Day: May 14, 2010

Pat And Bay Buchanan And Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan

The Buchanans, Pat and Bay, are at it again, stirring up controversy, and making many observers “roll their eyes”! 🙂

Pat Buchanan, the Nixon speechwriter and Reagan loyalist, who challenged the first President Bush for the nomination of the GOP for President in 1992, and then ran as a Reform Party candidate for President twice, even having an effect on the Florida election results in 2000, has commented on the fact that some think Elena Kagan is a lesbian, and also that she is Jewish, which makes for three Jews on the Supreme Court, all appointed by Democratic Presidents! The fact that almost all previous Supreme Court Justices, except for about twenty, have been Protestants, apparently is not an issue to the Buchanans! 🙁

Buchanan is not the only person in the Republican party to bring up the rumored homosexuality of Elena Kagan, and the Obama Administration has been actively criticizing the tactic!

But bringing up the fact Kagan is Jewish only smells of the old beliefs that Buchanan is anti Semitic, which has been part of the image that he has, because of his inappropriate comments!

But it is interesting that if one goes back to look at Democratic Presidents since John F. Kennedy, we find two appointments (Byron White who was Protestant and Arthur Goldberg who was Jewish) by JFK; two appointments by Lyndon B. Johnson (Abe Fortas who was Jewish and Thurgood Marshall who was African American); no appointments by Jimmy Carter, as no member of the Court left the bench during his term; two appointments by Bill Clinton (Ruth Bader Ginsberg who is Jewish and Stephen Breyer who is Jewish); and now two by Barack Obama (Sonia Sotomayor who is Latino and Elena Kagan who is Jewish)!

So when one examines Democratic appointments in the past half century, a total of eight, five were indeed Jewish, one African American, one Latino, and only the first one was a Protestant! This is certainly interesting information, but it should not be a plus or minus to judge Supreme Court nominees because of their religion or ethnicity!

But Bay Buchanan, Pat’s sister and a long term conservative activist, makes an even more ridiculous assertion about Elena Kagan! She declares that Kagan is totally unqualified simply because she has no direct judicial experience, despite the fact that many Supreme Court Justices never had judicial experience, but turned out to be superb members of the Court!

It is not that only Bay Buchanan has made Kagan seem to lack the experience and knowledge to be a Supreme Court Justice, but that she has, earlier in 2008 and ever since, claimed that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the GOP VIce Presidential nominee, was superbly qualified and talented to be President ofr the United States!

That comment makes any neutral observer come to the conclusion that Bay Buchanan must be drinking, or smoking something illegal, or is totally certifiable for a mental hospital! 🙂 LOL

Both Buchanans lose all legitimacy by their statements about Elena Kagan, who worked with two great judges–Abner Mikva of the Court of Appeals (1979-1994), and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (1967-1991), who she clerked for! She is indeed a credit to both judicial giants and will be a star figure on the Supreme Court, once she overcomes the bias, prejudice, and pettiness being promoted by Republican opponents! 🙁

Are Public Opinion Polls Reliable? Obama Versus Democrats In Congress

There has always been the question of how reliable are public opinion polls in judging the true feelings of the American people.

New evidence adds to the doubt on the reliability of polls, as it is clear, to the fury of conservative opponents, that President Barack Obama remains personally popular, with most polls finding him in the mid to high 50s range.

And yet, only 36 percent of Democrats in a recent poll are enthused about the upcoming midterm elections, as compared to 56 percent of Republicans!

There has been a constant criticism of Congress as an institution, with the “ins” always suffering a lack of confidence by the American people, who seem impatient with the slow processes that exist on Capitol Hill.

There is certainly always an anti incumbent feeling, with it being much more powerful this year, based upon polls, than is normally seen. But this includes Republicans who are incumbents, as well as Democrats!

A lot of the dichotomy is due to the tremendous economic suffering going on in the nation in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression! People want simple and easy answers, or as some suggested when President Obama visited Buffalo yesterday, “I need a freaking job!”

So Democrats hope that as the months go by, and the impact of what Obama has done continues to promote expansion of the economy, that the enthusiasm among Democrats and independents to vote Democratic will become stronger, and that the results in November will be far better than they seemingly appear to be.

But it could also be that possibly many of the American people actually may prefer a divided government, with a Democratic President and a Republican Congress. The argument among many people that a government works better when power is divided is very popular!

One could argue historically that times seemed to be better when we had Republican Presidents (Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I) and Democratic Congresses; or Democratic Presidents and Republican Congresses (Clinton after 1994)! A lot of this is based upon faded memories and false history!

Closer examination belies this fact, as for instance the great steps forward under Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson with Democratic Congresses in the 1930s and 1960s!

What is clear is that the political situation is in flux, and the turns and twists between now and November will be many, and anyone wanting to bet money on the results six months from now, does so at his or her detriment! 🙁

If We Can Fund The Wars In Afghanistan And Iraq, We Must Fund Education, Police And Firefighters!

Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa is promoting a supplemental funding bill for $23 billion to save the jobs of educators all over the country.

Also, $1 billion each is being set aside for police and firefighters, and an additional $1 billion for early childhood education.

The Obama Administration and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are fully backing this move, and Obama has reminded people that if we had listened to the opposition, we would be in a much deeper economic downturn than we have been!

Critics are saying we cannot afford these expenditures to save jobs and provide a decent education, and promote public safety!

Well, if we can afford to spend billions upon billions on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq–nearly $1 trillion combined since the wars began in 2001 and 2003–then we simply MUST find a way to save jobs and promote a quality of life domestically!

This is NOT frivolous spending on unimportant matters! It is the lifeblood of communities all over the country, and will prevent more unemployment, which would help to provoke an economic downturn just as we are emerging from the deep recession we have been in for the past two and a half years!

Further federal stimulus is ESSENTIAL, not optional! And if conservatives and Republicans don’t like it, well, tough it out, gentlemen! 🙁