I actually thought about getting together with the Ropers to compile a list of the worst political columnists. I did a poll on a prior blog and Ann Coulter was the winner. Salon beat me and made the Hack Thirty list.
The Top Ten
Richard Cohen
Mark Halperin
Thomas Friedman
David Broder
Marty Peretz
Marc Thiessen
Jonah Goldberg
Maureen Dowd
Laura Ingraham
Peggy Noonan
Alex Pareene gives a summery to the lowlights to all of the thirty columnists
At a debate Tuesday night, Runyan's Democratic opponent, Rep. John Adler asked, "Jon, it's a different branch of government, but can you give me an example from the last 10 or 15 years of a Supreme Court decision in which you strongly disagree?"
"That I strongly disagree with?" Runyan clarified, pausing before considering his final answer.
"Dred Scott," Runyan responded, drawing laughter from the audience.
Dred Scott was a slave who attempted to gain his freedom. He lost his case in the infamous Supreme Court decision Dred Scott v. Sandford on March 6, 1857. Needless to say, that Supreme Court decision was more than 15 years ago.
Runyan probably said Dred Scott because Republicans have used that has a code word to social conservatives against abortion. Here are some examples.
"Like Dred Scott, Roe has the potential to be overturned, given the right circumstances and the right make-up of the Supreme Court. Political rhetoric notwithstanding, we subscribe to that view. In his heart, we believe Senator Ashcroft thinks so, too."
"I think, as many do, that Roe v. Wade was as big a travesty as the Supreme Court decision on Dred Scott, which in 1857 declared that descendants of slaves could not become U.S. citizens."
I doubt Runyan even knows what the Dred Scott ruling was about. What we are seeing is more and more conservatives that think in talking points. These people do not have the intellectual curiosity to get into the policy weeds. Therefore no one should be suprised Runyan or Christine O'Donnell have no idea about constitutional law.
It is time to give out the Joel Award. The award goes any celebrity, pundit, blogger or politician that purposely contradicts himself or herself.
The Joel Award goes to Peggy Noonan. In 1998, Noonan urged the impeachment of Bill Clinton because "no man is above" the rule of law.
"The Democrats had long labeled the impeachment debate a distraction from the urgent business of a great nation. But the Republicans argued that the pursuit of justice is the business of a great nation. In winning this point, they caught the falling flag, producing a triumph for the rule of law, a reassertion of the belief that no man is above it, and a rebuke for an arrogance that had grown imperial,"
Noonan's love of the law gets thrown under the bus when it comes to the Bush administration torturing detainees. Nonnan's comments on This Week were sickening.
Noonan: Oh I have reservations about all this. It's hard for me to look at a great nation issuing these documents and sending them out to the world and thinking oh much good will come of that. Sometimes in life you wanna' just keep walkin'. History has changed. It does change. We have a new administration, a new way. Sometimes I think just keep walkin'. Don't always be issuing papers and reports.
Via Talking Points Memo: how I love the magic of live microphones. Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy though they were talking off-the-record. The two diehard Republicans are not happy that John McCain passed up Kay Hutchinson. Noonan declared the election over and Palin's selection as political bullshit about narratives.
Peggy Noonan: Yeah.
Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys -- this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it's not gonna work. And --
PN: It's over.
MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.
CT: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.
PN: Saw Kay this morning.
CT: Yeah, she's never looked comfortable about this --
MM: They're all bummed out.
CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?
PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --
CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.
MM: I totally agree.
PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.
MM: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.
CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.
MM: Yeah.
I few points. Murphy declaring that McCain has no cynicism is hysterical. In 2007, McCain told Wolf Blitzer, "General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee." General Petraeus doesn't take a shit without a security detail. The Maverick told talk radio host Bill Bennett, "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today." Below is a picture of McCain's 2007 visit to Baghdad. Notice the bulletproof vest and armed escort.
The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.
“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”
"Who said there was security?" asked carpet salesman Abu Ammar, 55, who said he sold McCain a $60 Turkish rug.
"I told him there were snipers who were really harming us," he said, sitting behind his large office desk. "I told him the plan had improved security but Shorja still wasn't fully safe."
"The American people are not getting the picture of all that is happening here," McCain told the media. "Things are better ... but I am not saying mission accomplished.
Cynicism is how McCain got to where he is.
Personally, I think Murphy is sore that his candidate Mitt Romney didn't win.
