They Just Lie
I saw Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on the ‘tube lying about Sonia Sotomayor. To call what he said “shading the truth” or “spin” would require sitting on the blades of a blender, that was on a turntable, inside a tornado, enveloped by a hurricane, at the bottom of a black hole. Real, whole numbers have concrete, immutable meanings and you can’t make 5 to 4 into 9 to 0 without simply lying. When only 10 of over 1200 cases involving Constitutional rights are reviewed and 8 are reversed, Sotomayer is batting .993, not .200.
Hatch is also totally clueless about Second Amendment cases. There have only been a half dozen since the nation was founded, and before the recent Heller decision, nothing since 1936. The Supreme Court specifically limited the Heller decision to Federal areas, and did not address application to the states. Of course she delved into history, because history is all there is, and the 1936 case [US v Miller], the only case in the twentieth century, dealt with Federal law, not state law.
Look, Sotomayor would not have been my choice for Supreme Court, but she has more “time in grade and time in service” and anyone currently sitting on the Court when they were appointed. Unless she discovers her “inner liberal” after appointment, I expect dull, middle-of-the-road decisions from her, which makes her the perfect replacement for Justice Souter.
14 comments
I found Sessions, Kyl and Graham more offensive than Hatch at Sotomayor’s hearing. Indeed, I thought of writing each of them to offer a corkscrew, and a suggestion of how it might be used.
Sotomayor is not my ideal candidate, either. But she is a damned sight smarter than any of the GOP senators who slurred her record, and I do not believe they got the best of her. That is encouraging: if she is going to sit on that bench for a lifetime, at least she is smarter than Sessions… not that that takes much. If she does no more than follow precedent for 30 or 40 years, that’s better than matters might have been.
.-= ´s last blog ..In Honor Of Marcy Wheeler =-.
The only reason Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is not the dumbest man in the Senate is because Alabama also elected Richard Shelby.
Hatch was on Hardball? maybe, spouting his nonsense [whatever is on the same channel as Olbermann at 6pm CST when I go to my Mother house].
I don’t have a television, so I haven’t been watching the hearings. Truth be told, I wouldn’t watch even if I did have a TV because they are always political theater, not matters of substance.
This isn’t going to get real unless one of the Synod, the 5 conservative Catholics who make up the 5-4 rulings, leaves. At that point you will hear all kinds of wailing and rending of clothes about packing the Court.
The blatent racism from the Republican inquisitors is bad enough…but the outright sexism from men on both sides of the aisle is infuriating.
Would they really tell a grown, professional man “they are proud of them” like a little child?
.-= ´s last blog ..Honey Do’s =-.
Frankly, Jill, the Senate has become a cesspit of ignorance. Al Franken raises the professionalism immeasurably because the ability to demonstrate professional comic talent, instead of the Gong Show rejects that currently inhabit that once proud and respected chamber. They have managed over my lifetime to destroy whatever credibility that chamber once had.
I have serious doubts as to whether the majority of Senators are even capable of reading, much less understanding the laws they pass. I’ve come to believe that the main reason they have name plates on everything is so that their caregivers know where to put them.
There are a large number of people in the Senate on both sides of the aisle who need to retire. They are long past their “use by” date and are getting moldy.
As for the misogyny, why would you be surprised? These are people who still don’t understand that white males are not the majority in the United States, and haven’t been for years, but assume that only white men should be given positions of authority.
Sessions and Graham crackers were behaving in so obnoxious a way that you know the only reason they weren’t wearing bedsheets and hoods was because their normal evening wear was out at the cleaners.
I for one applaud the Republican Party’s attempts to become the Party of the KKK Belt, and welcome those Hispanics who formerly voted Republican to the Democratic Party.
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
.-= ´s last blog ..Bastille Day =-.
Funny you mention that “the Senate has become a cesspit of ignorance”…
I was reading this at C&L where, straight from the ‘Twilight Zone’, we have:
Senate Republicans Block Own Amendments on Health Care Bill
Amazing. One really can’t make this sh*t up!
“Amazing. One really can’t make this sh*t up!” – Kryten
When we’ve got today’s GOP around, why would we need to make it up? 🙂
In one of his objections to Sotomayor this morning, Sessions referred to her Puerto Rican origin. He spoke of it in a separate clause, associating her with some other Puerto Rican, using a tone as if he were saying “un-American” instead. The racism and ethnic bias of the GOP becomes more open and unapologetic every day. Why are Democrats allowing them to get away with it? what is the value in other senators’ displaying collegiality toward such unmitigated bigots?
Let them expose themselves for the bigots they are to ensure that no woman or person of color ever considers voting for them.
After they discredit themselves, we can start on the Dems, especially those of a “blue dog” hue, and make it known they are next for the dust bin of history.
As Lieberman and Specter prove, a D after your name doesn’t automatically make you a member of humanity.
A possibly useless fact: the Democratic Party, led in the effort by Jane Hamsher, managed to “primary” Joe Lieberman the last time around. (“Primary” has been verbed. Verbing weirds language.) Revoltin’ Joe promptly formed his own party, Connecticut for Lieberman, and managed to win against D and R alike in the general election. So he is not Joe Lieberman (D) but Joe Lieberman (CFL). Personally, I’d be willing to see him caucus with someone else… Likud, maybe.
.-= ´s last blog ..In Honor Of Marcy Wheeler =-.
He was a D when Al Gore, for whatever obscure reason, selected him as a running mate in 2000. He lost in the primary because people realized he wasn’t actually a human being, but too many D’s supported him anyway. The “traitors” who supported him are the so-called leaders of the current party.
Verbing weirds language.
but makes it fun, too.
but Joe Lieberman (CFL)
he’s a compact fluorescent lightbulb? who knew?
That is of course a possible expansion. There are several that come to mind as the result of military service, although “F” tends to refer to a single word among vets.
Yes, that’s pretty much the way I see it, too.
.-= ´s last blog ..Friday Cat Blogging – Can’t remember this cat’s name. =-.
They oppose things just to be contrary. It’s just ignorant.