WAY TO REPRESENT
Apparently I'm not the only one in the mood to spread holiday cheer. My representative in the U.S. Senate has also embraced the spirit of giving. In a magnanimous yuletide gesture, conservative Christian Sen. Sam Brownback has told an appellate judge that he won't sabotage her career just because she happened to be friends with a lesbian — so long as she promises to not hear any cases about same-sex unions.
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a potential presidential candidate, said Friday he would lift his hold on a federal judicial nominee if she agrees to step aside from any case dealing with same-sex unions.
Brownback, a Republican raising money for a possible White House bid, has stalled the confirmation of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet Neff to the federal bench because she once attended a lesbian commitment ceremony.
Neff has said she attended the ceremony as a friend of one of the two women, a longtime neighbor. She insisted in an Oct. 12 letter to Brownback that the ceremony had no legal effect and would not affect her ability to act fairly as a federal judge.
Brownback, a prominent gay marriage opponent, says he is concerned the incident colors her legal view on the constitutionality of allowing same-sex marriages.
Neff has declined any public comment about her nomination.
Under Senate rules, a single senator can block a vote on a nomination by placing a hold on it.
As my colleague Eryn says, "Way to represent!"
posted by kc @ 12:57 AM
44 comments
44 Comments:
I would hope that if she were to agree to Brownback’s deal, then a decent senator would promptly put a hold on her nomination since such a quid pro quo would be a clear sign
of being unfit to be a judge.
Curious that you refer to “My representative in the U.S. Senate” as if you had anything to do with helping him get there. But I think we should all support his run for president. For entertainment value of watching him go down in flames if nothing else.
He apparently didn't get the memo that the Christian Right is toast. And I use the word "Christian" lightly.
Good luck with that presidential run. It would be fun to watch Hillary Clinton rip him a new one in a debate, but he won't get that far. She might not either, as I'm sure Limbaugh and the conservative media goon squad will trot out all their old lesbian femi-Nazi accusations against her.
Maybe my viewpoint is screwed up because I am a former member of the Christian Right, but I think he'd have more luck in the general election than in the primaries.
Republican primary voters seem afraid that their "family values" wing can't win a general election, but when those candidates do make it past the primaries they often seem to win. I'm not sure why.
Maybe all the different types of Republicans look the same to independent voters, but the "family values" Republican voters don't turn out in the general elections when their candidates lose the primaries. Or maybe I've just been looking at the numbers wrong and those candidates are not as successful in general elections as I thought.
Oh, and for any of you out there who don't know me, this may not have been obvious from my last comment: I hate Brownback and his ilk. Somebody should slap him every hour of the day until he wakes up and realizes that this is 21st-century America, not the Dark Ages.
Driftwood was right on the money -- he's pretending to ask this judical nominee to be impartial while he's really asking her to be political.
Like all the conservatives, he's injecting the politics of hate into the court system while saying that he's trying to rid the courts of politics. What he and all the rest of them can't stand is that the courts can protect the individual somewhat from the tyranny of the majority.
When the will of the majority is to hate and marginalize, as it once was with black Americans and still is with gay Americans, the only resort (if there is any at all) is the federal judiciary. One could argue that Brownback knows that and is doing his best to beat down the good the judiciary can do, but I think he's just one of those people who thinks that the majority should always rule over the minority whenever the majority agrees with him. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that way, so there isn't much outcry when he pulls stunts like this.
So in case it seemed like I was giving an impartial or even conservative opinion in that last comment, I just want to make it clear that I am very afraid that what I said in that last comment is true and that Republicans will figure it out and start voting in primaries for these horrible people. I hope I'm wrong, and if I'm not, I hope the Republicans keep shooting down the conservatives in the primaries. Maybe I should switch back to registering as a Republican so I can support moderate candidates, so that the Republicans can do less damage whenever they win general elections. It wouldn't be that hard for me to do -- I don't identify with either party since I'm a libertarian.
My commentary will be much shorter than Ben's, and more visual.
Ha! George always eschews obfuscation!
