Justice Ginsburg to Senator Bunning: “Screw You”
Mind you, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is much too polite to say it in those terms. But this story makes quite clear: one of the things that motivated Ginsburg to return to the Court so quickly and attend Obama’s address to Congress was Jim Bunning’s prediction of her imminent demise.
One month after her surgery for pancreatic cancer, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Thursday that she expects to be on the Supreme Court for several more years. In an interview, she also vividly recalled why, on her second day back on the bench, she attended President Obama’s televised speech to a joint session of Congress.
"First, I wanted people to see that the Supreme Court isn’t all male," the lone female justice said of the evening event Feb. 24. "I also wanted them to see I was alive and well, contrary to that senator who said I’d be dead within nine months."
You know, I had already sort of been rooting for Bunning (in that crafty sabotage kind of way), given that his continued presence in the Senate–and especially his determination to run again in 2010–is driving Mitch McConnell crazy. And of course, having Bunning as a Republican opponent in 2010 might make that seat a pick-up opportunity.
But if Bunning’s continued idiocy is going to keep a solid liberal like Justice Ginsburg going strong on the Court, more power to the asshole.
Bunning gives a whole new meaning to the term useful idiot.
here’s a note, to whom it may concern:
if you was a repuglitard political stratagist with ANY common fucking sense or moral values, you woulda jumped already
sorry, it has to be said
we thought 2008 was the “Perfect Storm” for the repuglitards
now I think we was wrong
the repuglitards can be WAAAAAY more stupid that their 2008 campaign indicates
bunning, teh haggis, mike steel, lushbo
it’s like manna from heaven
I KNOW stupid, and I got no clue what the repuglitards got up their sleeve
Well, whatever it is, hats off to Judge Ginsberg for being up to the challenge.
These guys are making life waayyyyyy too easy for Jon Stewart ;-))
And PJEvans, that sounds like really good news.
bunning is an asshole and an idiot. but he’s also the only senator who gave any decent push back this week during the bernanke hearing (senate budget) and aig (senate banking).
the D senators were beyond pathetic.
I’ll keep an eye out.
I’m still catching up on those hearings, and boy, howdy!
Mind boggling… (really awful watching Shelby pontificate and act all innocent).
With all the criminal conduct around issues of Constitutional law, Judge Ginsberg has plenty of work ahead of her.
dodd too – and i was a dodd supporter (even sent him my $) but boy has he been a big big disappointment on the economic front. and whitehouse who can give such good speech about torture etc? was embarrassingly uninformed (really misinformed, but i was trying to be polite). i think my comment in the threads to one of his statements was something on the order of “just shoot me now”
it’s bad enough that the Ds are so bought and sold by the banksters (bernie is sometimes good, but then he’s not a D) – but they are also so pathetically obvious about it. just cringe inducing really.
selise, if you happen to come back…
I thought that Mark Bennett (newly appointed D-CO) starting at 2:00:00 was superb, really, really good questions and also just took the rug out under the whole, “We’re Monday morning quarterbacking” whine by pointing out that there’s no point to any regulation if you don’t do some analysis of what’s gone wrong.
Also, the Dem from N.Dakota posed questions that really got some good response.
Ditto Mark Warner at 1:42
Looks like Merkeley (D-OR) is still getting up to speed but he was quite up-front about that and showed a genuine effort to connect a lot of dots.
I’m more optimistic than you sounded. They need to dig deeper, but I actually thought the Dems asked better questions overall — by far.
There were some interesting revelations.
Not sure about the “useful” part. But all the better, since Reidless Harry’s punch drunk leadership and GOP obstructionism means any getting any senior judgeship approved in the Senate will face long odds. It is a last redoubt for the Goopers, along with delaying tactics on employee and union rights. Appointing a solid progressive or objectively centrist candidate will require firmer leadership and lots of noise from the peanut gallery, despite two successive electoral routs by Democrats.
I think you’re wrong about that
magic bulletscottish haggis faces LONGER ODDS, and that puts him on our side in this fightUnfortunately, whatever the likelihood with ditching Bunning might otherwise be, we are likely to Smiling Chuck Schumer’s helping hand on our throats like we did in this last election vs. McConnell.
Some decent folks like Andrew Horne and Crit Luallen were thick in the running, but thw word came from on high – aka NY – they had to get behind multimillionaire Bruce Lunsford, who has been tied to nursing home scandals. And oh yeah, when Lunsford lost a primary to Ben Chandler for Gov, Lunsford spent time wandering through the commonwealth, arm in arm with McConnell, campaigning FOR Ernie Fletcher. That’s who Schumer wanted to get the slot. I’m sure we’ll end up with something equally barfable against Bunning.
I’m glad to see Justice Ginsburg is still around, but I remind all that her illness is very serious. Statistically speaking, Bunning was correct.
I think it likely that she has already told Obama to look for a a replacement, but she’s also aware that Obama has a lot on his plate.
Is Obama political enough to nominate Walker, thus delaying the case even more?
Boxturtle (Was gonna add a /s to that last, but I changed my mind)
I think Obama has a small group of candidates in ANY case (and his first appointee would almost certainly be a woman in any case).
