Chief Justice Rehnquist has died.
*** Update ***
Really, my head is reeling. I may have to take a week off from blogging. Katrina, Plame, Iraq, Roberts, Mother Sheehan, and now this.
No more. No more, please. I am officially voting for the most boring candidate in every election starting 2006.
over it
As if we as a country need any more truama. God bless him….and God help us. I see even more strife on the horizon. :(
Far North
I hated his conservative decisions with a passion, but, nonetheless, he was a good Amercian. RIP
JBD
Agreed, over it. This is going to make a tough next few months a whole lot tougher. We’re going to have to all hang together now more than ever.
demimondian
Requiescat in pacem, Rehnquist.
jobiuspublius
…
It’s the end of the world and I’m blogging.
…
Adam
Damn you, Pat Robertson, and your direct line to the Big Guy.
jobiuspublius
It turns out he designed the robe he wore at Clintons impeachment hearings.
bains
Bush killed him to take advantage of the Cindy Sheehan situation and to divert attention from his racist killing of thousands of african americans in New Orleans.
Jesse Jackson told me so…
jobiuspublius
bains: I have to admire your tin foil hat, but, nothing else.
jobiuspublius
If he gets a N.O. style funeral, my head will melt.
srv
Bad things usually happen in threes.
ppGaz
Take heart, this will cheer everyone up:
Happy Days are Here Again
Enjoy!
Pb
2008: President Al Gore!
jobiuspublius
ROFLMAO March of the Wooden Soldiers
David
“PRESIDENT BUSH TEMPORARILY NOMINATES JUDGE JUDY UNTIL A REAL JUSTICE IS CONFIRMED”
IMAGINE IF CLONING WERE LEGAL UNDER BUSH’S WATCH, otherwise, the headline would read
“BUSH’S NEXT SUPREME COURT NOMINEE – SCALIA AND THOMAS CLONE”
james richardson
Really, can you believe it, Rehnquist on top of all this. As if this country wasn’t stressed out enough before. Really, what next?
As a liberal I know that many of my friends’ heads are literally going to explode. We’ve had our week of outrage at the Bush Administration’s apparent indifference to what was happening in New Orleans. Now it’s time for us to go back into our corners, and bemoan Bush’s new pick for Chief Justice (Scalia) as he nominates and Congress approves a second conservative SCOTUS judge. Oh, and say goodbye to roe-v-wade.
Seriously. Literally explode.
Geoduck
Another terrorist attack on American soil, maybe just a ‘minor’ car-bombing or somesuch, but something. I sincerely hope they’re too stupid and/or disorganized to take advantage of this opportunity, but I wouldn’t count on it.
jobiuspublius
Look at it this way, they’re paving the way to Progress. Bob the Rebuilder is making a back lash larger than a super collider. Judges can be impeached.
jobiuspublius
The terrorist attack is the kicker, red alert, martial law. Already, thousands of troops are being mobilized.
ghostcat
ppGAZ –
Three days before landfall, Bush offered to assume overall reponsibility for emergency management in New Orleans … including evacuation of those w/o their own vehicles. Blanco refused. Jez sayin.
jobiuspublius
Crap! Tommorow I’ll have to watch the talking heads, it’ll be Sunday. I hate history!
jobiuspublius
DAM, I’m slow. Does this mean we can keep O’Connor?
BTW, just think, throughout the internet, there are thousands of people like us, having an impromptu wake for ole’ Renny boy.
DougJ
John, I love this site, but it is time for you get a little rest. Maybe stick to cat-blogging or something like that for a couple weeks. Of course, I’m sure ppgaz and Darrell could tear each other part arguing over a picture of a cat…
PMain
You just happened to forget Able Danger, Air SCAMerica & the mayor of New Orleans completely ignoring the evacuation plans http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26 ,
muchless not bothering to use the 205 school buses & 360+ city buses available, but now flooded – see for yourself. http://www.punditguy.com/2005/09/why_1.html
Wonder why Galveston, TX has their buses gassed & ready to go well before Katrina hit land? Oh yeah, why did President Bush have to plead w/ the governor to order an evacuation well before the mayor announced – quote from AP article (link to article following), “Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.”
