Of course it's changed since FDR's time. It would be impossible for a sitting senator like Hugo Black to join the court; but I insist that no matter how closely nominees are examined they're not machines. It doesn't happen immediately; it may take several years.
― Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:24 (twelve years ago) link
you really think there's some chance alito or roberts are not solid conservatives 20 years from now?
― iatee, Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:25 (twelve years ago) link
Roberts and Alito are not the same kind of conservatives as, say, Thomas, or the Most Important Man in America.
― Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:32 (twelve years ago) link
But to answer your question more directly: I'm sure they'll be conservatives of a kind in twenty years, but who the fuck knows what conservatism looks like in twenty years, let alone what kind of country gabbneb or melting ice caps give us.
― Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:33 (twelve years ago) link
right but we're talking about a swing to the degree that the republican party would feel regret w/r/t that nomination. whereas I'm gonna say "I'm guessing they're gonna stay pretty content w/ those nominations"
― iatee, Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:34 (twelve years ago) link
...the Most Self-Important Man in America
fixed
― Aimless, Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:39 (twelve years ago) link
this could be a good thing for opposers of the pipeline. after all, since there's no way the state department's re-review will be complete in 60 days (and i don't even know if that counts the time for the Inspector General of the State Dept. to complete the review of the corruption-riddled initial review), obama could legitimately refuse to grant the permit on the grounds that the information he needs to make the decision isn't yet available
I think it may be more about politics than policy for the other side. They want to point to something to suggest that Obama is standing in the way of job creation.
― C.K. Dexter Holland, Saturday, 17 December 2011 04:14 (twelve years ago) link
aw is it really you gabs?
Belay on.
― C.K. Dexter Holland, Saturday, 17 December 2011 04:15 (twelve years ago) link
lol tbh i don't get why some itt are so eager to distance themselves from gabbnebism
― k3vin k., Saturday, 17 December 2011 05:03 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr_OL-vu-po
― t. silaviver, Saturday, 17 December 2011 05:06 (twelve years ago) link
"Symmetry"
― C.K. Dexter Holland, Saturday, 17 December 2011 05:13 (twelve years ago) link
let's keep conservatives off the Supremes by reelecting the guy who just codified unlimited detention.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/2873125085_239aa74ba2.jpg
just in case C Dexter is gabbneb I'm quitting this sandbox thread.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 17 December 2011 13:25 (twelve years ago) link
Pundneb
― wow gould (step hen faps), Saturday, 17 December 2011 13:27 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/why-a-democracy-needs-uninformed-people-38398/
In experiments where a minority of fish was trained to swim toward a yellow target, and a majority toward a blue target, the minority swayed the whole group more than 80 percent of the time. Then the researchers added "uninformed" fish to the mix, and a curious thing happened. "Adding those individuals dramatically changes the outcome of group decision-making," [study author Iain Couzin] said. "They inhibit the minority and support the majority view, and this allows the majority to be heard and that view to dominate." ... "We thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of interesting,'" Couzin said, "because you don’t normally think that adding uninformed individuals to decision-making processes would have that sort of democratizing effect."
― Mordy, Sunday, 18 December 2011 03:03 (twelve years ago) link
Even if eight conservatives sat on the court they would start to fracture in weird, unpredictable ways. Look at FDR's court! He appointed more justices than any since Washington, and no one expected Frankfurter, Reed, and Jackson to become the "conservative" bloc.
― Lord Sotosyn, Friday, December 16, 2011 7:43 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Permalink
We seem to be on quite the streak of Presidents getting exactly what they expect out of their nominees, however. Perhaps times have changed?
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 18 December 2011 03:07 (twelve years ago) link
It seems like Souter changed the game.
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 18 December 2011 03:08 (twelve years ago) link
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, December 17, 2011 7:25 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink
I call 3 days.
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 18 December 2011 03:09 (twelve years ago) link
i think Poppa Bush knew exactly what he was getting in Souter ... an old-school New England Republican (like himself, really). the only people who were unpleasantly surprised about him were the early 1990s-style Teabaggers.
― deine Mutter lutscht Schwänze in der Hölle (Eisbaer), Sunday, 18 December 2011 04:33 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, maybe. I guess I should say that since Souter the political parties have gotten what they wanted.
I don't think anyone was "surprised" about him, because no one really knew what to expect in the first place.
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 18 December 2011 04:42 (twelve years ago) link
Boehner is such a shitty Speaker
― aesthetic partisan (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 19 December 2011 21:40 (twelve years ago) link
can't count votes/control his caucus etc
This often takes years to show itself, if it does at all.
