* Frank Rich: Cheney lies and Democrats in Congress are cowed

Frank Rich writes in the New York Times (5-31-09) …

• Once again Cheney and his cohort were using lies and fear to try to gain political advantage — this time to rewrite history and escape accountability for the failed Bush presidency rather than to drum up a new war.
• Once again Democrats in Congress were cowed.
• even before Cheney spoke, Congressional Democrats were quaking in fear
  • purporting with straight faces that the transfer of detainees to “supermax” American prisons constituted a serious security threat.
  • Many of the same senators who signed on to the Iraq war resolution in the fall of 2002 joined the 90-to-6 majority that put a hold on Obama’s Gitmo closure plans.
• The Bush administration did not make us safer either before or after 9/11.
• Obama is not making us less safe.
• If there’s another terrorist attack, it will be because the mess the Bush administration ignored in Pakistan and Afghanistan spun beyond anyone’s control well before Americans could throw the bums out.

read Frank Rich’s entire column at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/opinion/31rich.html?ref=opinion

 LMW COMMENT … There is clearly a lack of courage among Democrats in Congress. This was evident in the last two years of the Bush administration, when majority Democrats led by Namcy Pelosi and Harry Reid did as little as they possibly could to advance issues critical to our nation. Now, with an intelligent courageous Democratic President, the Congress still dithers. It will take all of Obama’s enormous leadership skills to bring the Democrats in Congress to positions they should recognize as being in their own interests, as well as the countries.

* Judging Sonia Sotomayor: It diminishes everyone when a nomination process deteriorates into character assassination and ethnic intolerance.

 A New York Times editorial (5-31-09) …  

Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor

• Supreme Court nominees must be fully vetted on a wide range of issues, but most of the ones being raised about Sonia Sotomayor are not among them.
  • The first Hispanic nominee to the court is being called racist.
  • She is being attacked as not smart enough, as too abrasive (a description often applied to women who speak their minds in public life).
  • There have even been reports that critics have taken aim at her taste for Puerto Rican food.
  • Tom Tancredo, a former Republican congressman, raged about her ties to the National Council of La Raza, calling it, absurdly, a “Latino K.K.K.”
• It is time to elevate the discussion to where it belongs: the Constitution and the role of the judiciary.
• These broadsides are a distraction.
• Despite her long service as a federal judge, Judge Sotomayor’s record on many important issues is sparse.
  • Senators should question her about her general approach to the Constitution and to judging.
  • They need to learn more about her thoughts on the right to privacy — a critical doctrine that provides the basis for abortion rights
  • on church-state separation and on other subjects.
• Clearly, conservative groups and Republican elected officials see this nomination as a way to score points off wedge issues that excite their base.
• It diminishes everyone when a nomination process deteriorates into character assassination and ethnic intolerance.

read the entire editorial at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/opinion/31sun1.html?ref=opinion

LMW COMMENT … If I was a Republican, I would be sorely embarrassed by the bizarre behavior of people like Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and other ultras-conservatives whose attacks on Sonia Sotomayor have been despicable. Perhaps this will be the issue where more moderate, reasonable Republicans can distance themselves from the crazies and restore their party to some sense of productive engagement. I believe in a two-party system, and I hope Republicans will be interested in playing the role of a responsible opposition. It’s the only way they will ever be able to hope to win future elections.

* displaying all the class they have, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich stupidly rise to the Sotomayor bait

 Stephanie Condom writes for CBS News (5-27-09) …

• Rush Limbaugh excoriated moderate Republicans like Colin Powell and Tom Ridge for not speaking out against Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, calling the judge a “reverse racist.” 
• • … “Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he’s appointed one…to the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said on his radio show Tuesday. “So now he’s got a hack. He got a party hack that he’s put on the court that’s likely to be confirmed.
  • … This is where the so-called moderate Republicans are completely useless, if you ask me… We are confronting a radical assault on this nation, a radical assault today on the U.S. Supreme Court, and moderates in the Republican party are distracting our ability to organize the opposition.” 
• Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is also calling Sotomayor a racist. Gingrich wrote from his Twitter account: “White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.” 

read the entire article at … http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/27/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5043597.shtml

LMW COMMENT … Well, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich are surely stupid enough to fight the Sotomayor nomination on racial and cultural grounds. With such leadership, there is only one way for the Republican party to go … a party of old white men without a clue. BTW, the Democratic “party hack” Limbaugh is referring to was first appointed to the Federal bench by George H. W. Bush. I guess old Rush and Newt will have to drum #41 out of the party too.

* yes, the Karl Rove-led Republicans are indeed stupid enough to take the Sotomayor bait

Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal (5-28-09) …

• There is a certain irony in a president who routinely praises America’s commitment to “the rule of law” but who picks Supreme Court nominees for their readiness to discard the rule of law whenever emotion moves them.
• The Sotomayor nomination also provides Republicans with some advantages. They can stress their support for judges who strictly interpret the Constitution and apply the law as written.
• A majority of the public is with the GOP on opposing liberal activist judges.
• The media has also quickly adopted the story line that Republicans will damage themselves with Hispanics if they oppose Ms. Sotomayor.
• While the next two to four months of maneuverings and hearings may provide more insights into the views of Mr. Obama’s pick, barring an unforeseen development — not unheard of in Supreme Court nominations — Judge Sotomayor will become the second Hispanic (Benjamin Cardozo was Sephardic) and third woman confirmed to the Supreme Court.
• Democrats will win the vote, but Republicans can win the argument by making a clear case against the judicial activism she represents.

read the entire Rove column at … http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124347199490860831.html     

LMW COMMENT … Yes, it seems that Republicans are that stupid! Karl Rove just makes up things and calls them facts. Sound like the justification for the Iraq war?

* are the Senate Republicans stupid enough to oppose Sonia Sotomayor?

Julie Hirshfeld Davis, Associated Press, writes (5-27-09) …

• The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee (Sen. Jeff Sessions) said Wednesday he doesn’t foresee a filibuster against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
• The GOP faces an uphill battle in defeating the New York-born daughter of Puerto Rican parents, but Republicans are promising a thorough and perhaps lengthy hearing process that delves into her record and judicial philosophy.
• Any Republican effort to block Sotomayor’s confirmation could be risky for a party still reeling from last year’s elections and struggling to gain back lost ground with Hispanics, the fastest-growing part of the population and one that is increasingly active politically.

read the entire article at … http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090527/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_sotomayor_14

LMW COMMENT … In choosing Sonio Sotomayor, President Obama has, in addition to naming a superb individual, challenged the Republicans to continue their stupid “policy of NO,” which in this case would alienate any Hispanic voters still in the GOP camp. Are the Senate Republicans smart enough to stay out of this trap, when their right wing ideologues are already running ads against Sotomayor? Or will they continue to lower the political debate to the level of “cultural” issues that should mostly be personal rather than political matters? And, whatever happened to having the confirmation hearings BEFORE deciding?