[From the diaries by susanhu.] This may be old news to some, but now Raw Story seems to have confirmation from staffers. Apparently Rehnquist is going to retire tomorrow:
Rehnquist’s retirement was suggested earlier today by conservative columnist Robert Novak who relies on a bevy of anonymous Republican sources.
Novak suggested that Rehnquist’s departure could allow President Bush to nominate Alberto Gonzales. The veteran conservative pundit said he expected no change in the ideological balance of the court.
“Word from court sources that ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist also will announce his retirement before the week is over,” Novak wrote today. “That would enable Bush to play this game: Name one justice no less conservative than Rehnquist, and name Gonzales, whose past record suggests he would replicate retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on abortion and possibly other social issues. Thus, the present ideological orientation of the court would be unchanged, which would suit the left just fine.”
Novak again. Why isn’t that guy in jail, anyway???
If there ever were a wake-up call, here it is, our very own snooze alarm reminding us what’s at stake. Scary times.
We’re marching right into “A Handmaid’s Tale.”
Anybody remember what happened on The West Wing (TV show) when a conservative SC justice suddenly died?
The administration wanted to appoint the very liberal justice played by Glenn Close, but the GOP was insisting the president appoint another conservative. Bartlett convinced the ailing liberal Chief Justice to retire, then reached a compromise with the GOP in which he appointed Close’s liberal justice and a conservative justice, thereby maintaining the balance in the court.
If only life could imitate art in this instance. Maybe we allow one nutter in exchange for one moderate. I know… wishful thinking.
Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo has a piece that suggests that it will be more difficult for W to push two conservatives at the same time. It could be the best we can hope for if he appoints a conservative to replace Rehnquist to placate the radical right and a moderate to keep from appearing even more loony and beholden to that group.
Gonzales says, “I am not a candidate”.
“I’ve been asked since 2001 whether or not I’d consider going on the court, and I’ve consistently said, ‘I’m not a candidate for the Supreme Court’ – and that remains true today,” Gonzales said. “I love being attorney general. My job, currently, is to help the president make this decision.”
does this sound eerily similar to Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, in which Cheney was supposed to merely conduct the search for a suitable VP running mate for Chimpy….and after such an exhaustive search <ackgagcough> he decided on himself!
Oh indeed, I can see ol’ Abu “help[ing] the president make this decision”. And I don’t believe for a moment that he wouldn’t want a lifetime SC job rather than a measly 4-year-term as AG.
“I am not a candidate” is about as truthful as “I am not a crook”.
I thought he had hired his staff for the upcoming year. They were saying that if he did that, then he was not going to retire. So what is going on here?
Everyone’s talking about London and terrorism right now. Wait till they start talking about Rove, or the Bush failure in the Middle East, or something else where the Administration needs a diversion.
The American media minds are so small, they can’t focus on more than one crisis at once…
Has anyone considered that O’Connor was pressured to retire so they could pull this scenerio off? That way he could get his buddy Abu Gonzales on board making the other side believe he was tolerable. So many have already said Gonzales would be acceptable because of his position on abortion. I don’t believe it for a minute. We are talking about a man that believes torture is ok. He will do whatever Cheney…er I mean Bush tells him to do. Gonzales has zero integrity and I just don’t believe a F’ing word any of them say.
…to see that Bush is likely to have the opportunity to name two or maybe three justices. (Stevens is 85 and rumored to be considering retiring, too.)
Rehnquist hasn’t retired yet, but does anyone wonder if he’ll stick it out 3 more years?
It’s high time the progressive movement took notice. Apparently many are still in denial. After all, Tim Roemer is called a “moderate”; his not running for office next year is considered a disappointment by many.
I really feel like I have no Party.
O’Connor was pressured to resign; evidently her husband is in early stages of Alzheimer’s and she wants to maximize their quality time together. That’s understandable.
I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if she were encouraged to resign in some way…
Don’t know what to say. I hope Josh Marshall is right though. Scary times for me. Never thought that I would live through such scary times on my watch as an American and an adult and a voter. Like it or not this is my watch though and I’m so glad that I have people with the same concerns and goals that I do to hang with and converse with. Otherwise I may have become so overwhelmed by everything I might have shut down and tried to hide from it all. I would have lost my ability to continue to participate and fight for freedom and democracy and have a voice!
Thank you Tracy, for this says it all, for me and I am sure for many Americans who have watched in horror as our government becomes more and more disconnected for its people.
That you prize your right as a citizen to formulate and postulate change in our government is the watchword of the founding fathers ideal in our Constitution and our Bill if Rights.
That you are not alone sends a message to all of us that together we can and will forment the changes in our government that truly makes it responsive to the needs of its citizens, that is responisible for its actions to the people who make the government possible.
I too fear for my country, for the people of my country because a fascist/corporate regime has somehow managed to gain s strong foothold in the power structure of our government and is working diligently to maintain and strengthen that foothold for its own ends. That we, the people of the United States of America can foil this insidious plot to overthrow our Constitutionally guaranteed rights is without question, in my mind. I feel the winds of change approaching, the calm before the storm, that will yank these fascist, imperialist, warmongers from the seats of power and return our country to its rightful place as a harbringer of peace, tranquility and pursuit of happiness for all human beings on this planet.
I am angry, not despaired,
I am hopeful, not hopeless,
I will stand against injustice,
For I am a Human Being.
Having lived in Colorado and Wyoming my whole life I have grown up around our Native American culture. I even did a sweat one time and jumped into the Big Horn River afterwards, smelled like sweetgrass for days and ate like a horse. I used to live in Sheridan. I read your article on Custer but didn’t comment. After living in Sheridan for so long I could go on and on. It is enough to say that in Northern Wyoming Custer is an accepted historical egotistical TARD! He had great hair though! Somebody trying to look like him leads the Drum and Bugle Corp in Sheridan at all the parades, but in reality they are called the Drunken Bugle Corp so once again history repeats itself. Much Love.
Once again it seems that the Dems and liberal/left folks are just accepting that we’re going to get some idiot monstrosity as an SC “justice”. I don’t see any real effort to propose acceptable moderates, if only to move the ideological spectrum toward the left.
There is an opportunity to exploit the inherent conflict within the GOP coalition. We see that conflict working in the Gonzales controversy within the party and among its allies. The religious nuts can’t abide the thought of anybody rational, but the corporate masters can’t take a chance on some faithbased loony wrecking their hopes for biotech and at least the minimal rationality that markets need for survival.
“Conservatism” is a word without a single definition. In its meaning pre-Reagan, it could mean a “small government” libertarian. I think our side should identify and go all out to promote such people. Given the schisms on the right, a respectable, fair-minded person might just get through — but it will be up to the Dems to block anything less.
The advantage we have is that we don’t need an ideolog and they do. All we need is somebody smart, honest, and thoughtful. The disadvantage we have is that we, too, are composed of warring interest groups.
The poll here at BooMan a few days ago sent me into deep despair over our prospects. That a large majority, even here, would opt for an apologist for torture over an anti-abortion candidate seems to me to show a level of self-absorbtion and lack of principle that’s miserably disappointing. We need to get together and do better, fast.
for money etc. SOS so far. The dems seem to be waiting to just react.