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?base/news-18/1125239940201382.xml&storylist=louisiana
I’m sure that the Hate Bush first crowd will forget to mention these things or discuss how his home state (Texas)has really stepped up to the plate for the evacuees.
Tony
James,
I’ll offer you the same proposition I offer everyone who thinks Roe v. Wade will be overturned. 100:1 odds against it happening within the next 10 years.
Name any dollar value you want to bet up to $1,000 (my payoff to you would be $100,000 if you win), any mutually acceptable 3rd party can hold the cash/bonds.
No takers so far. Apparently libs don’t have enough conviction in their “beliefs” to back up the rhetoric with cash – even when I offer massively favorable 100:1 odds.
Ergo, I’m forced to think their arguments are pure BS spin.
Maybe you’ll be the very first to step up to the plate and show me you really believe what you say. I’m guessing not though…
Richard
Get post PMain. Mayor Nagin was incompetent, and people died.
My first reaction upon hearing of the CJ’s death was also, not another crisis! But, upon reflection, I note that President Bush has a great capacity for staying on message. He did so in taking charge of the boondoggle that the local authorities made of New Orleans, and now the people affected are getting relief. (Though once the urgency passes expect some moonbat to criticize GWB for, in circumventing the bureacracy, assuming powers not granted the POTUS). I think GWB will handle the loony left, which will now become the panicked left, with his usual deft hand, and he will put before the Senate a candidate for CJ, (and/or a replacement on the SC) who will cause the usual suspects to become apoplectic over their worry that Roe will be reversed.
I now say, let them worry. We won, it is time to use every opportunity to make them squirm like an earthworm in salt. They have portrayed the Right incorrectly for years, accusing us of all manner of vile behavior toward our fellow citizens, and in fact their inaccurate finger-pointing is all they have; they have no ideas, no workable plans. If Katrina had not turned bad to worse, they would have complained about something else. If Bush replaces Judge Reinquist with Ted Kennedy, they will complain about something else. Complaining is all they have, today they have yet another focus for their hatred, ingore them even though they won’t go away.
Richard
I got distracted in my earlier post and forgot to pay my respects to Judge Reinquist.
Thank you for your service and rest in peace. I am glad you stayed on, and stayed active at the job you loved right to the end. Godspeed WR.
over it
Actually, ghostcat, from what I can tell that offer was made Friday the 2nd, after the storm. Not Friday before the storm.
Sad.
over it
And Richard….I believe that you are being a bit Pollyanna’ish when it comes to the Administration’s response to this disaster. There is plenty of blame to go around…and Bush and his administration(FEMA, Homeland Security, etc.) need to shoulder their fair share of it. They are not blameless in this…nor are they soley to blame.
over it
solely
Damn typos.
Neo-Progressive
Rehnquist died. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Unfortunately, there are now three other pieces of garbage — Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts — to help the GOP turn the U.S.A into a Thirld-World shithole.
Judging from the humanitarian crisis in New Orleans, with its images that belong straight to refugee camps in Africa, the country is well on its way on the path of decline.
Dan
Thanks for that Neo-Progressive. Be sure to let the world know how hateful and cold the left really is, and the right will continue to win more elections, locally and nationally.
Nelson Muntz
Just our Bill
Saturday, December 02, 2000
Lito Pena is sure of his memory. Thirty-six years ago he, then a Democratic Party poll watcher, got into a shoving match with a Republican who had spent the opening hours of the 1964 election doing his damnedest to keep people from voting in south Phoenix.
“He was holding up minority voters because he knew they were going to vote Democratic,” said Pena.