Maybe all the different types of Republicans look the same to independent voters
I don't think they do. I think most people are aware that the two-party system creates strange bedfellows. In Europe, where governing bodies have scads of parties, there's no way, for example, that "Republicans" Susan Wagle and Sandy Praeger would be in the same party.
What he and all the rest of them can't stand is that the courts can protect the individual somewhat from the tyranny of the majority.
I know. That is what is so disturbing about this, and about jerks like Antonin Scalia who are always mentioning "the homosexual agenda" in their legal opinions (40 years ago, substitute "the Negro agenda"). And on top of that, he tries (as a "compassionate conservative") to distance himself from Phelps-type rhetoric of "God hates fags," but he's really no different. In this instance, Brownback is really saying, with a little bit of sugar on top, "God hates fags and everyone they invite to their wedding."
Oh my God, G, is that from the story about Brownback spending the night in prison to spread God's word?
On Friday night, Brownback joined hundreds of inmates at a prayer service before prison officials escorted him to his modest sleeping quarters. On Saturday morning, he emerged from his 7-by-10-foot cell to tour the maximum-security facility and take a walk down death row.
“There aren’t probably a lot of votes for me here,” he said. “There can be a lot of prayers, though.”
Yeah, should've been a case of "shank or be shanked" for wearing that awful shirt (Sorry, cl).
I have only one comment on that shirt: Way to represent!
Brownback was introduced to the inmates by Jorge Valdes, a convicted drug trafficker who earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in New Testament studies after 11 years in prison. He now frequently counsels inmates at Angola.
“I would like to one day see an article that says, ‘From the Big House to the White House.’” Valdes said, urging prisoners to get on their knees and pray for Brownback.
Isn't that a creepy way to end the story? The image of all these black men on their knees for Sam?
In this instance, Brownback is really saying, with a little bit of sugar on top, "God hates fags and everyone they invite to their wedding."
Exactly. In a way, it's much worse than Phelps, because Westboro will never have as many followers as Brownback.
Those of us who see the light need to be relentless in not letting any of these issues drop -- we need to keep trying to make the anti-gay and apathetic middle uncomfortable with their own views -- keep pounding at the analogies between this and racism.
We need political cartoons with Brownback wearing a white hood.
You've awakened me, sistah! Remember the e-mail I sent to Lambda Legal a year ago? I'm back! Someone get me a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, and a petition, stat!
I have only one comment on that shirt: Way to represent!
I know I'm commenting way too much, but I just have to say that's got to be the funniest thing I've read in a loooong time!
Ah yes, the LAMBDA letter, in which — like Oscar Wilde at the Customs station — you had nothing to declare but your genius.
(If I didn't know you for a strict teetotaler, I'd say you'd been in the sauce tonight)
I did have some barbecue sauce this afternoon.
Brownback and his kind will lose this battle ultimately. Such obvious discrimination won't last.
And the "Christian right" is neither Christian nor right, according to a lovely t-shirt I saw some years back.
Anyone see the hoo-ha about Mary Cheney having a baby? I wish she and her partner would have a boy child on Christmas Day. heh heh
The headline I saw said, "Cheney's grandchild to have two mommies."
Isaac Newton was a boy-child born on Christmas Day. Some anti-Christmas atheists I know celebrate what they call "Newtonmas" on December 25.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
B, did you mean to say that 11 times? I know it bears repeating.
Ben,
That's a great headline on the Cheney baby.
And maybe I need to become a Newtonian. :)
Mary Cheney is gay? Hehe.
Remember when her mom shamefully tried to deny that in a primetime interview with Cokie Roberts? Way to show love and support for your kid, Lynn.
Sharon, did you know that Lynn Cheney wrote a romance novel with lesbian scenes? This was revealed a few years ago. She put the kaibosh on its ever being released. Her professed disdain of the "homosexual lifestyle" is about as ungenuine and nakedly political as it gets.
Sharon: You were my inspiration for writing that letter to Lambda Legal.
About a year ago, KC mentioned that you were in federal court. My first thought was that you and Mary are heroic. My second thought was that your lawyer has the best legal job in the world. Then I wrote a letter to Lambda Legal telling them why I would be the best civil rights attorney ever!
