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"The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves, in their, own sphere of action, but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch." --Thomas Jefferson

Sotomayor: "What I meant was..."

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

"Confronted with her disturbing racially oriented past statements, Judge Sonia Sotomayor had an excuse that only a liberal activist jurist could make: She meant the opposite of what she said. Sotomayor's oft-repeated rhetorical riff on race is clear as a bell: 'I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.' She would sometimes leave out the 'white male' part, but the remark was always a pointed disagreement with former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's maxim: that a wise old man and wise old woman would agree on a judicial case's outcome. Yet when the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, quoted Sotomayor's own words to her, the response was basically: 'I didn't mean what I said.' Kind of like how the Constitution doesn't mean what it says, as so many judges believe? 'What I was talking about was the obligation of judges to examine what they're feeling as they're adjudicating a case and to ensure that that's not influencing the outcome,' Sotomayor told Sessions. 'We have to recognize those feelings and put them aside.' Put it all together and it comes out something like this: The richness of a Latina's experiences will help her reach a better conclusion than non-Latinos because she will 'recognize those feelings and put them aside.' That's tough to swallow. ... By claiming her 'wise Latina' comment meant the reverse of the plain meaning of her words, Judge Sotomayor has blemished herself on the first day of questions. If she dances around that, why should we believe her when she says 'the task of a judge is not to make the law; it is to apply the law'?" --Investor's Business Daily

UPRIGHT

"There are certain qualifications to being a Supreme Court Justice. The chief qualifications are impartiality between parties and deference to the Constitution as written. And while judges like Sotomayor can lie and mouth slogans, their legal positions betray their true judicial philosophies." --columnist Ben Shapiro

"With the Sotomayor nomination, [Obama] is introducing the threat that justice will be administered differently for politically favored groups than for politically unfavored groups. The rule of law will be replaced by the rule of a judge's emotional empathy -- or antipathy -- as determined by what subjective 'perspective' the judge chooses to see. That's what is at stake in the Sotomayor nomination, and it has huge consequences for our lives and prosperity." --columnist Robert Tracinski

"The Democrats' war against our spies has taken two new turns. In their zeal to punish Bush administration officials -- and protect House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from publication of the facts showing her complicity in then-legal waterboarding of terrorist prisoners -- the Democrats have again accused the CIA of lying. This came during the same week when it was reported that Attorney General Eric Holder is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute those who authorized and committed alleged torture of prisoners at CIA 'black sites', the secret prisons where high-value terrorists were interrogated since 9-11." --columnist Jed Babbin

"Senators and representatives who vote on bills they haven't read and don't understand betray their constituents' trust. It is no answer to say that Congress would get much less done if every member took the time to read every bill. Fewer and shorter laws more carefully thought through would be a vast improvement over today's massive bills, which are assembled in the dark and enacted in haste. [House Majority Leader] Steny Hoyer chortles at the thought of asking members of Congress to do their job properly. It's up to voters to wipe the grin off his face." --columnist Jeff Jacoby

"Polls show that most voters -- and increasing numbers of independents -- are queasy about vastly increased government spending and more concerned about bolstering the economy than about reshaping health care or addressing projected global warming. They've noticed that the stimulus package hasn't delivered the promised results. Do they want to turn over the health care and energy sectors to a president inattentive to details and congressional leaders in disarray?" --political analyst Michael Barone

DEZINFORMATSIA

Redefining judicial activism: "This week's hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court represent the opening skirmish in a long-term struggle to challenge the escalating activism of an increasingly conservative judiciary." --Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne

From the cheerleaders: "To Democrats, Sotomayor is the perfect nominee. That a child of the projects would progress through Ivy League schools and later a 17-year career as a federal judge makes hers an all-American story." --CBS's Wyatt Andrews

"It's going to be very hard for Senators to vote against this wonderful life story that this woman has who was raised by a widowed mother and went on to be the first Hispanic woman to be nominated." --CBS's Bob Schieffer

Cheap shot: "There was some consensus. The nations unanimously agreed to try to keep the average global temperature from ever rising higher than 3.6 degrees above what it was a hundred years ago. And some leaders said they're relieved that President Obama is here instead of President Bush." --CBS's Chip Reid at the G-8 summit, who, reminiscent of John Kerry's 2004 endorsement by "foreign leaders," failed to state specifically which "leaders" actually made that statement

Non Compos Mentis: "Barack Obama has been president for nearly six months now and our big question today, does his temperament strike you as more like a radical like FDR who changed everything, who wanted radical change or like a true conservative who wants to basically find a smooth course and retain what's valuable?" --MSNBC's Chris Matthews

That's the spirit: "To put it simply, America cannot win the war in Afghanistan. It certainly can't win it with bombs and bullets...." --CNN's Michael Ware

Quite a high view of themselves: "The military keeps us safe but the press -- which informs the American people -- keeps us free." --Jurassic-era journalist Helen Thomas

The "tolerant" Left: "A majority of young people still approve of Obama's job performance, but a majority of seniors over 64 now don't (54%). Maybe they'll die before the next election."--Los Angeles Times blogger Andrew Malcolm

Newspulper Headlines:

What Exactly Was Intended?: "Obama: Stimulus 'Worked as Intended'" --Politico ++ "Worst Yet to Come: White House Economic Adviser" --Agence France-Presse

En Garde!: "Senate Calls for Real Fencing, Not 'Virtual'" --El Paso Times

If He Does Say So Himself: "UN Chief Says He's a Man of Results Not Rhetoric" --Associated Press

The Good News Is, They Finally Have Indoor Plumbing: "National Geographic to Film Rednecks in Bath" --Peoria (IL) Journal Star

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: "Gore: U.S. Climate Bill Will Help Bring About 'Global Governance'" --ClimateDepot.com

Bottom Stories of the Day: "Incoming Alaska Governor to Tweet Less Than Palin" --Associated Press

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

Using conservative language to push a liberal nomination through: "Judge Sotomayor puts rule of law above everything else. Given her extensive and even-hand record, I'm not sure how any member of this panel can sit here today and seriously suggest that she comes to the bench with a personal agenda." --Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) **"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." --Sotomayor

"We are a country bound together by our Constitution. It guarantees the promise that ours will be a country based on the rule of law. In her service as a federal judge, Sonia Sotomayor has kept faith with that promise. She understands that there is not one law for one race or another. There is not one law for one color or another. There is not one law for rich and a different one for poor. There is only one law." --Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) **"Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging." --Sotomayor

Not exactly: "The empathy that President Obama saw in [Sotomayor] has a constitutionally proper place in the judiciary." --Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) **Really? Where in the Constitution does the word "empathy" appear?

Let the excuses begin: "The Recovery Act wasn't designed to restore the economy to full health on its own, but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall. ...As I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months -- it was designed to work over two years." --President Barack Obama

Note to self: "No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top.... No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy; that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there. And now is the time for that style of governance to end." --Barack Obama in Ghana **"Our government is soon going to be skimming 51 percent off the top of everything we make! What does that make Obama? Obama just kneecapped the auto industry. He just put the United Auto Workers in charge of on the board of directors and made 'em owners. What the [heck] is that?" --Rush Limbaugh

Hope 'n' Change: "Don't bet against us. We are going to make this happen." --Barack Obama on a health care takeover this year

Teleprompter needed: "The status quo simply is not where America is." --Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

VILLAGE IDIOTS

Now and then: "In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law." --Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in direct contradiction to statements she has made in the past **For example, "[The] court of appeals is where policy is made. And I know -- I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don't make law. I know. Okay, I know. I'm not promoting it. I'm not advocating it. I'm -- you know." --Sotomayor in 2005

The stimulus is working?: "I don't think the worst is over... It's very likely that more jobs will be lost. It would not be surprising if GDP has not yet reached its low." --Obama economic advisor Larry Summers

Remedial history: "Reagan went through this in 1981 and, in fact, his approval rating, by the way, at this time was exactly the same as Obama's is today. And, and Republicans, Republicans stayed with him. They stayed despite the difficulties in the mid-term elections. They got to 1983, the recovery came; so did morning in America and so did the confirmation of the Reagan era. The real challenge here is for Democrats. Are they going to stick with the president? Are they going to get wobbly? Are they going to get afraid?" --Democrat strategist Bob Shrum **"So, in one paragraph, the man who worked for the presidential campaigns of Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John Kerry not only agreed that Reagan's economic policies resulted in a recovery, but used it as an example of why folks should be patient in letting Obama's policies work." --Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard

From the Jackophiles: "It's almost like a crucifixion, in terms of the cross you have to bear. We reap the fruits of the resurrection, in terms of the power that emanates from [Michael Jackson's] sacrifice. He sacrificed his childhood because he loved us so. He didn't just entertain us, he sustained us." --Princeton African American Studies Professor Cornel West

SHORT CUTS

"House Chairman Charlie Rangel is proposing a tax hike on upper incomes to fund universal health care. Upper-income Americans already work four months a year for the government. Government employees don't work four months a year for the government." --comedian Argus Hamilton

"Capitalism and consumerism have brought the world to the brink of economic and environmental collapse, the Prince of Wales has warned. And in a searing indictment on capitalist society, Charles said we can no longer afford consumerism and that the 'age of convenience' was over.' He then got in his limo and was driven to his other palace. ... By contrast, as an example of an exemplary environmentalist, the Prince hailed his forebear, King Henry VIII. True, he had a lot of wives, but he did dramatically reduce Anne Boleyn's carbon footprint." --columnist Mark Steyn

"What the country needs now is a new bureaucracy to manage the growing appetite for apologies, amends and remedies for various other slights. The apology could be the lasting legacy of Barack Obama. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of oppressed people are no doubt eager to line up for their apology, waiting to be rewarded for slights real and imaginary, ranging from inability to find a parking space to ancient indignities suffered by long-forgotten ancestors." --Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden

"When the mainstream media is preoccupied with [Michael Jackson], it's probably doing, on margin, less damage than when it's dealing with public policy." --columnist George Will

"California lawmakers are still trying to close the state's massive budget deficit, so they're now talking about saving money by consolidating state agencies. By far the most controversial proposal is for a 'Department of Education, Firearms and Alcohol.'" --comedian Conan O'Brien

*****

Veritas vos Liberabit -- Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot's editors and staff.

(Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world, and for their families -- especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)