Sotomayor: Republican's Waterloo

“Once again, AVOID the breach, dear friends!” (The battle cry of the modern Republican Party)

 

I long for the days of political dissent. Not the politics of personal destruction that has been equated with political dissent in recent years, but true, honest, passionate debate on issues. For a myriad of reasons, debate over issues is a thing of the past. At the forefront is an unwillingness to offend anyone; an unintended (or intended, as it really is) consequence of political correctness.

 

The Republican Party has been beat down into total submission. Republicans have heeded the warnings of people like Sen. Chuck Schumer who warns Republicans not to oppose Judge Sotomayor’s appointment to the Supreme Court. So, dutifully, they won’t. They fear being called racist, segmenting the Hispanic vote, and opposing a popular President (also for fear of being called racist for doing so).

 

It seems that Republicans will not confront Sotomayor on the issues: mainly she’s an activist judge who believes in legislating from the bench, that justice should be meted out based on emotion, oh, and she’s a bigot. She believes she can better judge because she is Latino than can a white man. That’s a bigoted comment. But she can get away with it 1. because she is a minority and is incapable of bigotry (a tenet of political correctness) and 2. the Republican Party is impotent and refuses to enter such a fray.

 

Failure to enter said fray may be the death knell of the Republican Party. Many (mostly those on the left and power hungry self-servers among Republicans) say that Republicans have to moderate in order to survive. That’s a recipe for certain failure; that’s why they are saying it. The Republican Party has moderated, i.e. John McCain, and look what happened with him.

 

Sotomayor is unqualified to sit on the Supreme Court. Not because she is a Latino woman, who cares about that. It is because she has contempt for the legislative process and thereby our system of government as a whole; demonstrated by her saying “the court of appeals is where policy is made”. No, the court of appeals is where the judicial process takes place; without passion, emotion or prejudice. Policy is made by lawmakers, not judges. Sen. Schumer also has said, speaking of Sotomayor’s impending appointment that "I don't think any American wants nine people on the Supreme Court, all of whom have ice water in their veins." Wrong. Ice water is the life blood of jurisprudence. (And by the way, Chucky, quit putting words into my mouth; you are anathema to everything I believe as an American).

 

Conservatives like me are looking for elected leadership in the Republican Party. It’s not there. We’re busy in-fighting and trying to get along with our opponents, all the while missing golden, nay platinum, opportunities to define and contrast ourselves with the Democrat Party. This road to moderation of the Republican Party is only leading to perdition.

 

BQP

 

Rock On, Dick Cheney

Hear that? That’s the sucking sound generated by the enormous, gigantic (or gijantic, as my brother used to say as a kid), massive, colossal, stupendous, and ever more cavernous vacuum created by the lack of leadership in the Republican Party. Quick, who’s the front-runner for the Republicans for 2012 Presidential election? (I’ll be syncing my iPod while I wait). Ok. No answer? Yeah, me neither. And who of all people has stepped in to be the voice of opposition to the oligarchy, otherwise known as the Federal Government? None other than former VP Dick Cheney.

 

Follow me on this: who, perhaps, is more hated in this country than George Bush? Dick Cheney. Who has nothing to gain by putting himself in the political arena? Dick Cheney. Who has served (and been beat up for it) his country for nearly 40 years, and is entitled to (and should) retirement? Dick Cheney. So why in the world would he enter the political fray at this moment in time?

 

The answer is that he simply could not be silent. Now he could rally behind his party and use his influence and power behind the scenes to strengthen the opposing voice. Wait, there’s that sucking sound again…

 

Things must really be bad to bring VP Cheney out of retirement to soundly thump the current President’s policies. Usually, previous administrations are silent on their successors policy. Of course, Al Gore and Bill Clinton are the exception that prove the rule. And Obama’s policies, particularly on national defense, are abominable. He has made a political issue out of our nation’s defense, all the while accusing Republicans and the previous administration of the same. How else can you explain closing the Guantanamo detention facility two days after taking office with no plans of how or what to do with the detainees? Pure political pandering. Obama is systematically dismantling the measures put in place after 9/11 that have kept us safe from attack since. This is fact; thwarted terrorist attempt after thwarted terrorist attempt proves it. He is doing so, he says, to make us stronger. Huh? That’s like saying we’re going let prisoners go and expect the crime rate to drop. Or firing detectives on police forces everywhere because they’re existence only encourages more crime. Ridiculous.

 

It’s unsettling to even think about but we’re headed for another terrorist attack. The waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed produced intelligence that stopped a plot to carry out a terror attack on Los Angeles (article link). While Obama is giddy to release documents on alleged abuse of detainees, he has refused to tell the American people that enhance interrogation techniques have worked. This can’t be anything but playing politics with our own security. Wow. All this serves him politically but puts us at greater risk.

 

Keep up the good work, Mr. Cheney; it’s getting results. And nobody else in the Republican Party is going to stand up to President Obama.

 

BQP

Goldwater Quote

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"

(Acceptance Speech as the 1964 Republican Presidential candidate)