Are There No Democratic Lawyers?
Apparently, none known to the White House, so, as McClatchy reports: Obama names conservatives to Legal Services board
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama this week formally nominated Sacramento-based attorney Sharon L. Browne to help lead the Legal Services Corp., whose activities Browne’s fellow conservatives have long tried to restrict.
Another attorney formally nominated by Obama this week, Victor B. Maddox of Kentucky, is also a conservative. Maddox served as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Browne is a Republican and a principal attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which promotes limited government. Even so, she voices support for the legal-aid program born amid Lyndon Johnson’s expansive Great Society.
I’m sure that in the spirit of bipartisanship Obama will eventually find a Democrat to appoint to something.
3 comments
Ummm… Wouldn’t that depend upon your definition of a Democrat Bryan? Seems to me, the brand has pretty much lost all meaning. *shrug* Mind you… ‘Republican’ isn’t what it once was either, right? 😉 Seems to me the ‘English Language’ has pretty much lost all meaning there. People change the meaning to suit themselves it seems. You may as well just burn all your dictionaries m8… they have no value any longer.
And, as it is *the season*… Happy Christmas to you and family Mr. Duff. 🙂
I’m sure that in the spirit of bipartisanship Obama will eventually find a Democrat to appoint to something. -Bryan
Ya think, Bryan? Somehow, I doubt it. (Yes; I understand you’re being ironic.)
Obama isn’t quite a talking doll given to Rahm Emanuel for the holiday; neither is he wholly an independent actor. It’s not that he is doing what his masters want; it’s that he wants the same things, and has been lying his fcukinassoff from the first days of the campaign. A Democrat? Appointing Democrats? Don’t hold your breath.
A Merry NODWISH to all of you who hang out here, yes, including you, David… peace on earth; goodwill toward Memsahib.
Of historical note, the two major parties began rotating around the political center early in the 20th century, with the Democrats moving left, while the Republicans moved right. This leads to the “problem” that most of what the Republicans decry as “big government” are based on Republican initiatives, like the 16th Amendment that established the income tax, and most of the Cabinet level departments.
The most noticeable shift occurred under FDR, with the final push under LBJ.
There are still a few hold-overs, like Alan Boyd, a nominal Democrat in the 2nd congressional district of Florida, who has more in common with Strom Thurmond than LBJ.
While the GOP has been going through a purge more thorough than anything attempted by Stalin, the Democrats just stumble along, allowing the Boyds and Obamas to call themselves Democrats without supporting anything in the party’s platform. This is the great weakness in the US two-party system, and the generally absurd form of Manichean concepts that there are only two possible alternatives or thought patterns that are suitable for any given scenario.
The ultimate hypocrisy is to call yourself “a pragmatist”, which frees you from any restrictions of principle. That is an open declaration of a lack of any form or type of philosophy.
Since the Democratic Party has become a “cult of personality” constructed around a self-described “pragmatist”, party labels have been rendered meaningless. Stalinists and Maoists aren’t Communists, and the Obambasts are Democrats in any meaningful way.
It is time to move beyond labels and accept that the party system is broken and needs to be replaced with the election of individuals.
Obama doesn’t actually know any Democrats who actually believe in the principles of the party, so he appoints people who share his real views, conservative Republicans. He can’t get away with it when it comes to judgeships, but he can fill his bureaucracy with his “friends”.
Now that I have ranted and brought everyone down, let me wish one and all at happy and/or merry Christmas [or other Solstice holiday of your choice – Wotan is happy that some many are honoring him with the fir trees].