Dems' new Senate leader criticizes Justice Thomas

[takumi]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/judges.reid.frist/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday had harsh words for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's "Meet the Press": "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.

"I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice."


. . . . there are no color barriers to just plain INCOMPETENCE!

[JohnKleeb]

1. I knew there was a reason I stood up for Reid and he's proving it

[IndianaGreen]

31. Reid prefers Scalia, which is far worse and more dangerous to us all

As I indicated in my post here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1047656#1047932

[yorgatron]

2. all he does is copy whatever

scalia has written.clarence isn't allowed to have any original thoughts about nanything.

[CatholicEdHead]

5. Still up for chief justice?

I keep hearing rumors that Bush wants Thomas for Chief Justice. Even bypassing Scalia (probably on age).

[takumi]

6. He isn't allowed AND he doesn't have!

[NNguyenMD]

3. thank god someone in congress finally found the guts to say it

[Bono71]

4. Thomas is pretty awful.

[acmavm]

7. Thomas never should have been appointed to the Supreme Court

period. Not because he's black, and not simply because of Anita Hill. He just wasn't qualified.

I also happen to think he betrayed black people everywhere with his attitude and a lot of his rulings. But I'm white so maybe I'm not that qualified to judge. I just think in a lot of ways rather than represent the black community, he betrayed them.

[thinkingwoman]

15. He just wasn't qualified

Yep. That sums it up nicely.

[lachattefolle]

8. But he would be amenable to Scalia as Chief Justice. I had just read

the article before tuning in to DU. I am so discouraged that all the key Democrats in Congress are rolling over and playing dead, or rather, sleeping with the enemy. I don't understand why they would want to cooperate at all with the Republicans. It's not like it matters whether or not they piss off the general sheeple-the votes are all rigged now anyway. Or are they playing along to make sure Diebold and ES&S don't steal their seats away also? Anyhow, it all stinks to high heaven and I'm nearly as angry with the Dems now as I am with the Republicans.

[thinkingwoman]

18. replacing Renquist with Scalia

and then appointing another right wringing in Scalia's place doesn't harm us any. Leaves us right where we started with different names in front of the chairs.

It's important to pick your battles. Dem leaders should know and practice this little truism.

That being said, it would be nice if they would actually battle sometime. Like over Patriot Act II or something similar maybe.

[lachattefolle]

21. What's the use in picking your battles when the Repukes are just going

to roll over you anyway? If the Dems in Congress all just quit cooperating on any level, it would bring government to a standstill and force the Repukes to negotiate some. I know this is a childish and unrealistic proposal, but it makes me feel better to voice it. I am just so angry and have nowhere to vent but DU, sorry.

[thinkingwoman]

22. It's not childish

to want the Dems to stand up and hold their ground. Nothing to be sorry for!

I think they should save the strategy you describe for attempts to cancel the sunset provision or passage of Patriot Act II or nominations of right wing idealogues to replace moderate or liberal supreme court justices or serious attempts to pass an anti-gay amendment to the Constitution.

You frustration is completely understandable. So many of us share it. It's a good thing DU exits!

[lachattefolle]

23. I know; it's good to be among friends here!

[alternative2]

9. Supreme Court Justices do not write their own opinions . . .

their clerks do. I wonder if Harry Reid knows this?

[CatWoman]

16. in all seriousness

REGARDLESS, I can't see a justice letting an opinion be published without his ok.

[Dr Fate]

10. If DEMS can keep up the straight talk like this, they will start winning.

For me it is not the party moving left or center- its about us being more agressive- and calling these folks crooks & idiots when its TRUE.

GIVE EM HELL HARRY!

[JohnKleeb]

12. I believe he called Bush a liar today too

[Dr Fate]

33. WHA????? And used that actual word?????

Its a truly historic moment if true- lets see if it gets their goat!!!

My my- you are telling me a Democrat has decided to start telling the TRUTH about Republicans??? Its never too late for that!!!

[PurityOfEssence]

11. Well, it's a tad touchy for a Mormon to be slagging a Black

Hear me out: I think Reid's a good guy, even if not necessarily suited to the job. I don't like the idea of a leader from a red state; it means that he needs to be looking over his shoulder. Let's also just say that one would have to be a fellow idiot to not recognize Clarence the talking Tool as one. What's revolting about Thomas is that he's an absolute nobody who'd never have amounted to squat had it not been for Affirmative Action, and he wants to slam that door shut. (Well, that's only one of the many things repugnant about him...)

