TPMDC Sunday Roundup
Cornyn Not Ruling Out Filibuster Against Sotomayor
Appearing on ABC's This Week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) would not rule out a filibuster against the Sotomayor nomination. "I'm not willing to judge one way or the other, George [Stephanopoulos]," said Cornyn, "because frankly, we need to not prejudge, not pre-confirm, and to give Judge Sotomayor the fair hearing that Miguel Estrada, and, indeed, Clarence Thomas were denied by our friends on the other side of the aisle."
Rove: Bush Appreciates Cheney's "Forthright Defense"
Karl Rove told the Politico that former President George W. Bush -- who has publicly said he won't criticize President Obama -- privately appreciates the role that former Vice President Dick Cheney has taken on. "I know President Bush and Vice President Cheney talk with regularity," said Rove. "I know the former president appreciates Dick's forthright defense of the administration's polices. And I know Vice President Cheney understands the special role that the former president occupies."
McConnell: "I've Got Better Things To Do Than Be The Speech Police"
Appearing on CNN's State Of The Union, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) while it is "certainly not my view" that Sonia Sotomayor is a racist, he would not address such comments from Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich: "Look. I've got a big job to do dealing with 40 Senate Republicans and trying to advance the nation's agenda, and better things to do than be the speech police over people who have their views about a very important appointment."
Graham: Sotomayor Should Apologize, But I Don't Think She's Racist
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that Sonia Sotomayor should apologize for her "wise Latina" comments from 2001, though he also rejected the allegations from Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh that she is a racist. "But I do know this, that statement is not about talking abut her life experiences," said Graham. "It's getting from her life experiences a superiority based on those experiences versus somebody else in society. And I don't want that kind of person being a judge in my case. But I don't think she's a racist."
Sessions: I Wouldn't Use Same Rhetoric As Gingrich And Limbaugh
Appearing on Meet The Press, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-SC) was asked whether he agreed with Newt Ginrgich's and Rush Limbaugh's description of Sonia Sotomayor being a racist. "I don't think I am going to use any such words as that," he said. "I read her speech, I'm troubled by her speech, I think she has an opportunity to explain that." Upon further questioning by David Gregory about whether conservatives should use such language, Sessions replied: "I would prefer that they not, but people have a free right to speak and say what they want, and make the analogies that they want."
Feinstein: Calling Sotomayor Racist "Absolutely Terrible"
Appearing on CBS' Face The Nation, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said that the use of the word "racist" against Sotomayor by the right is "an absolutely terrible thing to throw around." She added: "This does not add any light to the debate, it only adds a kind of visceral and terrible heat."
Leahy: Calling Sotomayor Racist Is "Baloney"
Appearing on Meet The Press, Sen. Patrick Leahy addressed right-wingers calling Sotomayor a racist. "I totally reject those kind of claims made by leaders of the Republican Party like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh," said Leahy. "To call her -- to equate her with the head of the Ku Klux Klan, to call her a bigot, this is baloney. Nothing in her background would indicate that she is a bigot or equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan or anything else."
Schumer: Sotomayor Will Stand By Entire 2001 Speech
Appearing on ABC's This Week, Sen Chuck Schumer (D-NY) predicted that Sonia Sotomayor would not apologize for her 2001 speech. "I think she'll stand by the entire speech," said Schumer. "I think that she will show that the speech, when you read it, says rule of law comes above experience. And no one can ask for more than that." Regarding the controversial "wise Latina" line, Schumer said: "you know, the specific sentence there is simply saying, that people's experiences matter, and we ought to have some diversity of experience on the court. And I think that's accurate."


















Thanks for watching all that crap for us so we don't have to. A true public service.
May 31, 2009 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think putting out this two-sentence explanation...
... would work a lot better than saying she mis-spoke.
May 31, 2009 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amb. Richard Clarke writes in today's WaPo:
Condi does have a point. Effective post-9/11 resonance. But our student breaks the trance...
Delusional, self-righteous neocons. Got caught with their pants down on 9/11. The attack didn't come from Saddam, so its signals were poo-poohed away.
