It's Sunday, and if it's Sunday...it must be politics, and all anyone seems to be talking about is the President's pick for Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor. So let's get started.
This Week with George Stephanopoulos spent almost the entirety of the show talking about Judge Sotomayor - is she a reverse racist, should a remark in a speech she made carry that much weight, does or should her ethnicity, gender, and background really matter or is it the letter of the law that truly matters, and will she adhere to the letter of the law? If I didn't already have a migraine, I would have gotten one. And maybe because I do have a migraine, I'm less prone to beat around the bush.
Gender and race don't matter at all...if you're a white male, ruling on the side of white males or big business. Background doesn't matter at all...if you'll side with the majority opinion on abortion or gay rights. Who are we kidding? We didn't all of a sudden become altruistic in our line of questioning, so let me sum it up - while what she has said in letters and speeches matter, they only matter to the degree of insight into her thinking. Her rulings are ultimately the bottom line. And as far as how many of her decisions have been overturned by the Supreme Court, we need to know how that stacks up against how many decisions as a whole are overturned by the Supreme Court. Are hers overturned at a higher rate or lower rate than everyone else's? What do her judgments say about how she would rule in future cases? That matters. Everything else, her style or temperament, her "story," who cares? I don't.
I found it mildly disheartening that this was all that was talked about, when there were actually other important things going on in the world - like North Korea doing more nuclear testing, for instance. Am I the only one concerned that Kim Jong-Il is a crazy man...with nuclear weapons? Shouldn't we all be trying to figure out how to deal with this dilemma, you know, the one where both being nice and inviting him to have a seat at the table doesn't work any better than cutting him off? Poor Hillary Clinton, she ages exponentially every time I see her now.
And GM, the now bankrupt, government owned car company. This is where I differ from my President's opinion. I still say, let them fail. A new car company will emerge that will be able to meet the energy efficient needs of the times we live in. It is the only way there will be a viable auto industry in the U.S.
Lastly, the two opposing lawyers in Bush v. Gore have joined forces to try to take the whole gay marriage debate to the Supreme Court. Talk about a mutually beneficial alliance! I think this is a big mistake at this time, and you know I am in favor of equality under the law for every citizen. But my fear is that if they do this now, at a time where more and more states are working it out for themselves legislatively in favor of it, and they lose, this will set gay marriage back for more years than it would have been had it been able to play out on its own. In addition, the more states that pass favorable legislation, and the more scientific advancement we make that may indicate an actual gene or genetic make up, the more ammunition there would be for a future court case. So in summation, I think these lawyers are prematurely looking for some quick publicity and don't have the best interest of their clients at heart. I would like to be wrong about that, by the way, but today that's the way I see it.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Thanks for stopping by. Please tell your friends.
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