The guy called himself Bill. He knew the law and applied it with the precision of a swordsman. He sat at the table at the Bethune School, a polling place brimming with black citizens, and quizzed voters ad nauseam about where they were from, how long they’d lived there — every question in the book. A passage of the Constitution was read and people who spoke broken English were ordered to interpret it to prove they had the language skills to vote.
Read the complete article. Then vow not to mention Rehnquist as a good American.
Sojourner
How ironic that Rehnquist’s hearing for chief justice was playing on C-Span 3 yesterday. I had forgotten about his dirty deeds trying to suppress the minority vote. I guess 2000 wasn’t the first time he messed with the voting.
Sorry you’re dead, glad you’re off the court.
Neo-Progressive
Don’t get your hopes up, Dan. After watching the horrific images of the disaster in New Orleans, and the delayed, and criminally, incompetent, response of the President and the rest of his irresponsible greedheads, the world now knows how hateful and cold the right is in this country.
The reaction of you, right-wingers, to the New Orleans humanitarian crisis has been so cruel, selfish, mean-spirited, nasty, and irresponsible, that you are no longer fooling anybody.
See you in 2006, when your ilk will be booted out, and we can finally start this country back on the path of fiscal health and responsibility.
PMain
Wow neo-Progressive,
You must be a representative of the party of tolerance. The problem w/ your supposition is that if you review the majority of the Right Wing blogs you will find most people were & are focusing on ways to provide assistance. Care to venture around Kos, Democratic Underground or the DNC? If you do you’ll find more hatred than helpfulness. Let me ask you this, why is it that the other 3 states hit by this hurricane (Alabama, Mississippi & Florida) didn’t have nearly as many problems? I hate to point out that those 3 are Republican controlled states & there have be no reports of power struggles, gross lack of preperation, etc. I believe that there will be political fallout from this disaster & the first victims, rightly so, will be the LA’s Governor & the Mayor of New Orleans. This doesn’t excuse FEMA’s lack of response. But why is it people were told to go to the Superdome & that they would be taken care of, when no preperations were made for it? The evacuation plan was completely ignored. The problem is that the first response units were also destroyed by the flood – greatly aided by the fact the city was not prepared, naturally this would slow down the effectiveness of any additional support – FEMA, National Guard, etc.
NP, compare the response of Mayor Guilani, who had no warning of the attacks (unlike 4 days of warning from various weather services), no plans for such attacks & had to assume that the US & NYC was at war & had to expect further attacks; to that of LA’s Governor & New Orleans’ mayor. Or if you’d prefer, Jeb Bush’s reaction to the multiple hurricanes last year in Florida. I’m sure that the American people will not forget these things & it seems quite apparent which party is better suited to handle disasters. Sure there may be slight political fall out, but in the long run it won’t be as bad as you predict. I bet that there will be a different Governor & that the GOP will gain ever more ground in the Gulf Coast.
Once again, the Democrats will be left sounding shrill & still having no plan. Voters do not forget these things, as has been apparent by the GOP gains in every political forum in the United States. Hate all you like, rant all you want, the simple fact is Levees designed to with hold a Cat 3 Hurricane will never ever hold a Cat 4-5. The people should never had been there in the first place, period.
I am sorry that Judge Renquist has passed away. I think he had a calming influence will be missed by both sides of the political aisle.
goonie bird
He,s dead jim
Richard
over it,
Pollyannish? My dictionary has a pollyanna, “as on characterized by irrepressible optimism and a tendency to find good in everything.”
I may strive to maintain a firm resolve, but I am a realist, it isn’t all good out there. Take the “Get Bush” attitude that prevades the left, there is no good in that. Besides the fact that I am not a Pollyanna, I am not even certain that being one is such a bad thing. I understand that the Left has no use for optimism, so I can understand why you would use the term as a disparagement, but demeaning that attitude does not diminish its value. You lefties might be happier people if you occaisionally found good in something, even if you never achieve a state of pollyannism, where you yourself see good in everything. Best wishes for you as you live out your self-imposed life of cynicism, loathing and misery.