Let’s talk about empathy:
House Republican leaders sent a memo this week to the entire GOP conference with talking points designed to help rank-and-file Republicans show compassion for the unemployed and explain the Republican position on unemployment benefits. In the memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post, House Republicans are urged to be empathetic toward the unemployed and understand how unemployment is a “personal crisis” for individuals and families. The memo also asks Republicans to reiterate that the House will give “proper consideration” to an extension of long-term insurance as long as Democrats are willing to support spending or regulatory reforms.
I remember when “empathy” became a dirty word for the Republican Party. It happened after Justice David Souter announced his retirement and President Obama make the following remarks:
“Now, the process of selecting someone to replace Justice Souter is among my most serious responsibilities as president, so I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity.
“I will seek someone who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook; it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives, whether they can make a living and care for their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation.
“I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people’s hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes.
“I will seek somebody who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process and the appropriate limits of the judicial role.
“I will seek somebody who shares my respect for constitutional values on which this nation was founded and who brings a thoughtful understanding of how to apply them in our time.
Republicans ignored most of what the president said and latched onto his idea that a judge should be able to identify with the hopes and struggles of folks who might not even feel welcome in their own country. When Obama selected Sonia Sotomayor (who is Puerto Rican), as his nominee, the Republicans began attacking her for having empathy.
“President Obama clearly believes that you measure up to his empathy standard,” Chuck Grassley ominously intoned. “That worries me.”
…
“That is, of course, the logical flaw in the empathy standard,” Sen. Jeff Sessions warned. “Empathy for one party is always prejudice against another.”
…
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell stated that Obama wanted a judge with “perceived sympathy for certain groups or individuals.” Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele argued that empathy gets in the way of justice, saying he does not want “some justice up there feeling bad for my opponent.”
The Wall Street Journal derisively referred to Sotomayor as “the empathy nominee.” Rush Limbaugh said, “Obama talks about we need people with empathy. It’s not even about empathy, folks, that’s just cover. He just wants one of his own on the court to do his dirty work from the highest court in the land, and she fits the bill.” Karl Rove said “”Empathy” is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want.”
The spectacle of seeing someone be criticized for having empathy even puzzled psychologists who had never seen the word used pejoratively before.
Something about the idea of a judge having empathy deeply offended the right, and they didn’t care how strange and psychotic and anti-social it made them look. The whole Mighty Right-Wing Wurlitzer cranked up in unison to bash Ms. Sotomayor, despite the fact that she never used the word to describe herself.
Four years later, the House leadership is passing out memos to their members so that they will remember to at least pretend to have some empathy for people who have been out of work for six months or more.
Is this an about-face? Are they slow learners?
Nope.
They don’t have an ounce of empathy, and they prefer it that way.
