Obama Shuns the Left as White House Mulls U.S. High Court Slot

[usregimechange]

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Justice John Paul Stevens’s retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court may remind progressive legal groups that reshaping the judiciary ranks low on President Barack Obama’s priority list.

As Obama considers his choice for a successor, such groups as the Alliance for Justice and the American Constitution Society, which back broad protection of individual rights, likely will wield far less influence than their conservative counterparts did under President George W. Bush.

The leading prospects -- U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal appellate judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood -- are relative moderates. Kagan has backed strong presidential authority over national security; rulings by Garland and Wood suggest they would expand rights only gradually...

“Conservatives have framed the constitutional debate in their terms,” said William Marshall, a University of North Carolina law professor who sits on the American Constitution Society’s board. “We need people on the court who will be able to respond to that.”

Favorite candidates of liberal groups include Stanford Law School Professors Pam Karlan and Kathleen Sullivan and University of Chicago Law School Professor Geoffrey Stone. None was among the nine candidates the White House considered for the seat filled last year by Sonia Sotomayor.

Conservatives had similar wish lists when Bush filled two vacancies. The difference is that Bush leaned on a group of outside advisers, including former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society. Two of the four lawyers Leo recommended -- John Roberts and Samuel Alito -- wound up on the court.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aKkGcLT5tGVI

[msongs]

1. obama likes to make repubs happy if he can lol nt

[babylonsister]

4. Who are you? Whoo hoo, whoo hooo? Why are you here? Whoo hoo. nt

[babylonsister]

2. Ha! An opinion piece, with no reaction from this admin, yet Obama 'shuns'

the left? HOW? No decision has been made afaik.

What a pile. But they all are.

[gkhouston]

57. The point of this piece was to push Kagan, Wood, and Garland as front-runners.

I noticed yesterday when Starr was interviewed on MSNBC about the SC nominee (not clear why anyone should give a rat's ass about his opinion, as he's not in the Senate nor the Administration), that the only pictures shown (as if they were the only names being considered) were those of Kagan, Wood, and Garland. I'm thinking those choices are somehow least objectionable to the right and are therefore being pushed in the media.

[dionysus]

59. just more of that bullshit to give the daily excuse for perpetual poutrage.

"bluh bluh.. i feel so betrayed.. bluh bluh bluh sniff sob"

[amborin]

3. courting the rethugs, per usual!

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[amborin]

10. just speaking the truth, which upsets some

[QC]

11. .

[Bluebear]

19. ...

That "ignored" poster(s) sure is chiming in loud and long in this thread!

[amborin]

24. the

rest of the troops, too

[Bluebear]

28. "Pavolv's dogs"

Later-on thread. Whatever.

[HughMoran]

15. truth?

:rofl:

Whoever here claims to post the truth is, well, a pretty funny comedian.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

27. where is the spoken truth you speak about, cause i can't see it

[Bluebear]

30. 'Obama Shuns the Left as White House Mulls U.S. High Court Slot'

[DJ13]

5. How long before liberal groups begin to understand Obama isnt one of them?

He's no friend to liberals, unless by accident that the result serves a wider purpose.

(Or he needs their votes)

[KittyWampus]

20. shunned. SHUNNED. SHUNNED I TELL YOU!

SHUNNED

[DJ13]

32. Shunned?

:cry:

[KittyWampus]

33. Like a leopard.

I mean leper.

[DJ13]

35. A spotted leopard?

[madmax]

36. I spotted one

about a week ago. :silly: :rofl:

[babylonsister]

23. He isn't 'one of them'. We know that. He's trying to get the biggest

bang for the buck. If that entails trying to get more people on the side of what's the right thing to do, so the fuck what?

Your gripes ring hollow when this man is at least trying to do the right thing.

After 8 years of idiot son, I'm grateful for Obama. I really don't understand why you aren't. Sure, attack him for things you don't like, but when the name 'Obama' inspires your hate, I do wonder.

Yea, think about it, because every time you have a gripe, I think about why you do. :think:

[amborin]

26. "the right thing" for the big corporations and the rethugs, certainly, but not for progressives

[KittyWampus]

29. SHUNNED. SHUNNED. SHUNNED I TELL YOU!

SHUNNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Donnachaidh]

42. and that maneuver has worked SO well in the past, he's gonna try it again.

The definition of CRAZY is doing the same action over and over and having the same response.

