Bush and Rove have done it again, temporarily taking the heat off Rovegate by nominating a far-right lawyer for Supreme Court, which causes progressives to have to devote more time battling this nominee, rather than focus on the campaign to fire Rove. And it gets the media to focus more on John Roberts, Bush's Supreme Court nominee, rather than Rove.
Roberts does deserve some focus. He has only actually been a judge for two years. In his work as a right-wing lawyer, he sought to have Roe v. Wade overturned, among other things. And he's only 50 so not only does he have little judicial experience and is a right-wing extremist, but he will be on this court for decades if he is confirmed.
MoveOn had this to say: "Last night, President Bush nominated Judge John Roberts, a far-right lawyer and corporate lobbyist, to fill [O'Connor's] post on the Supreme Court. We've got to stop Roberts. He opposed clean air rules and worked to help coal companies strip-mine mountaintops. He worked with Ken Starr (yes, that Ken Starr), and tried to keep Congress from defending the Voting Rights Act. He wrote that Roe v. Wade should be 'overruled,' and as a lawyer argued (and won) the case that stopped some doctors from even discussing abortion."
People for the American Way also has a negative report on Roberts. It notes that Roberts's record is "a disturbing one. Among other things, Roberts is hostile to women's reproductive freedom, and he has taken positions in religious liberty and free speech cases that were detrimental to those fundamental rights. Roberts has limited judicial experience, but even his short tenure as a judge raises serious concerns about his ideology and judicial philosophy.
For example, dissenting opinions by Roberts have questioned the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act and argued that Americans tortured by Iraq when it was a terrorist state can receive no compensation."
Moreover, Roberts clerked for right-winger William Rehnquist, worked in the Reagan administration for extremist Attorney General William French Smith and worked in the Bush Sr. administration as the principal deputy solicitor general. His is not anything close to a moderate record. The entire PFAW report is here:
And continue to keep the heat on Bush to fire Rove. There are reports that Rove lied to the FBI and did not disclose that he had ever discussed CIA officer Valerie Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper during Rove's first interview with the FBI. So Rove could be facing obstruction of justice charges, the same kind that got Martha Stewart.
In a related article, veteran reporter Seymour Hersh goes deeper into Bush's and Rove's campaign to influence Iraq's election at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071805i.shtml. It's long but worth reading, if you want to know more about just how sleazy these aholes are.
MoveOn has organized some effective protests against Rove in front of the White House and fund-raisers where Rove speaks. If anyone ever wants to take the protests to Rove's Washington, D.C., home – a tactic long executed by the right wing - the address is 4925 Weaver Terrace NW.
Jackson Thoreau, a Washington, D.C.-area journalist, contributed to Big Bush Lies, published by RiverWood Books and available in bookstores across the country. He is working on a book about the long history of political dirty tricks and cheating committed by Bush and Rove. He can be reached at jacksonthor@gmail.com or jacksonthor@juno.com
The appointment of Roberts is genuinely disheartening. I don't know how much longer we will have the Bill of Rights to shield us from the corporate greedheads and the religious Fascists. What is left of FDR' safety net is in tatters already. What can we, the people do? We can exercise the option spelled out in the Declaration of Independence: dissolve the bonds that tie us to this tyrannical, criminal government. It is time for a campaign of massive non-violent resistance and non-cooperation on a Gandhian scale in this country. The whole rotten strucure must be overturned. That is our birthright, and no corporate plutocrat sons of bitches can tell us otherwise. To the barricades! Power to the people! It is our sacred duty to "alter or abolish." Let us begin.
by
Tom Sciamanna (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 24 comments)
on Sunday, July 24, 2005 at 6:16:18 PM
1 comments
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