Republican Reasoning In A (Wing) Nutshell

Or...

How To Broadcast Your Stupidity To Everyone

Today, President Obama did a very intelligent thing, but the reason as to WHY he had to do it was absolutely ludicrous. The President's video below was emailed to millions of Americans in support of SCOTUS nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. For the last eight years, the President has had the power to use the internet to make announcements, pronouncements, explanations, etc. To my knowledge, however, this is the first time the internet has been used by a president in this way.

Now THAT'S smart!

However, the reason he felt compelled to present this visual "resume" was because of cluelessness on the part of some Republicans who have vowed to block his nomination, no matter how qualified that nominee might be.

Now THAT'S stupid!

Judge Sonia Sotomayor's qualifications:

• Graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton
• Received Princeton's highest undergraduate award, the M.Taylor Pyne Prize
• Served as editor of the Yale Law Journal
• Became managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order
• Spent 5 years as a prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney
• 12 years on the Board for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (pro bono)
• On the Board of the State of New York Mortgage Agency, providing mortgage insurance coverage to AIDS hospices (pro bono)
• Helped found the New York City Campaign Finance Board (pro bono)
  

This morning on WTOP, Curt Levey, executive director of the right-wing Committee for Justice, compared Sotomayor to ...Harriet Miers (?!?):

I would point you to the Harriet Miers nomination under the second President Bush. She was also many people felt and (sic) intellectual lightweight, picked because she was a woman, people felt. And even though Republicans controlled the senate, she ultimately had to withdraw. And that could happen here. This is someone who clearly was picked because she’s a woman and Hispanic, not because she was the best qualified. I could certainly see red and purple state Democrats gawking at it and she may very well have to withdraw her nomination. (Emphasis my own)

HT: Think Progress

Is there any logic to the above statement? A comparison to Harriet Miers is dumb enough, then to show bigotry on top of that is horrendous idiocy. But being a far right Republican, Levey has to reiterate his stupidity by saying that a judge appointed TWICE by former presidents, and one who brings more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any other judge in the past 100 years, is UNQUALIFIED?

Of course, Rush Limbaugh also chimed in with incredible insults, daring Republicans to oppose the nomination:

But here is why -- even though she may not be able to be stopped -- here is why Sonia Sotomayor needs to be opposed by the Republicans as far as they can take it. Because the American people need to know who Barack Obama really is and his choice of Sonia Sotomayor tells everybody, if we will tell the story of her, who he is. He got up in his announcement and said everything about her that isn't true: that she's great constitutionalist, that she doesn't use personal opinion, that she understands what her role is and the oath is of a Supreme Court justice. She has done just the opposite of that. She is a hack like he is a hack in the sense that the court is a place to be used to make policy, not to adjudicate cases, not to adjudicate constitutional law but to make policy. She's even admitted it.

But he didn't say what REALLY makes her unqualified: she uses (gasp!) empathy!

THEY CAME FROM OUTER SPACE: Those "Protect Marriage" Monsters!

Take A Deep Breath, Calm Down
...And Let The Stupidity Unfold

Hatred is man's dumbest emotion. It's useless. It's anti-survival. It never really accomplishes anything (especially by itself). But some people are addicted to hatred. It may be difficult to feel sorry for them, but living a life fueled by hatred is living a useless life. And a pretty dumb one too. Yesterday, the California Supreme Court overwhelmingly supported the legality of a statewide proposition to amend the state's constitution. They also supported the legality of the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed before the proposition passed. The PM ("Protect Marriage") people are not satisfied. They were hoping for a complete bloodbath: they wanted 18,000 demonspawn to suffer and suffer big time.

From Capitol Resource Institute:

“The court placed our state in this untenable situation by allowing almost 18,000 homosexual couples to marry last summer, before Proposition 8 was approved by voters,” stated England. “Legally, these marriages cannot be valid. The constitution clearly states that only man-woman marriage is valid or recognized in California. The court has undermined its own authority by allowing these faux marriages to stand.”

"Faux Marriages." Kinda like the "Faux News" from Rupert Murdoch that gets piped into them intravenously (actually through the eyes and ears - very painful).

To some people, the court really DID put the Christofascists in a weird position: in their decision, they stripped the proposition down to the word "marriage" and expressly said that Prop 8 does not deny gays any of their rights protected by the State of California. Several respondents to Andrew Sullivan's blog may have worded their sentiments oddly, but many people see this as a victory for gay rights. The Court basically said: "BFD, you can pass an amendment defining the word "marriage", but you can't take away legal rights. And those marriages performed before the passing of Prop 8 were legal.

In a way, the PMs overplayed their hand in demanding that those 18,000 souls suffer. Whatever people thought about them before, they now realize just what a bunch of bloodthirsty fiends the PMs are:

• They imported people and money from out of the state to change the Constitution of the State of California.
• They tried to extort money from "No on Prop 8" donors.
• They attempted to eradicate the rights of all lesbians and gays residing in California.
• They viciously portrayed lesbians and gays as "outcasts" and "perverts" who have the radical agenda of making their children gay.
• Their agenda included ruining the lives of couples who love each other.

So what happens now?

Fasten your seatbelts.

The Bloviating Boss Has Spoken: HATE SOTOMAYOR!

After reading the transcript of Rush Limbaugh's screed against Judge Sonia Sotomayor, I just had to include this video. Part of the actual transcript is HERE. Read it, if you want to read vitriol personified. Thanks so very much to Crooks and Liars for a wonderfully inciteful video!

So How Magnanimous Will The PMs Be Now?

War exposes people for who they really are. All of the Christofascist mean-spirited hatred that has been demonstrated these last months: all the moralizing lies being cast as stones upon the "wicked"; all the fear-mongering by stories more incredible than urban legends; all the stories about the "Christian Right's" waning popularity; all the discoveries about the Mormon Church. Each sides' swords have been sharpened to fine points ready for another round. Money, hard work and tenacity will keep spinning until the chance for repeal comes around. And there will be a battle, to be sure. There has been no form of magnanimity from yesterday's "victors". Ask yourselves: will they ever tell gay marriage proponents that they harbour no ill feelings and that they will be non-discriminatory in all other cases except for the word "marriage"? After all, that would be "the Christian Thing To Do" and looked upon as very noble.

Don't hold your breath!

The Protect Marriage people look upon this small victory as justification for being even more aggressive: they'll feel emboldened to try their Prop 8 tactics in other states and experiment with Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Iowa. They're re-energized. They will never apologize for their extortion attempts. They will never retool their lying advertisments. And they will attempt to scorn, verbally mutilate and violate those 18,000 lesbians and gay men who are LEGALLY married.

And they will make martyrs of them. By feeding these "legitimates" to the proverbial lions of discrimination, the PMs will show the rest of the country just how hollow their claims of "righteousness" are.

Advice: follow the lead of people like Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate and Courage Campaign's new video.

Californians Against Hate

Fred Karger:

We will carefully monitor and take action against those who bully us and spend vast sums of money against us. Individuals and organizations who give millions of dollars to deny our full civil rights will be held accountable.

In response to the court's decision, the Courage Campaign will hit the California airwaves in the next 72 hours with a 60-second TV ad version of "Fidelity" -- the heartbreaking online video viewed by more than 1.2 million people, making it the most-watched video ever in the history of California politics.

Before clicking on to the above TV ad, watch the original one (below). Look at all those faces who almost got "divorced" by the "magnanimous" people of Protect Marriage. Then read a PM's stance HERE. You must see the other side.

After all, "It's the Christian thing to do."