Despite attempts by conservatives to paint U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as a liberal radical, actual liberals are upset that Kagan is too middle of the road and won’t be a counterweight to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. But that fits a pattern of recent nominations. “No Democratic nominee since Thurgood Marshall in 1967 has been the sort of outspoken liberal champion that the left craves, while Justice Scalia has been joined by three other solid conservatives in Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.,” the New York Times reported. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, complained: “Why do the conservatives always get the conservatives, but we don’t get to get the liberals?”
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, became the first congressional incumbent to be ousted this year, after delegates at Utah’s GOP convention this past weekend blocked him from seeking a fourth term. But others may be joining him, if polling is accurate. Less than a third of voters are inclined to vote to re-elect their representative in Congress, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. That’s the strongest anti-incumbent mood since 1994. Of those surveyed, 32 percent said they would vote to re-elect their representative, while 57 percent said they would look around. Independent voters were particularly dissatisfied, with fewer than a quarter surveyed saying they were leaning toward backing an incumbent this fall.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” New York Times columnist David Brooks expressed outrage over what happened to Bennett, describing him as a “a good conservative who was trying to get things done” and got blamed for trying to work with Democrats on health care and voting for the Toxic Asset Relief Program. “Nobody liked the TARP, but we were in a complete economic meltdown and sometimes you have to do terrible things,” Brooks said. “And we’re in a much better economic place because of the TARP. So he bravely cast a vote that nobody wanted to really cast, and now he’s losing his career over that. And it’s just a damn outrage.”
The Senate race between Reps. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, and Jerry Moran, R-Hays, is “nasty and getting nastier,” reported the Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C. The paper questioned Tiahrt, who is trailing Moran in fundraising and in the polls, about a recent campaign press release that accused Moran of lying. Tiahrt denied ever calling Moran a liar but said that Moran is “disingenuous.” Sen. Pat Roberts blamed the nastiness on the “family affair” nature of the GOP primary. “Anytime you have family squabble, it has a megaphone effect,” Roberts said.
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com and theonion.com:
REPUBLICANS INSERT NAME ‘KAGAN’ INTO SPEECHES OPPOSING OBAMA’S SUPREME COURT PICK; New iPhone App Generates GOP Rhetoric
SOMALI PIRATES SAY THEY ARE SUBSIDIARY OF GOLDMAN SACHS; Could Make Prosecution Difficult, Experts Say
GREECE OFFERS TO REPAY LOANS WITH GIANT HORSE; Steed Wheeled Into Brussels at Night
NEW LAW FORCES CEOs TO HUMBLY SHRUG BEFORE RECEIVING MASSIVE BONUSES
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN OBSCENITY-FILLED RULING