They never answered! Hee hee.
My profile picture looks like me saying (very indignently): "Objection!"
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Yet another public figure who is going to make Kansas look like the most backward state in the country.
Ben,
What an awesome thing to say! Thanks so much! Things like that bolster us in these dog days (no offense to Mabel and Rupert) of the case when it seems as if nothing is ever going to happen. I'm sure it's not news to you that the legal system moves painfully slowly, and even more so -- at least it seems -- when the changes being sought are not supported in society at large. But we'll get there one of these days. And when we do, we're planning the biggest damn wedding reception anyone's ever seen, and you're all invited! As are Mary Cheney, her partner and their baby, who will be old enough then to drink the champagne, probably, but neither Lynn Cheney nor the dick ... um, I meant Dick -- can come.
P.S.: You clearly have the passion to be a civil rights attorney, Ben, but the reason Lambda Legal never returned your message is because they don't believe that marriage for gay people is an attainable goal and, thus, one that we should even work toward. Our biggest disappointment yet with all of this has come from such groups as Lambda Legal, which have written off Oklahoma and our case as not "winnable." We've had far more money for our case come from straight sympathizers than from so-called gay rights groups.
And yes, Kim, I do remember something a few years back about Lynn Cheney's lesbian sex book. Naw, that's not a dyfunctional family or anything. But hell, if you disagree with Daddy, he'll shoot your ass, so I guess I'd try to stay on his good side, too. Or at least the side on which his aim is the worst.
I think another reason I didn't hear from them is that they have few (or maybe no) staff attorneys. Apparently, they are just an attorney referral service -- they refer people to private attorneys.
It looks to me like there are two ways to look at it -- focus your energy on the fronts you think are winnable, and knock down the barriers one at a time, inching your way to equality, or fight for what is right, regardless how ridiculous the masses think you are. Lambda Legal probably doesn't want to awaken the slumbering giant of rampant homophobia.
But I think they're wrong and you're right. For two reasons: You don't live forever, and intellectual and philosophical honesty is the best policy. In other words, it's good to fight so that future generations can enjoy freedom, but why not speed up the fight so you can enjoy it too? The latter point is a little more complex: I think it's easier to wake people up using a logically, philosophically, and morally sound argument that is completely out of their frame of reference, than it is to try to create a slippery slope so we can all eventually slide to where we should be.
In other words (didn't I already say that?), rather than being the dog that yaps to get something, then later yaps to get something else, until finally you are ignored, be the philosopher that teaches what is right no matter how far off everyone else is. I still think it's all about cognitive dissonance. When I stopped being a "conservative Christian," so many things lined up for me. You really have to suspend disbelief in order to be a good person who hates. We who understand that should point it out to everyone at every opportunity until they see the obvious light.
And that brings up one other reason you are right -- waking up homophobia is a good thing! The more gay-haters we have foaming at the mouth, the more the middle of the country will stop being closet homophobics. There is no middle ground that is intellectually defensible. As long as we have self-proclaimed liberal Democrats who think gay marriage is wrong (or at least who think they'll lose votes if they are for it), we can never win. But if we can awaken homophobia, the politicians who should be on our side, and their constituents will be looking for a way to distance themselves from the frothing mouths. And then we can welcome them with open arms, minds, and hearts.
At least, that's what I think!
Amen, brother Ben. Excellent sermon. You can preach at my church any time.
You hit all the nails on their heads. I would add only this: To take a page out of the play book from black people's struggle for civil rights: You cannot simply sit around and wait for the oppressors to realize that you deserve your rights and then give them to you. You have to demand them. And the sooner you start demanding them, the sooner the day will come when most of the country will look at the oppressors and say, "What in the world is wrong with you? Of course these people deserve their rights."
Having just returned from Philadelphia, the birthplace of this country's freedom, I could take over KC's entire blog (but won't :) ) with discourse on how the first people to call themselves Americans demanded their rights and that we're just following a grand tradition.
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