Dan Rather: Outrage. And Hope

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://steady.substack.com/p/outrage-and-hope?utm_source=twitter&s=r

Watching the confirmation hearings today for Ketanji Brown Jackson was a whipsaw of mixed emotions that cut to the very heart of the inconsistencies and chasms that have defined this nation since its founding.

I felt indignant. And inspired.

Embarrassed. And proud.

Outraged. And hopeful.

Through the lens of Judge Jackson, a Black woman who needs no qualifiers for her intelligence or qualifications, we can see an America that is aspirational. Here is the true definition of a patriot, a citizen who loves her nation even though it has not always loved her back, who believes in its better angels even when she has to face its ugliest impulses, who wants to fight for a more fair and inclusive polity from within the system and through the law. She sees the Constitution as a document of hope, even though that very document codified the enslavement of Black bodies.

Then there were the Republicans on the dais. In their sanctimony, their disrespect, their posturing, their distortions, we can hear the echoes of the injustices of power that are also rooted in the same Constitution that gives Judge Jackson hope.

Is there a better distillation of our nation’s inconsistencies than the spectacle we witnessed in these hearings?

*snip*

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. An excellent synopsis of the day's doings.

We can go a long way on a little hope...

[lunatica]

2. Wow!

That’s stunning!

[burrowowl]

3. Dan nailed it!

[littlemissmartypants]

4. ❤

[Demovictory9]

5. K&R

[Marcuse]

6. Judge Jackson far exceeded minimum standards for judicial temperament and decorum under pressure.