Score!

[petardier]

I got a letter published in the Sunday Boston Globe regarding a mendacious editorial on Bush's judicial nominees by James Dobson.

I've no idea if my letter will change anyone's mind, but at least I've done what I can to remind people of certain facts that Dobson never knew or has conveniently forgotten.

Comments

[psongster.livejournal.com]

It's a great letter too!

Thank you! And congratulations!

Great letter, Bruce

[(Anonymous)]

You should post it.

-rhs

Found it on the globe site

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2005/05/15/bush_nominees_extreme_and_unqualified/

Original letter

[petardier.livejournal.com]

Here's what I sent in. They edited it a bit, but not much.

Where was James Dobson while 60 of Clinton's judicial nominees were on hold? Did they too deserve an up or down vote? Or is that a privilege reserved solely for Republican nominees?

Dobson is wrong in so many ways that it's hard to know where to start listing the problems. Let start with the nominees. He claims they aren't extreme. Current Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, himself nominated by Bush, accused Owen of trying to implement "an unconscionable act of judicial activism" while they were both justices on the Texas supreme court. Her work on the bench was deemed poor by 47% of the Houston Bar Association.

Brown has referred to a Supreme Court ruling in favor of minimum wage laws as “the triumph of our own socialist revolution.” She has also said that “[t]oday’s senior citizens blithely cannibalize their grandchildren because they have a right to get as much ‘free’ stuff as the political system will permit them to extract.” When nominated to the California Supreme Court, Brown was rated "unqualified" by three-fourths of the California State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees.

Dobson claims that "Never in the history of the Senate has a federal judge nominee with obvious majority support in the Senate been held hostage to a fillibuster..." What of Judge Richard A. Paez, whom none other than Bill Frist voted to fillibuster?

Dobson is right about one thing though. The Republicans' nuclear option isn't really about senate rules, traditions, or the reputations of the nominees. It's all about the Republicans getting and keeping power.