As for the inflammatory header to this post, it's going to be interesting to hear how this gets skewed. Mormonism is racist at its core: Cain slew Abel, and god made him a black as punishment and cast him out of paradise. All those with this "taint" are denied going to heaven. Now, to be fair, the LDSs have backed off on this of late, and for some incomprehensible reason, there are black Mormons, but that's core suckitude, and it can't be denied. There are also some core values of honesty within the religion, but that's being damned by faint praise: ANY cult that stands the test of time and grows up to become a religion has SOMETHING going for it.

I'm glad Reid said this, and I'm extremely glad that he really attacked Scalia's morality. Perhaps he's the right guy for the job after all; I think we should certainly give him the benefit of the doubt.

More than anything, the reason I posted this is that you just KNOW some of the conservatives would love to play the race card here, especially in light of the LDS's past history, but you also know that they can't anger this important group in their coalition. I'd like to see them try, though; hypocrisy of this caliber is great spectator sport.

[CatWoman]

17. I don't care If Reid is a Mormon

I'd be just as happy hearing this from a Klingon.

Bottom line is Thomas is a pathetic, dumb ass twit.

[thinkingwoman]

20. I agree

Well said.

[aikido15]

13. Harsh words for Thomas but praise for Scalia???

Are you kidding me? Scalia is a nut case...He attributes the holocaust to Hitler's separation of church and state! AP reported quotes from Scalia:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1202-33.htm

[iamjoy]

24. Scalia = Anti-Semite?

has he conveniently forgotten that when Catholics controlled European governments we had the Inquisition? How many Jews were burned at the stake as heretics. How for hundreds of years, governments with the consent of the church persecuted Jews, accused them of using the blood of Christian children in the relgious rituals? It wasn't just Catholics, Protestants did it too.

Has Scalia forgotten how his own Church gave silent approval, if not support for the Nazi agenda? True, there were many brave individual Catholics who defied the Vatican and risked their own lives (as did Protestants) to save Jews. The problem was not with the "ordinary" people - it was with the establishment and authority for these religions.

It was not until 1960 or so that the Catholic Church finally said the Jews weren't responsible for the death of Jesus.

I don't mean to be on some anti-Catholic rant here, but Scalia's comment really pisses me off. I'm not a religious Jew, but I am a fairly educated one and only a foolish Jew would think we're better off with the Christian Coalition in Charge. Sadly, many Jews are becoming charmed by the Fundamentalists who now are strong supporters of Israel. These Jews don't realize that the Fundamentalists are only advocates for Israel because these Christians believe the Jewish state must rise to its former glory for the Rapture to occur. These Fundamentalists still think Jews (and everyone else who doesn't believe) are going to hell.

[aikido15]

26. Did you check out these photos?

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

You can rant all you want! I do that a lot when it comes to the Republican religious right. The RRR is trying to cost us our democracy and MY sanity.

Read "With God on Their Side" by Esther Kaplan. She is a Jewish woman that wrote a book about the evangelical movement in the Bush White House...you will be AMAZED at what they are doing!

God help us!

[NVMojo]

14. I believe Reid was an attorney ...

[DireStrike]

19. K, I was too quick to criticise.

Two ears, one mouth. Yeah.

[Erika]

25. Mormons allowed Blacks in the Mormon hierarchy

in the late 60's. Their prophet, the church leader, was given a vision where the curse was now lifted and Blacks could now be other than lay people. Of course, the church was under review for a lifting of their tax exemption because of discriminatory practices.

Reid is most brave for having the guts to say Thomas is incompetent. For those who listened to Anita Hill, he is also immoral.

[Barkley]

27. "I think that his opinions are poorly written" that's bull!

Who cares about his grammar!

Then Reid turns around and says:
"I cannot dispute the fact, as I have said, that this is one smart guy"

And the he flips back
"And I disagree with many of the results that he arrives at, but his reasons for arriving at those results are very hard to dispute."

He cannot come out say what he really wants to say

Reid is a 'girlie man' period!

God help the democrats

[Erika]

28. Reid is doing great.

Who else has chirped in on Thomas's incompetence?

[mountainvue]

29. You're confusing his remarks about Scalia

with Thomas. You do realize he's speaking about two different people?

[ebayfool]

37. 'girlie man' - gawwd, I hate that phrase! Someone should b*slap ...

'Arnold' for that one!

OK, I'm done ranting now. Nevermind!

[IndianaGreen]

30. Reid prefers the Holocaust revisionist Scalia, how's that better for us?

But the Nevada Democrat said that he could support Thomas' fellow conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, if he were nominated.

"I cannot dispute the fact, as I have said, that this is one smart guy," Reid said of Scalia.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/judges.reid.frist/index.html

Reid prefers the Holocaust revisionist Scalia over the idiot Thomas, how's that better for us?

