Pathetic Senate Democrats’ Embarrassing ‘We ♥ O’Connor’ Line

NY Times: “Democrats Adopt O’Connor as Model for Bush Court Pick,” by Adam Nagourney, July 7, 2005.

Don’t it always seem to go
    That you don’t know what you’ve got
    Till it’s gone
    They paved paradise
    And put up a parking lot.
– Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi,” 1970.  

Apparently the pathetic Senate Democrats –

confronted with a Supreme Court nomination process in which Alberto “Torture is as American as apple pie” Gonzalez is insufficiently “conservative” – a word that should NEVER be used to describe any living Republican, with the possible exceptions of Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel –

are so embarrassingly befuddled that they’ve decided their former voodoo doll O’Connor – whose judicial imperialism, as we have noted, reached its apogee in the Dred Scott-like decision of Bush v. Gore – is now the “paradise” Bush should perpetuate, instead of the more likely “parking lot” of Janice Brown or, my prediction, Emilio Garza.

If there were a chance in hell – or Washington … same thing, at this point – their craven, death-bed conversion to O’Connor-ism would have the slightest chance of success – defined as having even a minimal effect on Bush’s choice – then it MIGHT be at least tactically shrewd.

But as it’s been blatantly obvious since the moment her retirement was announced that her replacement would be someone DEEPLY right-wing, their ass-sucking celebration of O’Connor simply reveals their UTTER lack of BOTH principles AND balls …

Which is EXACTLY how the Republicans – at least most of them – are correctly characterizing this nauseating worship of the soon-to-be-departed judicial imperialist.

Don’t believe me ??? Check out the Dems’ blithering remarks [bold added] for yourself:

Justice O’Connor – that would be the same Justice O’Connor who was named to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan, the same Justice O’Connor who was the swing vote in the decision handing George W. Bush the presidency in 2000 – is being celebrated by Democrats for what they portray as a mostly exemplary record, the judicial archetype President Bush should embrace in his search for a replacement.

“If he is true to his promise, he will use Justice O’Connor as a role model,” Senator Barbara Boxer of California said, reflecting Democratic talking points that were circulated around Washington hours after the justice’s retirement was announced. “She was a leader on the court for moderation and consensus building.”

Hey, Barbara – who, remember, is supposed to be the “loony left” of Senate Dems – check Jeffrey Rosen’s piece about the kind of “moderation” and “consensus building” she ACTUALLY engaged in before you go repeating these idiot talking points … prepared by whom, by the way ???

And people wonder why closeted gay homophobe Karl Rove has such an easy time confounding these morons ??? They make it EASY for him, with their RIDICULOUS positions.

[T]he sudden groundswell of Democratic support for her has been the subject of Republican mirth. …

“Rather humorous, isn’t it?” said Todd F. Gaziano, director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “‘Right-wing zealot’ is what I always heard.” …

Which just shows how completely clueless the Democrats are when it comes to dealing with the totally PREDICTABLE way the Republicans have been doing things for the past five years, at least …

Do they REALLY think no one remembers what they used to say ???

You can see the same sort of gutless thinking here that John Kerry used in failing to defend his Senate testimony as a justifiably enraged Vietnam vet … and it’s guaranteed to be as successful now as Kerry was during the election … namely, NOT AT ALL …

Democrats said they would be happy if they could emerge from this fight being viewed as no less than the party of Sandra Day O’Connor …

“I have never said a negative word about her,” said Senator Boxer.

Indeed, Ms. Boxer said that she called Justice O’Connor five months ago and offered to lead a bipartisan group of senators urging Mr. Bush to name her as chief justice should William H. Rehnquist retire. In response, Senator Boxer said, Justice O’Connor thanked her for the honor.

Which just shows how a) intimidated and b) totally lacking in ideas the Democrats are … what a bad joke they are … because they never seem to learn, do they ???

White House officials said they welcomed the praise for Justice O’Connor but suggested it would not have the kind of impact that Democratic senators are hoping for.

“The president has been crystal clear about how he will approach the process of nominating an associate justice to the Supreme Court: He is going to nominate someone of unquestioned character and judicial temperament,” said Steve Schmidt, a counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney who is working on the nomination.

Which, of course, are simply Republican code words for someone they see as being UNABLE to depart from the corporate / Christian right-wing court agenda that soon-to-be-Chief Justice Nino Scalia, and his boy toy Clarence Thomas, will be spearheading.

The key point is that – AS ALWAYS – Bush is simply going to IGNORE the Democrats’ wishes, as he has done with EVERY major issue since December 2000, when O’Connor helped usher him into power in the infamous Republican coup.

But somehow they keep missing the point, as these frightening comments by Democratic “strategist” Chris Lehane – with which we will close, before taking a well-deserved moment to vomit – indicate:

[H]e would advise Democrats that “every sentence should begin with the idea that we ought to appoint someone who is in the role of Justice O’Connor.”

“Yeah, dudes, we can be JUST as Republican as you Republicans are – only not cannibalistic, of course !!!”

Good thinking, Chris … keep it up, bro … that’s DEFINITELY a winning line you’ve got there … look how well it did for Kerry – got him to the White House, right ???