That said, Teddy Kennedy has as dire a prognosis as Ginsburg. He said he’d make it to Inauguration (I didn’t believe him, having seen by 20-year younger father make it only 8 months), and there he was yesterday kicking off the health care initiative.
That was a moment to behold, huh ?
Bunning’s statement is NOT “statistically correct.” The median survival at her stage is 17 mo.
never trust a
junkierepuglitardMy understanding is that the surgeons got the entire tumor, and that it was very small – it wasn’t the one that showed on the imaging – and had not spread beyond the one site.
So the prognosis, according to the experts (Bunning is not one of them), is very good.
Justice Ginsburg is to the left what Sandra Day O’Connor is to the right: an exemplar of brilliance, professionalism and personal dedication. Justice Ginsburg didn’t just defend women’s rights, including an opportunity to perform jobs commensurate with their talents, she invented some of them.
9 – I’d love another woman on the court, but it’s more important to get someone who is very good. A Garland v. a Kagan.
Not a Kagan fan. She defended indefinite detention in her confirmation hearing.
More power to the asshole!
test marking lushbo’s new ad campaign ???
(ducking and running)
back to topic. the NYT tears bunning a new one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03…..;html?_r=1
Living
wellis the best revenge.In related news, El Rushbo pulled a Bunning today, predicting the death of Senator Kennedy.
Why can’t that dummy in the chief justice position be the one with life threatening health problems? That sentiment is a bit unworthy of me. But still, did the framers of our constitution envision a time when a truly corrupt president would get the chance to appoint other corrupt people onto the supreme court and therefore hamstring future presidents and generations?
well, if you mean envisioning a “Mad King George” ???
they kinda lived with the original, eh …
Someone can correct me but my impression was that the Framers really didn’t think SCOTUS would have much of a place in the Republic. It was Jutice Marshall in decisions like Marbury v. Madison that carved out a significant role for the Court.
The framers never anticipated the rise to power of a semi-royal family, namely the Bush family. Hopefully that tragic era is now gone.
It’s a bit hard to think that they didn’t have a real clear idea of aristocratic power and prominent families.
Oh, don’t ask for the moon. I’d settle for Scalia or Thomas.
(((((Justice Ginsburg)))))
Re Elena Kagan from an article by Spencer Ackerman quoting a LA Times piece:
http://washingtonindependent.c…..lena-kagan
Let’s not sink to that level, please (although I understand the frustration).
Assuming that Scalia gets his info from “24″, maybe we should hope really hard for better teevee shows?
I saw the movie The International yesterday. A international intrigue thriller with a somewhat OTT plot, but good entertainment. There is an interrogation scene near the end. When it was obvious what was going to happen, I waited with baited breath for how it would come off as an indicator of how this would be protrayed in popular culture. Well, golly gee, they did it by knowing a lot about the perp and convincing him to fulfill his lifetime of working for causes (though circumstances had sucked him into the dark side) by doing the right thing, which he did. No torture, no threats, just rationale persuasion. We should send Scalia movie tickets for him, his family, his colleagues, his friends.
Not saying it’s always that easy; it’s a movie after all. But I was encouraged to see this bit of enlightenment on the big screen.
For me, the movie was real entertainment. In addition to great shots and scenery in several of the world’s great places, a large part was filmed in Manhattan. I recognized every building and street corner. For at least the third time in the last few years, the 54th St Recreational Center building, a block from where I live, was also in this movie. The link gives the history of the building, but I couldn’t find a photo. The exterior is unusual.
Cheers for Justice Ginsburg!!! You show them!
There’s a rumor going around that, rather than put up with being starved out of his seat by Mitch McConnell and the RSCC, Bunning might actually consider leaving his post on his own terms, in spite of his denials of such last week. He might be willing to serve a term on the President’s Council of Physical Fitness, being a very sports-oriented person (Hall of Fame pitcher and all that).
I’m pretty sure that the President’s Council on Physical Fitness is a voluntary, non-paying position so an appointment to it wouldn’t do much to get Bunning out of the Senate.
New post—>
readerOfTeaLeaves – i just went and listened to bennett again and now i’m pissed off all over again. was any new ground covered that wasn’t known months ago? did bennett push back on any of the bullshit – bullshit that other hearing witnesses have already explained is bullshit?
this happened last september. it’s now march. this crisis rises almost to the level of an exstitential crisis and this is the best they can do 5 fucking months later? where are the questions on fraud? evidence of massive levels of criminal activity is being covered up.
seriously – what new revelations were elicited by even semi-decent questioning? pitiful. lame. and ultimately deadly for many many people – which is why i’m so pissed off.
From the sports (metaphor) department: Senator Bunning throws high and inside to Justice Ginsburg
by WICK CHAMBERS on FEBRUARY 24, 2009
Former major league pitcher, Hall of Famer Jim Bunning, Republican Senator from Kentucky, recently fired a beanball at Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The story is here courtesy of Michael Doyle’s blog, Suits and Sentences. Drawing on his experience as a ball player, investment broker and U.S. Senator, Bunning predicted that Justice Ginsburg would be dead in nine months from pancreatic cancer
There’s not much to say.
Senator Bunning’s double shoe removal surgery is scheduled for later this week. Doctors are seekng a suitable donor for a manners transplant.