Scalia said that German separation of Church and State was the reason the German Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Jews are better off with Christians in charge, added Scalia:

Published on Thursday, December 2, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Scalia To Synagogue - Jews Are Safer With Christians In Charge
by Thom Hartmann

Antonin Scalia, the man most likely to be our next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, turned history on its head recently when he attended an Orthodox synagogue in New York and claimed that the Founders intended for their Christianity to play a part in government. Scalia then went so far as to suggest that the reason Hitler was able to initiate the Holocaust was because of German separation of church and state.

The Associated Press reported on November 23, 2004, "In the synagogue that is home to America's oldest Jewish congregation, he noted that in Europe, religion-neutral leaders almost never publicly use the word 'God.'"

"Did it turn out that," Scalia asked rhetorically, "by reason of the separation of church and state, the Jews were safer in Europe than they were in the United States of America?" He then answered himself, saying, "I don't think so."

Scalia has an extraordinary way of not letting facts confound his arguments, but this time he's gone completely over the top by suggesting that a separation of church and state facilitated the Holocaust. If his comments had gotten wider coverage (they were only noted in one small AP article, and one in the Jerusalem Post), they may have brought America's largest religious communities - both Christian and Jewish - into the streets.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1202-33.htm

Scalia in shul: State must back religion

Uriel Heilman, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 23, 2004

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia used an appearance at an Orthodox synagogue in New York to assail the notion that the US government should maintain a neutral stance toward religion, saying it has always supported religion and the courts should not try to change that.

Speaking at a conference on religious freedom in America on Monday hosted by Manhattan's Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, Scalia said that the founding fathers never advocated the separation of church and state and that America has prospered because of its religiousness.

<snip>

"The founding fathers never used the phrase 'separation of church and state,'" he said, arguing that rigid separation of religion and state – as in Europe, for example – would be bad for America and bad for the Jews.

"Do you think it's going to make Jews safer? It didn't prove that way in Europe," he said.

"You will not hear the word 'God' cross the lips of a French premier or an Italian head of state," Scalia said. "But that has never been the American way."

Jerusalem Post

[Dr Fate]

34. Yup- its one bastard or another.

Scalia IS smarter- its apparent in his opinions.

It's likely Reid disagrees w/ Scalia on many issues, including Scalia's more outrageous beliefs...

[IndianaGreen]

35. If Bush had the same IQ as Hitler

we would all be in concentration camps today.

Scalia is smarter, but his opinions reek of Mussolini's fascism. Scalia hates the Miranda decision and wanted it overturned in Dickerson, and Scalia would sanction torturing American political dissidents.

Scalia is a member of Opus Dei, the extremist Catholic cult, as Clarence Thomas is.

[alittlelark]

32. Through the mirror.....

darkly. we are in Orwellian constructs to such a degree that... uh, yeah.

[sasquatch]

36. What a democratic senatorial leader that fights back, what a concept

Tom Daschle ran over people like he was Jim Brown so he could get to GWB's penis and slide it down his throat like George wants.

[Hekate]

38. Ugh. Reid was doing great until he endorsed Scalia

Clarence Thomas is surely an embarrassment.

For one, he stands on the shoulders of giants and claims to have flown to those heights unassisted. And because he thinks he got there all by his lonesome, he wants to slam the door shut on affirmative action.

For another, his record did not make him the "most qualified candidate" of any color or gender whatsoever. Putting Clarence Thomas forward as a replacement for Thurgood Marshall was breathtaking chutzpah.

Then there's the matter of Professor Anita Hill, yet another in a long line of females who endured a crudulant boss or mentor in the hopes of reaching her own goals. As a woman, I always believed her. She was dignified and courageous, and her first instinct was to settle this matter out of the limelight. She did no favors to her career or her personal life by coming forward.

Harry Reid is simply stating the obvious, even if the matter is one of those elephant in the living room situations.

But when Reid posits Antonin Scalia as Chief Justice solely because he is highly intelligent! If anything, that's even more creepy. Scalia has made it clear that he has some very concrete goals in mind, and those goals are frequently contrary to the designs of our Founders as generally expressed by prior courts.

The fact that Scalia can structure an airtight argument doesn't make his arguments right. (Except maybe extreme-far-right!) It just makes him more dangerous, because he can persuade weaker minds to go along with his ideas.

Hekate

[struggle4progress]

39. Give 'em hell, Harry! eom

[Dickie Flatt]

40. Proper headline: Dems' new Senate leader criticizes Thomas, praises Scalia