Archive for July 23rd, 2009

Update: Salon has a report that CNN told Dobbs to drop the story, but his show only served to fuel conspiracy theorists. Yikes.

Jon had a segment about the group claiming Obama isn’t American. At about 3:45 there is a laundry list of proof that Obama was born in America. When you hear all the evidence, it makes the conspiracy theorists seem even crazier.

What’s messed up is that Dobbs, Representative Bill Posey, and Liz Cheney continue to legitimate these claims. They don’t believe them, but by appeasing the birth conspiracy movement, they continue to give them hope. As Jon says, the theory was put down like a rabid dog on Lou Dobb’s own show. Just because he wasn’t there doesn’t mean he should be unaware of what happened on his own show.

Liz Cheney, on TV, debated the movement with James Carville. She refuses to say anything that would offend the birth certificate people.

She says they are right to question Obama’s dedication to America. Then later on she wrote that he has the right to be the president. The conspiracy enthusiasts are appeased by her TV appearance, and she proved she wasn’t crazy by later writing that he’s a citizen. She says she isn’t planning on running for office, but she may have a future in politics. If only she can get over the whole gay Republican thing. It’s okay to be a gay Republican, you just need to be closeted.

Carville has it nailed. She and others can’t flat-out say the idea that there is a conspiracy behind his birth certificate is crazy because they do not want to lost the crazy section of people. At least Mike Castle had the stones to tell the crazy lady at his forum she was dead wrong.

Enjoy this ridiculous, meaningless distraction.

Adam Feser

I got this press release from the Sens office yesterday and I thought I would share with you all on why the Senator is not voting for Sotomayor.  I now stand behind his decision. 

The following what you will read is directly from the senator:

July 20th, 2009 – Washington, D.C. – Senator John Thune today announced he would vote against Supreme Court Nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor and released the following statement:

“Judge Sotomayor has a compelling personal story and I appreciate her meeting with me. I carefully followed last week’s Judiciary Committee hearings as members questioned Judge Sotomayor on her judicial philosophy and her record of decisions from her time on the bench. After this review I have concluded that Judge Sotomayor has consistently advanced a narrow view of the Second Amendment, providing little reasoning or explanation for her decisions, and twice has ruled that the Second Amendment is not a `fundamental right.’ This is an important distinction because the Supreme Court has made this determination a key element in deciding whether to apply parts of the Bill of Rights, such as the Second Amendment, to state and local governments.

“Judge Sotomayor has also had seven of her 10 decisions reviewed by the Supreme Court overturned, including, most recently, Ricci v. DeStefano. In this case, a three person panel dismissed a reverse discrimination claim of 18 New Haven, CT firefighters who were denied promotion because too few minorities passed a promotion exam. The panel published an unusually short and unsigned opinion that adopted the lower court’s ruling without adding any original analysis. Judicial and legal experts have noted this disturbing trend of avoiding or casually dismissing difficult and important constitutional issues in her rulings. The Supreme Court should not be the first time a judge tackles these difficult decisions.

“I am also concerned that Judge Sotomayor has a record of bringing her personal views into her decision making philosophy rather than deciding cases based on precedent and fidelity to the law. Her statements during the confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee do not always match the philosophies she has expressed prior to this hearing, such as her application of foreign law.

“I take the Senate’s role of advise and consent very seriously. I believe that it is the Senate’s constitutional duty to thoroughly review all nominees to the federal bench, especially those who will have a lifetime appointment to the highest court.”

Judge Sotomayor’s nomination is expected to be considered by the full Senate during the first part of August.