What ever happened to the grand national conversation we were supposed to have on abortion?
By: Hank Kalet
There is an incredible duplicity to the manner in which conservatives are attempting to defend the judicial candidacy of Judge Sam Alito.
Arch-conservatives have been longing for an antiabortion judge who would also be willing to turn back the clock on the work the court has done expanding rights and freedoms over the years.
And yet, as Dahlia Lithwick reminds us in Slate, they have backpedaled with incredible speed now that it is known that Judge Alito is one of their own.
She offers some possibilities as to why:
"Might it be that your calls for this big old national bull session over activist judging are as cynical and results-based as the holding in Roe that you so revile? Could it be that the national polls which indicate robust support for Roe and strong opposition to justices who’d reverse it have rendered this conversation too dangerous? Or is it the prospect of the national backlash that would follow from actually reversing Roe that has rendered you speechless? Aren’t you eager, finally, to defend the GOP platform, which overtly promises that the president will appoint judges who will defend the ‘sanctity of life’ and overturn Roe? Or are your notions of scrupulous judicial purity less compelling in the cold light of political reality?"
So what we have is a conservative movement intent on dismantling rights that most Americans treasure, but which seems unwilling to actually go to battle weapons drawn when one of their own is nominated to the bench.
First, Berkely Breathed comes back with "Opus" and now they release a collected "Calvin and Hobbes" how cool is that?
Did I mention that I am just a bit tired of Bob Woodward’s schtick? Well, I am.
More importantly, I am tired of the way in which the Washington press corps has ceded its responsibilities to the American public.
Read James Carroll on this.