Harriet
Harriet's out. She withdrew her name from consideration for Justice of the Supreme Court. Just when I was starting to like her. Ostensibly, she didn't want to make Georgie give up any of the executive privilege he's hoarded over the years. Senators were insisting that they'd have to see some paperwork on her before approving the nomination. And she'd have to testify about the constitutional advise she gave Georgie on things like "waterboarding" and sexually humiliating prisoners.
But in the end, it wasn't the American patriots who oppose torture who finished her: it was the conservatives. Red-state conservatives don't give the first flying rat's intestinal blockage about torture. They'd just as soon torture Iraqis themselves. But they did insist on a pay-off for their unquestioning and unwavering support over the past five years. They want a Bork.
Now, Bork was the lesson in confirmations that allowed Scalia and Thomas to be confirmed. Bork was (and is) an intelligent reptile who would gut American freedoms and aid big government and big corporations in squishing the little guy like a bug hitting the windshield of a 747. Bork would aid the Tom DeLay prison revival in making America a Protestant Evangelical Christian nation. Bork doesn't believe in a right to privacy. Bork doesn't believe in relief for individuals from racial discrimination or unfair labour practices.
And Bork's not on the Supreme Court.
Since Bork got bounced (and yes, I do like typing "Bork" repeatedly) because he is a proto-human Neocon-Taliban who has a record, conservatives decided to stop sending nominees who had any record at all. Thus, John Roberts gets the Chief Justice post after only two years' judging and several (private secret) years as a Republican legal operative for Poppy and Ronny. No paper trail, but high expectations that he'll bring back the halcyon days of the mid-eighteenth century when you could be burned for witchcraft and were legally required to attend the approved church.
That's not to mention Clarence "Uncle" Thomas and Antonin "the Godfather" Scalia, who both had less than clear records but the moral fortitude to deny the rights of working people. These are the perfect conservative candidates because their beliefs can be hidden from the American people - who they will rule for life. Clearly, conservatives understand that their beliefs are repugnant and cannot be exposed to public scrutiny.
Which brings us back to Harriet. Poor Harriet. She was supposed to be another in the chain of stealth candidates, but turned out to be too stealthy. The Bible conservatives didn't like her. They didn't trust Georgie to have vetted her beliefs. Was she really against privacy rights? Was she ready to fight for the installation of an American theocracy?
Too many times, they'd watched Georgie choose Cash Conservatives over them. The Cash guys got the tax cut payoff. The Warmonger Conservatives got, well, their own war. Georgie even committed repeated acts of treason to give it to them.
And now this. Harriet - whose last coffin nail was a bunch of speeches where she said people should make choices about their lives - wasn't sufficiently on record about the devolution of the US. Georgie didn't pay off - and they weren't taking the nod and wink anymore.
Plus, she stumbled with the Senators. She was supposed to be a super-detail shrew, but her answers to the Senate questionnaire were sloppy and incomplete. She denied taking a position on privacy that Sen. Spectre said she did after they spoke.
It was all too clear that she was just Georgie's loving soldier. Georgie is the smartest guy she ever met (!), and if he wanted her to go and constitute on the bench, than he must know something she doesn't know - and he's always right! Off she goes!
So Harriet has had her 15 minutes and been found wanting. Cheer up though, dear: you'll be needed to defend Georgie against all those indictments once real Americans take back the government.
After all, keeping him out of jail would be the best way to show your love.
But in the end, it wasn't the American patriots who oppose torture who finished her: it was the conservatives. Red-state conservatives don't give the first flying rat's intestinal blockage about torture. They'd just as soon torture Iraqis themselves. But they did insist on a pay-off for their unquestioning and unwavering support over the past five years. They want a Bork.
Now, Bork was the lesson in confirmations that allowed Scalia and Thomas to be confirmed. Bork was (and is) an intelligent reptile who would gut American freedoms and aid big government and big corporations in squishing the little guy like a bug hitting the windshield of a 747. Bork would aid the Tom DeLay prison revival in making America a Protestant Evangelical Christian nation. Bork doesn't believe in a right to privacy. Bork doesn't believe in relief for individuals from racial discrimination or unfair labour practices.
And Bork's not on the Supreme Court.
Since Bork got bounced (and yes, I do like typing "Bork" repeatedly) because he is a proto-human Neocon-Taliban who has a record, conservatives decided to stop sending nominees who had any record at all. Thus, John Roberts gets the Chief Justice post after only two years' judging and several (private secret) years as a Republican legal operative for Poppy and Ronny. No paper trail, but high expectations that he'll bring back the halcyon days of the mid-eighteenth century when you could be burned for witchcraft and were legally required to attend the approved church.
That's not to mention Clarence "Uncle" Thomas and Antonin "the Godfather" Scalia, who both had less than clear records but the moral fortitude to deny the rights of working people. These are the perfect conservative candidates because their beliefs can be hidden from the American people - who they will rule for life. Clearly, conservatives understand that their beliefs are repugnant and cannot be exposed to public scrutiny.
Which brings us back to Harriet. Poor Harriet. She was supposed to be another in the chain of stealth candidates, but turned out to be too stealthy. The Bible conservatives didn't like her. They didn't trust Georgie to have vetted her beliefs. Was she really against privacy rights? Was she ready to fight for the installation of an American theocracy?
Too many times, they'd watched Georgie choose Cash Conservatives over them. The Cash guys got the tax cut payoff. The Warmonger Conservatives got, well, their own war. Georgie even committed repeated acts of treason to give it to them.
And now this. Harriet - whose last coffin nail was a bunch of speeches where she said people should make choices about their lives - wasn't sufficiently on record about the devolution of the US. Georgie didn't pay off - and they weren't taking the nod and wink anymore.
Plus, she stumbled with the Senators. She was supposed to be a super-detail shrew, but her answers to the Senate questionnaire were sloppy and incomplete. She denied taking a position on privacy that Sen. Spectre said she did after they spoke.
It was all too clear that she was just Georgie's loving soldier. Georgie is the smartest guy she ever met (!), and if he wanted her to go and constitute on the bench, than he must know something she doesn't know - and he's always right! Off she goes!
So Harriet has had her 15 minutes and been found wanting. Cheer up though, dear: you'll be needed to defend Georgie against all those indictments once real Americans take back the government.
After all, keeping him out of jail would be the best way to show your love.
posted by fiduciary at 1:40 PM
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