The Purple Specter

The world keeps surprising me.

If you’d told me, in January of 2001, that there’d be war between the CIA and Baby Bush, I’d have said you were nuts. And yet, that’s pretty much what happened. (The CIA lost, BTW.)

Anyway, we here in Blue Country have been talking a lot for the past couple days about our new Theocrat Overlords, who’re gonna use their new mandate to ban abortion, put creationism back in the schools, make us all tongue-kiss Jesus, whatever. So I was pleasantly surprised to see this AP story about Arlen Specter warning Bush not to nominate overly-right-wing Supreme Court nominees:

PHILADELPHIA -- The Republican expected to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee next year bluntly warned newly re-elected President Bush today against putting forth Supreme Court nominees who would seek to overturn abortion rights or are otherwise too conservative to win confirmation.

Sen. Arlen Specter, fresh from winning a fifth term in Pennsylvania, also said the current Supreme Court now lacks legal "giants" on the bench.

"When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely," Specter said, referring to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

"The president is well aware of what happened, when a bunch of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster," Specter added, referring to Senate Democrats' success over the past four years in blocking the confirmation of many of Bush's conservative judicial picks. "... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning." [...]

While Specter is a loyal Republican -- Bush endorsed him in a tight Pennsylvania GOP primary -- he routinely crosses party lines to pass legislation and counts a Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, as one of his closest friends.

A self-proclaimed moderate, he helped kill President Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court and of Jeff Sessions to a federal judgeship. Specter called both nominees too extreme on civil rights issues. Sessions later became a Republican senator from Alabama and now sits on the Judiciary Committee with Specter.

It’s not clear here whether Specter is actually threatening to oppose right-wing nominees personally, or just warning Bush that he doesn’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Naturally, the wing-nuts are already starting to froth over it.

Update: Never mind.

Invasion!

While we were all distracted yesterday, a foreign nation attempted to establish a foothold right here in New York:

A man wearing a wet suit and carrying an embroidered flag swam to Governors Island Tuesday, telling authorites he was there to reclaim the land for the "Blue Tulip Nation."

(via Gothamist)

Another young Bush avoiding a possible draft?

Last night, around 11 PM, an F-16 fighter jet from the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, on nighttime training, strafed an elementary school with 25 rounds of ammo. Nobody was hurt.

(via Crooked Timber)

“I concede that I overestimated the intelligence of the American people....”

You don’t all read political blogs, so I’m sure some of you haven’t seen Adam Felber’s concession speech:

More than 40% of you Bush voters still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. I'm impressed by that, truly I am. Your sons and daughters who might die in this war know it's not true, the people in the urban centers where al Qaeda wants to attack know it's not true, but those of you who are at practically no risk believe this easy lie because you can. As part of my concession speech, let me say that I really envy that luxury. I concede that.

Healing? We, the people at risk from terrorists, the people who subsidize you, the people who speak in glowing and respectful terms about the heartland of America while that heartland insults and excoriates us... we wanted some healing. We spoke loud and clear. And you refused to give it to us, largely because of your high moral values. You knew better: America doesn't need its allies, doesn't need to share the burden, doesn't need to unite the world, doesn't need to provide for its future. Hell no. Not when it's got a human shield of pointy-headed, atheistic, unconfrontational breadwinners who are willing to pay the bills and play nice in the vain hope of winning a vote that we can never have. Because we're "morally inferior," I suppose, we are supposed to respect your values while you insult ours. And the big joke here is that for 20 years, we've done just that.

Republican moral values

Adam Teiichi Yoshida, self-described “ultra-conservative political commentator”, looking forward to raping some blue-state women:

That’s the future of the Democratic Party: providing Republicans with a number of cute (but not that bright) comfort women.

Update: I see from Instapundit (who at least had the sense and decency to later recognize that Yoshida’s a ranting loon) that Yoshida is at Harvard. That explains things — he’s surrounded by gorgeous, brainy Cambridge women who won’t have anything to do with his repugnant ass. No wonder he’s preoccupied with impotent rape fantasies.

Re-update: In case it’s insufficiently obvious, what I’m trying to do here is move the LazyWeb concept into the realm of social engineering. I’m kinda hoping that one of you Harvard-area readers passes word around, and makes sure that everyone Yoshida is likely to encounter knows about his little rant. I’m hoping that if he wasn’t getting any before, he’ll soon be getting even less. LazyWeb II.0 — This time it’s personal!