"Biggest bang for the buck -- like that insurance reform fiasco? That wasn't a bang -- that was a flat out giveaway to insurance corporations. The only BANG that came out of that was mandated profits for corporations.

Let's retire this latest meme along with the chess playing and all the other EXCUSES being vomited up to cover his run to the RIGHT. It's old, and it doesn't work to cover anything at this point.

[cui bono]

52. +1 Seriously.

If he really "got this" and was on our side where is the public option, let alone single payer?

I suppose I will have to hold my nose next presidential election. Again.

[babylonsister]

55. The funny thing is, I consider myself on the left, and I'm not feeling SHUNNED.

Go figure. So sorry you are so out of sorts, but he has a big country to try to deal with and a lot of differing views.

Nah, I'm not feeling SHUNNED at all!

[ShortnFiery]

61. Honestly, we've been on this board for years.

I'm a lefty - also in more ways than one. :silly:

But YOU? With respect, you are a party democrat: first, foremost and always.

[babylonsister]

62. Aww, poor baby. You feeling SHUNNED? That's too bad. As

for your comment, I am a Democrat. I fought for years against the previous admin. This one, I'm rather pleased with. So sue me.

[QC]

71. "I consider myself on the left"

:rofl:

[paulsby]

66. wrong

the definition of crazy is doing the same action over and over again and EXPECTING a different result

pat phrase fail

hth

[anigbrowl]

87. Yes, I mean Sotomayor has been such an extreme right winger

Oh, wait...

[ShortnFiery]

60. "... this man is at least trying to do the right thing."

Yes, in more ways than one. :evilgrin:

New Democrats = right-wing of the democratic party

[laughingliberal]

65. +1 nt

[Bluebear]

83. +

[SkyDaddy7]

77. Thank-you!

[Bolo Boffin]

7. This is why Dawn Johnsen pulled her nomination, finally, on the day Stevens announced.

She wanted to highlight what was happening here, and if at all possible, drive the nomination further left.

She's not necessarily looking to be nominated, although I would love it. But someone more like her is who we're looking for.

This is Brandeis' old seat, for God's sake, and William O. Douglas'. Using it to drive the Court to the right would be outrageous.

[napi21]

8. It's the President's job to choose the nominee, and unlike Shrub,

he can do his own interviewing and assessment of the best qualified candidate. All of us have a candidate we would love to see on the Court, but it's not our job. I read the Wiki info on each of the people who are supposed to be possible nominees. I believe any of them would serve us well. At this point, we don't even know if that list f candidates includes everyone Obama is looking at. Apparently Bloomberg needed to fill some space because they don't have any say in the selection either.

[Skink]

9. who wast it that thought they were voting liberal?

............?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. You can't always predict how they will act once they are on the Supremes.

My dad was an attorney.
His favorite example was Hugo Black of Alabama, a former member of the KKK, who turned out to be one of the liberals on the Warren Court.


:shrug:

[Bluebear]

16. I could predict how Pam Karlan would act. And I support it.

[babylonsister]

13. OK. Who has Obama's ear in this piece? Who? Say again? Yes,

that's what I thought, no one. Oy.

[Bluebear]

14. 'None was among the nine candidates the White House considered' - not even one.

Surprise!

[HughMoran]

18. is this the malcontents pile-on thread?

Oh, I guess it is!


:D

[KittyWampus]

21. more like Pavolv's dogs.

[Bluebear]

25. /ignore

Enough.

[HughMoran]

74. /afraid

[LeftyMom]

37. Oh goody, the party unity police have arrived.

:patriot:

[amborin]

38. an angry attack mob, by all appearances

[Bluebear]

46. lol

[Lorien]

47. Which party? nt

[FrenchieCat]

41. El-O-el!

Why, yes it is. :rofl:

[Donnachaidh]

43. is this the purity gang's pile on thread? n/t

[QC]

73. Quiet, you! It's time for the hourly loyalty oath! n/t

[QC]

72. Looks more like a fanboi gathering.

LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!1!!11!!11

[HughMoran]

17. "Obama shuns the left..likely..."

Ummm, uhhh, what???

:wtf:

You can't make shit like this up.

[amborin]

31. Obama has shunned the left all along; and his henchman, Rahm, publicly disses the left

[KittyWampus]

34. Shunned. SHUNNED. SHUNNED! LOOK AWAY LOOK AWAY

[Skittles]

49. looking away does not help

[usregimechange]

22. I know many of you want to support Obama and his choice will be fairly good but...

I think we need to apply some pressure, you can bet the right would.

