SF Chrontrarian* Debra Saunders has this column in the Goodwin Liu nomination. The column includes this passage:
But those aren't Saunders' words. That is a quote from the book The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. She also quotes Stuart Taylor "that Liu's writings put 'him markedly to the ideological left of all 41 Senate Republicans, at least half of the Democrats, and 80 percent or more of voters.' " This concluding paragraph, though, is hers:
That captures what is so exceptionally wrong about this nomination to this court at this time. To shift metaphors, there is a difference between pouring gasoline in your gas tank and pouring gasoline on your neighbor's burning house. If Liu were nominated to a court with a solid roster of judges of sense, I would not be so alarmed. Naming him to a court that is already a disaster area of leftist activism is like adding weight to the wrong side of a dangerously listing ship, to use Saunders' metaphor, or throwing gasoline on a burning house, to use mine.
Because federal judges receive lifetime appointments and often serve through the terms of multiple presidents, it behooves a president - and benefits our democracy - to find moderate nominees who can garner some measure of bipartisan support.
But those aren't Saunders' words. That is a quote from the book The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. She also quotes Stuart Taylor "that Liu's writings put 'him markedly to the ideological left of all 41 Senate Republicans, at least half of the Democrats, and 80 percent or more of voters.' " This concluding paragraph, though, is hers:
Liu himself opposed the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts on the grounds that Roberts might prove to be a conservative extremist. Well, the Ninth Circuit already is extreme, on the liberal side. I want to know if Liu wants to right a listing ship or steer it into the drink.
That captures what is so exceptionally wrong about this nomination to this court at this time. To shift metaphors, there is a difference between pouring gasoline in your gas tank and pouring gasoline on your neighbor's burning house. If Liu were nominated to a court with a solid roster of judges of sense, I would not be so alarmed. Naming him to a court that is already a disaster area of leftist activism is like adding weight to the wrong side of a dangerously listing ship, to use Saunders' metaphor, or throwing gasoline on a burning house, to use mine.
* Most major newspapers have one columnist chosen specifically to represent a viewpoint contrary to that of the main editorial page. Debra Saunders fills that slot at the San Francisco Chronicle.
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