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 19 December 2011 21:56 (twelve years ago) link
it took what, 3 years to find out Souter would support Roe? I think we can conclude that Roberts and Alito are what we expected them to be.
― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 02:02 (twelve years ago) link
lol: espn analyst craig james leaving the sports desk to run for congress as a republican.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 20 December 2011 03:21 (twelve years ago) link
Meanwhile Obama be havin' fun with drone rockets:
Many administration lawyers strongly disapprove of opinions written under President George W. Bush that justified detainee interrogation methods now widely regarded as torture. But they worry that Obama’s 2009 decision to make them public has set a precedent for the release of normally classified opinions.
The Defense Department’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which has carried out strikes in Yemen and Somalia, refuses to discuss drones or any other aspect of its secret counterterrorism operations.
Senior administration officials say they deserve to be trusted on drones, in part because Obama kept his pledge to do away with the CIA’s secret prisons and the use of harsh interrogation techniques.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 13:04 (twelve years ago) link
House GOP to vote to raise taxes! ALLRIGHT!
just like in Braveheart!
― aesthetic partisan (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
They haven't voted yet but...
At the raucous, two-hour closed-door meeting, House Republicans compared themselves to the underdog, principled Scots in the movie “Braveheart” and, over takeout chicken sandwiches, promised to knock down the Senate bill.
― Another Suburbanite, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 17:40 (twelve years ago) link
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, December 19, 2011
I think since Souter you have and will continue to see justices doing exactly what the Presidents who nominated them wanted.
― Another Suburbanite, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 17:45 (twelve years ago) link
Ok, now the House Republicans have voted down the 2 month payroll tax extension. Will they succeed in getting even more things added to a year long bill via Dems caving or will Dems actually stay strong(although they have already dropped the millionaires surcharge tax and agreed to the quicker pipeline decision)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_12/gop_scuttles_bipartisan_deal_o034225.php
― Another Suburbanite, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
inclusion of 'over chicken sandwiches' somehow incredibly undermining & damning, while keeping neutral nyt tone
― Never translate German (schlump), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 22:03 (twelve years ago) link
Dems are not gonna cave on this, it's too much of a coup politically to make Boehner eat shit (again)
― aesthetic partisan (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 22:08 (twelve years ago) link
also Boehner = worst speaker ever? I cannot recall another speaker in my lifetime who was so shitty at counting the votes of his own caucus.
― aesthetic partisan (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
It's an inchoate bunch, this group.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:08 (twelve years ago) link
watching the Senate dems pwn Boehner is a source of almost sadistic pleasure - dude has wanted the job he's got for so long and they're just hanging him out to dry without breaking any visible sweat
― undervalued aerosmith tchotchkes sold in bulk, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:19 (twelve years ago) link
it is pretty funny, yes
― OH NOES, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:21 (twelve years ago) link
would be funnier if Reid and Obama just went straight to negotiating with Cantor in the future
― aesthetic partisan (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:25 (twelve years ago) link
Let's just say it's taken the Senate Dems long enough to play nasty.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:27 (twelve years ago) link
well I'm not entirely sure they saw this coming and deliberately passed something they knew he couldn't muster the votes for - but now that Boehner's in this situ they're obviously going to play hardball, they have nothing to lose
― aesthetic partisan (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
that reminds me, i saw al franken on local morning sunday tv a week or so ago. i guess he was on because he organized a secret santa thing in the senate and it made the news.
the host was like "do you think this will help collegiality? do you think it will improve things in the payroll tax cut debate?" and he was like "yup, it's gonna solve the whole thing."
― slandblox goole, Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:36 (twelve years ago) link
lol
― aesthetic partisan (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 December 2011 23:36 (twelve years ago) link
Matt Damon be angry at Obama.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
How come Ralph Nader never runs for president anymore? We need more options!
― billy goat, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:28 (twelve years ago) link
good post
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
Do you really think the Republican'ts and the Demorats represent all of America? They don't represent me!
― billy goat, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:36 (twelve years ago) link
so you're represented by left-leaning racists; good to know
― OH NOES, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
What are you talking about? You don't know what I believe in! I'm not a racist!
― billy goat, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
― HOOS aka driver of steen, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:50 (twelve years ago) link
valuable poster
― that wiener from Emearlds (step hen faps), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 18:03 (twelve years ago) link
LBJ was literally incapable of pronouncing "negro" without transforming it into the n-word. He also signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 18:14 (twelve years ago) link
My point being, actions speak louder than words, and measuring a public figure's racism is a tricky business.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 18:20 (twelve years ago) link