[krispos42]

39. Michelle Obama needs to buy a copy of "Broken Government" by John Dean...

... and whap Barack in the head with it 3 times a day until he gets that controlling the judiciary has been a 40-year process by the Right.

[FrenchieCat]

40. What a convenient article!

I just love the media and their speculations as to who is the "favorite".

I'd like to see them pull jobs out of their asses next. Now that would be fun!

[Donnachaidh]

44. they'd be doing more for the unemployed than the WH is doing at the moment if they did so.

After all, it's only VOTERS who are the ones that don't seem to be in line for any sort of aid on the levels that have been doled out to Goldman Sachs and all the banksters.

[FrenchieCat]

51. Yeah...because the Government creates all jobs!

Maybe he should just nationalize those companies,
act like a commie and call it a day...right?

And of course the whole banking shit was Obama's doing. :eyes:

Shouldn't you be out with a sign somewhere?

[laughingliberal]

67. We have a roadmap of a President who led the American people out of a depression

and he didn't do it by giving all our money to Wall Street and the banks and waiting for it to trickle back down. And the Republicans are in agreement. They continuously say the government never created one job.

No, I don't like it that $4.6 trillion of our money was transferred up to save the creeps and that the President said, "We have limited resources for this," when it came time to talk about some jobs' programs. No, I don't like it a bit. It is a perfectly legitimate criticism of the difference in treatment of fat cats and working class people.

[AzNick]

45. If the media were covering Obama's administration more then the %age would be much higher

Idiots....

[LostInAnomie]

48. Didn't Stevens just retire last week?

How the fuck is Obama shunning anyone in less than a week?

[Hekate]

50. I dunno, but I feel so SHUNNED!!! It is stunning how shunning I feel.

:evilgrin:

[whistler162]

54. Didn't you hear after meeting with Republicans

President Obama announced his choice of Roy Bean a judge in Texas for the new AJ.

[struggle4progress]

53. I wasn't upset by Sotomayor. If he does as well again, I won't be upset again

[hobbit709]

56. When was Obama a leftist?

The only people that think he's a leftist are the GOP and their fellow cohorts. Of course to those idiots anyone to the left of Temujin is a flaming liberal.

[Better Believe It]

64. Obama was once a liberal before he became a conservative .... well, perhaps not.

The conservatives of three decades ago are today called liberals and the right-wingers of three decades ago are called conservatives today as both major parties continue their drift to the right.

[laughingliberal]

68. True. And we either have a lot of people here who think this is fine

or a lot who are too young to remember an America where trickle down and Reaganism did not dominate politics. I don't get it why this is hard for people to see.

[amborin]

79. exactly; Obama is govering to the right of Reagan, and for many

that seems fine

[Smashcut]

81. His supporters in the primary certainly promoted him that way.

[mmonk]

58. This pretty much sums it up.

http://cartoonistgroup.com/properties/signe/signetoons/index.php">Cartoon.

[ShortnFiery]

63. Oh!

Nicely played.

The next round of adult beverages is on me. :toast:

[mmonk]

84. Looking forward to it.

:toast:

That cartoon link changed so here it is again.

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/84453/

[NeedleCast]

69. Poor, Poor far left

[LynneSin]

70. Well I guess because someone opined their thoughts about it & got a few random quotes - IT'S TRUE!!!

:sarcasm:

[madmom]

75. Did I miss something? Did Obama already select a SCJ nominee? From all the

complaining it must have been a bad pick, who was it?

:sarcasm:

[GCP]

76. *Gasp* I'm shocked, shocked I tell you

I guess they will go with a 'centrist leftie' who'd be to the right of all of us here, just to get the nomination passed.

[laughingliberal]

78. Probably. Then another appearance on FOX to say how he beat back the wishes of the left, again. nt

[spanone]

80. oh really, i follow the news and he hasn't nominated ANYBODY. bitch when there are facts

[Hekate]

86. Oh pooh, you old wet-blanket you. Where's the fun in that?

;-)

[Sebastian Doyle]

82. “Conservatives have framed the constitutional debate in their terms,” said William Marshall

That wouldn't be Will Marshall, co founder of the treasonous DLC and PNAC signator, by any chance?

[Jefferson23]

85. Is Obama so confident, that he could not face a situation like Gore did, enough of

a loss due to a third party running against him?

[bvar22]

88. Obama shuns The Left....

...since Day One.


The DLC New Team
Liberal Democrats Need NOT Apply

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)



"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone