock joke which would only be funny if I included an audio link.)
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