I think what offends me the most about the whole process of nominating and confirming a new justice to the Supreme Court is the utter, contemptible phoniness of it all: Honestly, I have no opinion on abortion at all. None whatsoever. Never thought about it. Gosh, if a case ever comes to me if I’m on the Supreme Court, I will certainly think it over very carefully. Who knows what my opinion will be.
So Donald and Mitch and Paul and Vice-Wienie Pence and the entire evangelical community are all excited about you on the off chance you might vote against Roe v. Wade?
Why don’t the Republicans simply announce they are looking for a Supreme Court Justice who will restore the right of the state to control womens’ bodies? Get it out there and get over with it. Why on earth don’t they proclaim it, celebrate it, relish it? They won, they have the votes, let’s do it!
Susan Collins met with Kavanaugh and came out of the meeting assuring her feminist supporters that Mr. Kavanaugh sees Roe v. Wade as “settled law”. She needs this cover, because she is committed to a pro-choice position and it would be a betrayal of her constituency, in moderate Maine, to choose otherwise. So she needs this cover story, that Kavanaugh has assured her that Roe v. Wade is “settled law”. When he votes to overturn Roe v. Wade (probably incrementally), she needs to be able to say, “I never thought he would do that when I voted to confirm him”.
Does Susan Collins know this is a lie? Is she lying? Probably. She puts on a good show, like John McCain, of being moderate and centrist, but almost invariably votes for the Republican platform.
They know why and you know why. They could never win an election in most states on that platform. They always have to be very vague about it even while their supporters openly celebrate the possibilities. I figure they would lose about ten seats in the Senate if those Republican Senators campaigned on a the promise of ending abortion rights.
“Honest, I have no opinion on abortion. None whatsoever. Never even thought about it. What is ‘abortion’? Is it something bad?”
In his record, it is amazing how many different rationales Kavanaugh provides for invariably deciding in favor of stock holders, police, corporations, security agencies, negligent employers, ISPs, all the while insisting he has no political bias. The constitution itself, you see, clearly says “the stockholders, owners, and oligarchs are always right”.
When the state tries to ensure that all citizens have the right and opportunity to vote in elections– that’s “over-reach”. Excessive. Intrusive! When it wants to see who you’ve been calling on your cellphone, by golly, the constitution itself says right there, “you have no privacy”.
[whohit]The Great Mime Parade[/whohit]