Levey: I Had No Idea Sotomayor Smear Campaign Would Blow Up
Yesterday we reported that prominent Sonia Sotomayor critics including Tom Tancredo ("Latina KKK") and Pat Buchanan ("That woman... is for race-based justice") were employing, with full knowledge of the events, a young man named Marcus Epstein, who plead guilty to karate chopping a black female pedestrian and calling her a "nigger."
Dave Weigel of The Washington Independent asked a number of conservative Sotomayor critics what this apparent hypocrisy says about the larger campaign to block her confirmation, and one response, in particular was telling.
Curt Levey, the executive director of the Committee of Justice, has been optimistic about the right's fight against Sotomayor, but he admitted to TWI that he "underestimated the degree to which a few conservatives would say a few extreme things, and that would be characterized as what all conservatives think."
As we've noted before, the campaign against Sotomayor has exposed and widened a rift between a sensible faction within the conservative movement and die-hard activists. By basing the attacks on charges of racism, while simultaneously lobbing ethnically loaded insults at her, people like Levey have, inadvertently or not, poured gasoline on the embers of this conflict.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
The G.O.P is their own Donner Party, lost in the wilderness, starving, with no chance of escape. It was just a matter of time before they resorted to cannibalism.
June 2, 2009 9:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't it the Donner Party that resorted to cannibalism, only to find out they were actually just a few miles away from civilization and probably could have made it back, if they had not panicked? Bring on the Pug sandwiches!
June 2, 2009 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
While it is true that the Donner Party was within a couple of hundred yards of the summit at Immigrants Gap, they were quite far from any civilized resources that could have mitigated their circumstances. The oxen could no longer haul the wagons up the mountain grade as the snow had begun to fall and the trail was too slippery. They retreated to Truckee thinking that the storm would blow over and they could try for the summit again, unfortunately, it was the beginning of one of the worst winters on record, and the suvivors could not be rescued until the following May. In fact, a number of volunteers succumbed in previous rescue attempts. But they were far, far from civilization.
The point about the Donner Party was not only that they were ill-fated, but that they were unprepared for the challenges that befell them. They 'did not know what they did not know'. It cost them plenty.
June 2, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! What a story...Thanks for the additional info. Wish they would remake the movie!
June 2, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
And today it's a great place to snowboard deep powder.
June 2, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
You may have been thinking about British explorer Robert Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1912, when the entire team died from dehydration, malnutrition, and possibly scurvy on their return journey from the Pole, the last group of them only 11 miles from their "One Ton Depot," but it was 11 miles farther than they had the strength to go in the face of a severe blizzard.
June 2, 2009 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
GTF,
they did, sort of, I saw that story as a Documentary on PBS more than a year ago.
June 3, 2009 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Republican party has always been comprised of cannibals. The difference is that the non-Republicans they usually grab and eat are giving them wide berth, so they have no choice -- they are ideologically, traditionally against choice -- but to eat each other.
But don't worry about it: as consequence there aren't that many foodstuffs available to them, so the self-feasting should be short-lived. Ugly, bloody, and not to be looked at directly, but short-lived.
June 3, 2009 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cannibalism for the GOP has a long history. Recall the statement of the judge who sentenced famed cannibal Alferd Packer:
"Alferd Packer." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 28 May 2009, 12:55 UTC. 28 May 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alferd_Packer&oldid=292870305
June 2, 2009 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"
June 2, 2009 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your winnings, sir...
June 3, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Its interesting how quickly Nancy Pelosi/CIA has fallen to the GOP wayside.
June 2, 2009 10:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
That dog wouldn't hunt.
June 2, 2009 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Republican dogs NEVER hunt. That's why they send in a VP with a shotgun.
June 3, 2009 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I continue to find it strange and revealing that whatever tactic the far-right GOP tries to implement usually reveals something dark and festering within their own 'souls.'
Any character based criticism of liberals, democrats, or even moderates usually reveals an infection from which they suffer. Take racism for example. If they are lobbing accusations of racists at someone, it is usually to preclude any racist characterization of their people. Inevitably, it fails-- call it the liberal media, or let's just say that they can't help themselves. There's some strong negative memes replicating in the republican party, and it may indeed be cancerous. I've been calling for a split in the party for a while now, and it seems evermore likely with each passing day. Who knew the egos of the part were so fragile? They must have thought themselves to be walking on water, and know they're just flailing about in the ocean with no land in sight.
June 2, 2009 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's a psychological phenomenon known as projection, and I believe Molly Ivins had diagnosed it in the GOP some time ago!
June 2, 2009 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shorter Levey: No one could have predicted that racial attacks against Sotomayor would bring our racial attackers.
June 2, 2009 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Alternative Shorter Levey: "Our dog whistles worked too well. Oops."
June 2, 2009 10:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Dammit, which of you dopes put all these regular whistles into this box that I clearly marked 'Dog Whistles ONLY?'"
June 2, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Heh, NOW we know why Specter switched parties.
June 2, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Make Epstein the new GOP Poster boy. His Facebook gallery demonstrates the Limbaugh-Beck-Palin worldview: arrogant, disrespectful of other cultures, nativist, white supremacist.
June 2, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
His picture of himself observing two baboons in Ethiopia was captioned "Mixing with the locals". http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30606333&id=7602997
You can add unapologetic racist to your list.
June 2, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
The O'Reilly defense.
June 2, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
The rightwingers, for all their twittering, are stuck in a time warp. In the old days, the GOP could communicate with its "base" in the shadows using direct mail, radio and TV programs that reached the true believers but few outsiders. Elected officials could stay above the fray while their familiars did the dirty work.
Now everybody sees and hears everything. There is nowhere to hide. So the elected officials have to answer for the sleaze mongers who work on their behalf.
Welcome to America, macaca.
June 2, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the two party system is important, as long as both parties act like adults. The GOP is going going gone. I hope something better comes along to replace it.
June 2, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
re Curt Levey's comment:
what planet does this idiot live on ?
June 2, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
it really is amazing that they can both be incredibly angry at sotomayor's "racism" and then toss out really amazing racist and sexist put-downs (affirmative action hire, just like j lo, loud and obnoxious, time of the month, etc.). the cognitive dissonance! how do they manage it?
June 2, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
It gives them cover to spurt out a bit of their own racism.
June 2, 2009 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
A long time ago there was a little weasel in the school yard. Now this weasel would tell a certain very large student all kinds of untrue and exaggerated tales that a much smaller student was allegedly spreading about the large student. Now these tales the big student was hearing every day were making him very, very angry at the smaller student, so one day the very large student beat up the much smaller student.
When brought up to the Principal the very large student pointed to the weasel and said "He made me do it", and the weasel said "I never told him to beat up the much smaller student!"
June 2, 2009 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's sad really that conservatives have collected and wasted probably billions of dollars for the purpose of overturning one SCOTUS ruling that has withstood every single court challenge for the last 36 years.
I guess, given that fact, this is their only recourse. If they can't get the ruling overturned, pack the court with like-minded ideologues who will "legislate from the bench". Of course, in the conservative mentality, only conservative judges should be allowed to do so.
June 3, 2009 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I actually find the recent republican conservative politics refreshing. Finally revealing itself to be the racist, anti-immigration, anti-science, militarist, falsely pious, righteous critics of reasonable political discourse. Out with rush, gingrich, buchanan, o'rielley, all the mass media darlings, freaks that are embarrassing moderate republicans like colin powell, as well as all patriotic constitutional equal rights citizens. As these folks get more and more desperate the stench only gets worse, its only the rotting carcass of that grand dragon old party.
June 3, 2009 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink