Category: Politics

According to David Brooks, the conservative movement is strong because of the constant bitching and attacks conservatives launch against their ideological brethren:

Conservatives have not triumphed because they have built a disciplined and efficient message machine. Conservatives have thrived because they are split into feuding factions that squabble incessantly. As these factions have multiplied, more people have come to call themselves conservatives because they’ve found one faction to agree with.

In the interest of building conservative power, let me point out that John Cornyn is a butt-monkey:

My point was, and is, simply this: We should all be concerned that the judiciary is losing the respect that it needs to serve the American people well. We should all want judges to interpret the law fairly – not impose their own personal views on the nation. We should all want to fix our broken judicial confirmation process. And we should all be disturbed by overheated rhetoric about the judiciary, from both sides of the aisle. I regret it that my remarks have been taken out of context to create a wrong impression about my position, and possibly be construed to contribute to the problem rather than to a solution.

The People are much more annoyed with the Congress’ attempts to judge individual cases than they are with the courts doing what they’re paid to do.

And despite that, it would be a shame if violent protesters attacked grand-standing members of Congress. Just defeat them at the polls, thank you very much.

Check out what Daily Pundit says about the parties.

He’s got a point. Neither party has a monopoly on either virtue or vice, and they’re both inclined to complacency, arrogance, and corruption if they’re too powerful. We need to restore checks and balances in the legislative branch, and the best way to do that is to beef up the Democratic Party.

See Dr. Frank for the cure.

See this post by John Cole on the imminent threat to the conservative movement:

When Terri Schiavo is finally allowed to slip past her cruel fate and move on to a better place, she will not be the only one to have died this month. At another gravesite, this marker should be erected:

Barry Goldwater’s Conservatism in America

1964-2005

Sad but true.

A new poll from CBS News says the people are not pleased with congressional meddling with Schiavo:

An overwhelming 82 percent of the public believes the Congress and President should stay out of the matter.

Just 13 percent of those polled think Congress intervened in the case out of concern for Schiavo, while 74 percent think it was all about politics. Of those polled, 66 percent said the tube should not be inserted compared to 27 percent who want it restored. The issue has generated strong feelings, with 78 percent of those polled — wheter for either side of the issue — saying they have strong feelings.

Public approval of Congress has suffered as a result; at 34 percent, it is the lowest it has been since 1997, dropping from 41 percent last month. Now at 43 percent, President Bush’s approval rating is also lower than it was a month ago.

One fallout of the President’s new dismal approval rating is the certain death of this Social Security reform proposals. But what’s more important, retirement security for all Americans, or a few more gallons of liquid for one person in a persistent vegetative state?

Bob Barr’s not pleased:

“To simply say that the ‘culture of life,’ or whatever you call it means that we don’t have to pay attention to the principles of federalism or separation of powers is certainly not a conservative viewpoint,” said Barr.

And neither is John Warner:

“That the misfortunes of life vested upon Theresa Marie Schiavo are a human tragedy, no one can deny. I said my prayers, as did many Americans, as we attended religious services this Palm Sunday,” he said. “I believe it unwise for the Congress to take from the state of Florida its constitutional responsibility to resolve the issues in this case.”

Amen to that, brothers and sisters.

Dahlia Lithwick:

The rule of law in this country holds that this is a federalist system — in which private domestic matters are litigated in state, not federal courts. The rule of law has long provided that such domestic decisions are generally made by competent spouses, as opposed to parents, elected officials, popular referendum, or the demands of Randall Terry. The rule of law also requires a fundamental separation of powers — in which legislatures do not override final, binding court decisions solely because the outcome is not the one they like. The rule of law requires comity between state and federal courts — wherein each respects and upholds the jurisdiction and authority of the other. The rule of law requires that we look skeptically at legislation aimed at mucking around with just one life to the exclusion of any and all similarly situated individuals.

And what is the overwhelming constitutional value that supersedes each of these centuries-old legal notions? Evidently, Congress has a secret, super-textual constitutional role as the nation’s caped crusaders, its members authorized to leap into phone booths around the world and fly back to Washington in a single bound whenever the “culture of life” is in peril. Republicans acknowledged this weekend that their views on “the sanctity of life” trump even their convictions about federalism. Or, as Tom DeLay put it, when asked how he reconciles this bill with conservative calls to keep the federal government out of state matters, “We, as Congress, have every right to make sure that the constitutional rights of Terri Schiavo are protected, and that’s what we’re doing.”…

The reason we have courts, the reason we traditionally assign these brutal fact-finding responsibilities to those courts, is that intimate legal custody and life-or-death decisions should not be determined based on popular referenda. They need to be rooted, as much as possible, in rock-solid legal rules.

Amen.

Regarding the Schindlers’ request for an injunction, the AP reports the judge isn’t sold:

But the judge told Gibbs that he still wasn’t completely sold on the argument. “I think you’d be hardpressed to convince me that you have a substantial likelihood” of the parents’ lawsuit succeeding, Whittemore said.

You don’t always get that miracle no matter how hard you pray, people.

Click on this link to see how you voted on the Schiavo bill. Party affiliations are indicated by type face, Dems in italic, Reeps in Roman.

So the Congress has jumped about the loony train and passed a bill grabbing jurisdiction on the Schiavo case away from the State of Florida, a move applauded by that state’s fool of a governor, Jeb Bush:

Gov. Bush, praised the actions of Congress. “We in government have a duty to protect the weak, disabled and vulnerable,” he said in a statement Monday. “I appreciate the efforts of state and federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have taken this duty to heart.”

I find it amusing, now, that Congress’ concern for the weak and the vulnerable wasn’t strong enough to extend unemployment benefits at the pit of the recent (some would say “Bush”) recession.

This law proves that it’s dangerous to allow any one political party to take control of too much of the government. For the sake of the country, the Democrats need to organize and take back the House of Representatives in 2006, and I’m going to do what I can to make that happen, beginning with the removal of my Bush/Cheney 2004 bumper sticker.

Check Joe Gandelman’s post on prospects for the mid-term elections. He cites Bob (“Prince of Darkness”) Novak, to wit:

Analysts at the Republican National Committee have sent this warning to the House of Representatives: The party is in danger of losing 25 seats in the 2006 election and, therefore, of losing control of the House for the first time since the 1994 election.

It looks good for America.

A cogent analysis of the past week, from Andrew Sullivan:

CONSERVATISM COME UNDONE: So it is now the federal government’s role to micro-manage baseball and to prevent a single Florida woman who is trapped in a living hell from dying with dignity. We’re getting to the point when conservatism has become a political philosophy that believes that government – at the most distant level – has the right to intervene in almost anything to achieve the right solution. Today’s conservatism is becoming yesterday’s liberalism.

Indeed.