Unitary executive power, welfare reform, center-right politics. Kagan is exactly what was promised.

[VMI Dem]

Obama favors moderates for the federal bench, so this pick is not surprising.

[ShortnFiery]

1. Understood.

Disappointed again ... but not surprised. :(

[kenfrequed]

2. extremely disappointed.

I ceased being surprised after his pick of Rahm Emmanuel. To me that was the card-tell that told me exactly where this administration was going. I still bitched and complained and wrote letters and what not, but I ceased being surprised. The DLC is well represented.

[WhiteTara]

3. do you still bitch and complain?

Or, like me, cease because it is less than pointless.

[kenfrequed]

16. Less frequently

But more intensely.


Basically I save my ire for the extraordinarily stupid and try to push for increasingly liberal candidates locally.

[TheKentuckian]

4. I'll bitch and complain. It might wake a few more up and slowly begin to build

some pressure from the left.

If Obama is determined to order a medium every time then we should be sure to make that large a motherfuckin' barrel.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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

[jefferson_dem]

7. Sorry.

I quit reading after "ilk". Have a nice day.

[TheKentuckian]

8. Good a choice as any. You wouldn't have like the next sentence much better

[activa8tr]

9. Probably a very wise decision! n/t

[PBS Poll-435]

10. Sounds like somebody has been sniffing Hamster (sic) droppings

[dionysus]

21. ROFL

:spray:

[AtomicKitten]

11. Another day, another distortion. That constant state of outrage doesn't fuel itself, ya know.

[QC]

12. She's only going to sing one song. n/t

[Cali_Democrat]

13. Here's a nice photo of President Obama for you to look at

Soak it in. You're gonna see a lot of him until 2016.



:hi:

[QC]

15. Is that your lunchbox? n/t

[avaistheone1]

17. Don't count on it.

His popularity has plummeted and will go through the floor if Obama thinks he is going to mess with entitlements particulary Social Security. If he does so, I won't feel the least bit sorry to see him go. Really.

What is that saying about don't let the door hit you on the way out?...Bye,bye :hi:




:hi:

[Cali_Democrat]

20. Oh you can count on it

Lies about him messing with social security aren't going to deter him from his agenda.

Soak it in baby, soak it in.

:hi:

[dionysus]

22. seven more years. dang will they be angry for a long time.

[avaistheone1]

23. Well here is President Obama and his republican friends in action

planning to do take Social Security down. I am afraid the only one lying is BO.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x463700

[Cali_Democrat]

25. So when did Obama say he's going to cut Social Security?

I didn't hear it in that video. All I saw was guilt by association. Obama having dinner with conservatives means he wants to cut social security and medicare apparently. Similar guilt by association tactics used by rethugs.

You're gonna have to provide a better source than that, honey. :hi:

[Arkana]

29. Please point me to where Obama said he was going to "mess" with Social Security.

Also, he was elected with 53% of the vote and his approval rating is hovering around 52%. Please tell me how exactly that puts him in immediate danger.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

[Cha]

27. That's trite and coming from a one noter.

[ClarkUSA]

14. Facts count: SCOTUSBlog refutes Glenn Greenwald's criticism of Elena Kagan view on executive power.

SCOTUSBlog, in their 9,750 word profile of Kagan:

"Some have criticized Elena Kagan for supposedly favoring a strong view of executive power. They equate her views with support for the Bush Administration’s policies related to the “war on terror.” Generally speaking, these critics very significantly misunderstand what Kagan has written.
Kagan’s only significant discussion of the issue of executive power comes in her article Presidential Administration, published in 2001 in the Harvard Law Review. The article has nothing to do with the questions of executive power that are implicated by the Bush policies – for example, power in times of war and in foreign affairs. It is instead concerned with the President’s power in the administrative context – i.e., the President’s ability to control executive branch and independent agencies. That kind of power is concerned with, for example, who controls the vast collection of federal agencies as they respond to the Gulf oil spill and the economic crisis."

Glenn Greenwald is clueless. This is not the first time he's been erred in his legal understanding and judgment, either:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=291738&mesg_id=291738

You'd better blame President Clinton and his Republican allies for welfare reform. Kagan only acted as WH counsel thus took orders from her boss.

As for the canard that she's center-right, what proof have you got? There's evidence pointing to the left side of the political spectrum:

1. Noted lefty lawyer and progressive activist Lawrence Lessig has endorsed her:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x293084

2. She wrote her senior thesis on 1930's socialism: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x293502

3. Furthermore, Kagan wrote that she likes "real Democrats -- not closet Republicans...committed to liberal principles..."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x293096

4. Biden's aide vouches for her progressive creds, as she worked for Biden on the Senate Judiciary Committee:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x293865

5. Conservatives hate Elena Kagen for being pro-gay, pro-choice and a lesbian:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=292804&mesg_id=292804

As for her thoughts on the unitary executive, here's her 2005 letter to Senator Leahy on executive power, where she opposed the expansion of it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x293888

[AtomicKitten]

24. Did you see Professor Lessig on Rachel tonight?

He let the air out of Greenwald's argument against Kagan.

Link to thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x294609

[avaistheone1]

18. I don't consider a moderate as someone who would support a unitary executive,

welfare reform or center right politics instead that would be the politics of the RIGHT.


btw I don't believe Kagan supports the unitary executive. I think that is one of the few positions she has been unspoken about.

[depakid]

19. Seems that there's also a potential problem with Citizen's United and corporate speech

[democrat2thecore]

26. Well, Obama favors conservative wall street types for most everything - at least he's branching out

Hope, Change, and More Of The Same.

How about a little love for the progressive base that worked their ASS off for him?

[MadHound]

28. So we're getting what Obama promised, not what is right or what is needed

That makes me so much more happy with the Kagan nomination, NOT.