RNC Desperately Tries to Walk Back Their Thurgood Marshall Attack

[stevedeshazer]

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/05/rnc_desperately_tries_to_walk.html



<snip>

We're going to sum this up very simply, because it's not complicated.

Here's what RNC chairman Michael Steele said in a statement earlier today: "Given Kagan’s ... support for statements suggesting that the Constitution 'as originally drafted and conceived' was ‘defective,’ you can expect Senate Republicans to respectfully raise serious and tough questions ... " and so on.

What he was referring to: Thurgood Marshall, the first black African-American Supreme Court justice, gave a speech in 1987 about why he didn't revere a document that enshrined slavery in America. The government the Founders created "was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, we hold as fundamental today." None of this is untrue. Kagan quoted from the speech in a 1993 law-review article she wrote as a tribute to Marshall, for whom she served as a clerk.

What this was obviously an attempt to do: Stir up some kind of controversy with an out-of-context soundbite which, if somebody heard it in passing on Fox News while clipping their toenails, might portray Kagan as insufficiently patriotic, or something.

How well this strategy has worked out so far: Poorly enough that the RNC is now backtracking desperately.

How the RNC is trying to cover its ass: more at link

[gratuitous]

1. Quit using Michael Steele's words against him!

He's not responsible for the stupidity that falls out of his mouth.

[marmar]

2. Perfect picture of Steele.....Like a lobotomized deer in headlights.

nt

[eleny]

3. I was just going to post about that photo

Caught him in a moment of "Wha-a-a?". :D

[fishwax]

13. lol

great description!

:rofl:

[beac]

4. Every time you think it'd be impossible for Steele to say something stupider than

the last thing he said, he manages to deliver. He's like the Everlasting Gobstopper of faux pas.

[Golden Raisin]

17. And I see how his

non-stop bumbling, stupidity, general hatefulness, financial mismanagement and continual faux pas have cost him his job. :sarcasm:

[beac]

20. Lucky for him, the GOP has a high tolerance for utter stupidity. See:

Palin, Sarah.

[PM Martin]

5. The American political scene is F-A-R more entertaining

than ours is!

[MrModerate]

10. Much to our dismay!!! n/t

[stevedeshazer]

11. Count your lucky stars. Many US Americans want off this roller-coaster.

It's much cooler to be Canadian these days.

[LiberalAndProud]

6. Steele has the unhappy job of launching trial balloons.

Unfortunately for him, the RNC fill the ballons with dense matter, so the balloons invariably fail to float. I'd feel sorry for him, but he seems to be following his bliss. For that I'll save my sympathy and heap on the scorn. Michael isn't stupid, he's just paid very well to act like he is, IMHO.

[RagAss]

7. He is a fountain of errors. Priceless.

[tekisui]

8. Thanks again, Michael!

[Canuckistanian]

9. Comedy gold

But most don't get it.

[FarLeftFist]

12. Hmmm, I wonder if Thurgood Marshall called the Constitution defective because...

African-American's were considered 3/5 of a person and women weren't allowed to vote.

[stevedeshazer]

14. That was the point of the post.

Justice Marshall was clear on this issue.

[NYC Liberal]

18. 'Course, there are those who even today don't see those as 'defects'

sadly.

[zbdent]

19. don't confuse the "Strict Constitutionalists" ...

[backscatter712]

15. Michael Steele defending the 3/5 Compromise... He's God's gift to Democrats!!!

:rofl:

[malaise]

21. He's the gift that keeps on

giving :rofl:

[comrade snarky]

16. Perfect

"The 3/5ths what now?"