Over at Redstate.org, the wingers are already preparing their next talking point regarding the confirmation hearings for John Roberts. Citing the confirmation of
Ruth Bader Ginsburg as "precedent":
"Thanks to Barbara Ledeen at the Senate Republican Conference, we have the Ginsburg Precedent: a roadmap for the confirmation of John Roberts. Ginsburg, remember - was not an unknown. She had clear liberal (and very liberal) views. Yet she was confirmed overwhelmingly after just 4 days of hearings. Now it's time for Democrats to treat Judge Roberts with the same amount of deference and respect. "
I guess the whole fact that Orinn Hatch recommended Ginsburg is just lost in the noise. I'm wondering, did Bush make a phone call to Harry Reid to float his nominee ideas past him. Yeah, that's what I thought.
More on the extended.
But wait, it gets better. We are not supposed to question Roberts about his view on abortion, the death penalty, gay rights or any other issues because:
"Ginsburg was not required to discuss her legal views on a host of issues, including:
Abortion
Civil rights laws
Gay rights
Gun-owners rights
Rights of the disabled
School vouchers
Separation of church and state
Free speech
Rights of Indian tribes
Ginsburg was not required to discuss her personal views on issues such as the death penalty.
*
Even Senators who strongly disagreed with Justice Ginsburg's personal political views voted for her confirmation.
Even those Senators who eventually voted against Justice Ginsburg's confirmation treated her, and spoke of her, with respect."
Now, I don't accept on the face of it that Ginsburg didn't have to respond to questions on any of these issues. BUT even accepting them for the sake of argument, there is no precedent.
Why? Because whatever deferrence or respect Senate Democrats could reasonably be expected to provide to the Bush Administration and Republican Congressional leadership was pissed away by the GOP a long ago.
It was pissed away when the GOP decided to cut a bunch of tax breaks for their rich cronies as opposed to offering working Americans any substantive relief from a bad economy. It was pissed away when the GOP decided that it was better to kiss the ass of their corporate overlords than to support a solution to a global warming crisis that threatens our entire future livelihoods and those of our children. It was pissed away when the GOP decided it was better to interfere in a family's personal tragedy for political purposes than to let Terri Schiavo die in peace. It was pissed away when the GOP sold out the health care of our seniors in order to fatten the wallets of the pharmaceutical industry. It was pissed away when the GOP lied repeatedly in order to trick the American public into invading Iraq. It was pissed away when they decided to attack a war hero for his service to his country just because the guy had the audacity to run against their guy for President. And it was pissed away when Karl Rove outed an American intelligence operative just to score a few points.
I'll give them this, there is a precedent at this point. The precedent is that anything goes and everything is fair game. You don't get to start a fight and then piss and moan just because the other guy gets tired of getting punched in the face and decides to fight back.
To put it more crudely, rightwinger, shut your suck!