A dim memory: Wasn't that about the time when everybody in the Cheney-Rove admin was chafing about being tagged with the W word? You remember, "Wimp?" At least they can count putting that meme to an early death among their successes.
(h/t sgwhiteinfla at TPL)
May 31, 2009 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was really taken by the Clarke article. Everybody should read it. Seven and a half years after the fact and we're finally beginning to look at it for what it really was -- a bunch of incompetent louts worried they might be rightly blamed for the terrible price paid due to their indolence.
June 1, 2009 2:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I double dare the GOP to filibuster Sotomayor!
May 31, 2009 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rudy Offers to Replace Sotomayor, Claims He Has Experience of a Wise Latina Woman
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=7318
May 31, 2009 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT?!
May 31, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't it clear? For not being a white Republican male.
May 31, 2009 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re: Rove/Cheney "Forthright Defense"
Lets try it out in court, say against charges of treason, murder, crimes against humanity...
May 31, 2009 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
The best Leahy could do was to call it "baloney"? This guy put the less in useless.
May 31, 2009 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's getting good at this!
May 31, 2009 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Catholic angle is interesting. Newt who "converted" to Catholicism recently in order to hijack the pulpit for his 2012 campaign's ongoing use is also pursuing this.
May 31, 2009 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dr. Tiller of Kansas was killed today in church by a Home-Grown Rapturian Recessivist Terrorist with a gun.
May 31, 2009 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Today, my thoughts and prayers are with his Dr. Tiller's family.
Tomorrow I will think of the home-grown terrorists.
May 31, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
At church on the Feast of PENTECOST - the day the Church commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit
By some crazed "Pro-Life" Rapture Terrorist with a gun
There's a message here somewhere
May 31, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
A statement from Tiller's attorney:
Tiller was ushering. His wife was singing in the choir. On Pentecost.
Oh, and from Randall Terry (Mr. Operation Rescue):
Words fail me.
May 31, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The don't fail me.
These people - the right-wing terrorists responsible - need to be ruthlessly suppressed. They are a cancer on the American body politic, and radical surgery is required.
Let 'em scream, let people say I'm being "unfair", let anybody say anything they want, there is no justification, no explanation, no excuse. None.
The Koresh compound at Waco serves as a good recipe for dealing with the likes of the people who do this. And yes, the use of the term is intentional.
May 31, 2009 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK we totally parted company there. By and large I have a great deal of respect for your comments and blog entries. Not so much this time.
I think if the fanatic who killed Dr. Tiller really believed that he had a moral obligation to stop him, why did he run away? Clearly the killer knew what he was doing was morally indefensable otherwise he would have stayed there to accept the consequences of his murderous actions. So willing to kill for his beliefs yet such a coward to not take responsibility.
And they think the Taliban mentality is reserved for Islamic fundamentalists. Feh!
May 31, 2009 9:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good line about the Taliban-mentality. These same people will tell you how important it was to support Bush against those kind of people. But that's like Muslim extremists saying we need to support the struggle against the infidels.
June 1, 2009 2:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'd guess he ran away because he thinks he has an obligation to preserve his freedom so he can kill again. These guys are thinking like guerillas.
And I worry that it's just the start. Increasingly, the secessionist and militia nuts, racist nuts, Dominionist extremists, and the anti-abortion nuts are merging and aligning ideologically. They're alienated, possessed by paranoid ideologies, and all their worst nightmares seem to be coming true. We're looking at the formation of a movement that could spawn any number of terrorist groups bent on assassination and seditious violence backed by maybe a hundred thousand people willing to actively lend aid and support to them. And one can think of half a dozen national political figures who'll be winking and nodding at them or, at best, offering up tepid condemnations that blame the victim as much as the killers every time a bomb goes off or a bullet finds a target.
One hopes the FBI will get on this without waiting for some mass-casualty event to force them into it. I realize they have their hands full with those far more dangerous terrorists who've been breaking into animal testing labs and torching Hummers, but diverting an agent or two for the people stockpiling guns and ammo and bragging about actually wanting to kill people rather than just damaging property might be a good idea.
June 1, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
"we ought to have some diversity of experience on the court"
Yeah and more diversity in the Senate is needed too.
May 31, 2009 11:09 PM | Reply | Permalink