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The Consistently Reasonable Mr. Brooks
He’s at it again — all calm and logical and fair; this time on the subject of Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination. If only more Republicans behaved that way. And yes — Rush, et. al. — we’re looking at you. Not that you care.
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5 Responses to “The Consistently Reasonable Mr. Brooks”
So Pete, in your opinion, Republicans (even Rush Limbaugh) are acting worse than Democrats concerning Supreme Court nominees?
Barack Obama opposed John Roberts on purely ideological grounds. Is that how you want the Republicans to act?
If Republicans limited their attacks on Sotomayor to same invective Shumer and Leahy used on conservatives, would their actions be deemed “reasonable” and “measured” in your opinion?
“If only more Republicans behaved that way.”
Didn’t you mean to say that Republicans are the model of reasoned debate on nominees and you can’t understand why Democrats act with viciousness and racial hatred whenever they have the opportunity?
Jwest makes a good point. Shrill invective is not limited to one party. As Pete points out, it is also not limited to one issue or format. The Democrats have been quite effective in painting Republicans as “racist”, the same charge some on the far right are now tossing at Sotomayor. Dems also use derogatory language like “reactionary, facisist, knuckle-dragger, mouth-breather” and all manner of personal sniping at folks like Palin, Gingrich, Bonner, Coulter, Hannity, O'Reilly and others. This is no different from Republicans calling out “socialist, communist, statist, idiiot” and the rest of their personal invectives at Democrats.
Civil discourse has been lost on both sides, particularly among the base of the left and the right. The call for civility needs to go out to both sides. And, jwest, the fact that Democrats were rude and uncivil in prior SCOTUS appointments (which they were) doesn't justify continuing the practice or getting even. Two wrongs…and all that stuff. Somebody needs to be an adult and put a stop to politics as a game of personal attacks. Perhaps Brooks, in his approach, offers a valuable example for others to consider.
I agree with tidbits here. Yes the Democrats and Obama are hypocritical on this issue but that is not an excuse for the GOP to be hypocrites themselves.
Obama could nominate a lot worse candidate than Sotomayor and I hope her confirmation goes smoothly..
I appreciate Brooks' calm tone, but I am a little disturbed by his ignorance of history. Sotomayor couldn't have gone to Princeton (her university) in the 50's or 60's. They didn't admit women. Multiculturalism in the 70's wasn't some crazy idea she fell victim to, it was a response to clear, pervasive, and REAL sexism and racism. Personally, I am much more comfortable with someone who fought and overcame these issues, than some of the conservatives who seem to want to pretend they didn't (and to some degree still do) exist.
Sotomayor's “Latina” and related remarks are stupid but she's at least not a militant activist, and the GOP is hardly going to give her the kind of scummy, outrageous treatment to which Bork (and Thomas) was subjected.