The Foundation

“[J]udges … should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men.” –John Adams

Editorial Exegesis

“President Obama’s high court pick has practically no paper trail, yet her left-leaning orientation is clear. The president knows what he’s getting in his old friend Elena Kagan; America doesn’t – yet. ‘Our solicitor general, and my friend: Elena Kagan.’ That was how Obama introduced his replacement for the most aggressively liberal member of today’s court, John Paul Stevens, appointed by Republican Gerald Ford 35 years ago. ‘My friend’ speaks volumes. Kagan has never been a judge, so we have no written opinions or dissents upon which the Senate – or the American people – can judge her suitability to serve as one of the nine most powerful judges in the country. … Before Obama made her his solicitor general, Kagan was Bill Clinton’s associate White House counsel and served on his Domestic Policy Council. Clinton nominated her to the D.C. Circuit near the end of his second term, but the then-Republican majority in the Senate refused to act on that and other nominations. Moreover, it was Lawrence Summers, Clinton-Obama economic bigwig and then-Harvard president, who in 2003 was responsible for Kagan becoming dean of Harvard Law School – another political appointment. Kagan clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and for Abner Mikva, the Carter-appointed D.C. Circuit judge, a former Democratic Chicago congressman, a Clinton White House counsel and an Obama legal adviser. It’s noteworthy that after Kagan’s ill-fated Clinton court nomination, Chicago Law wouldn’t let her come back to its faculty, gleaning that she’d just be waiting for her next plum political job. Even the New York Times, which would undoubtedly be happy with a Justice Kagan, is grousing that ‘whether by ambitious design or by habit of mind, Ms. Kagan has spent decades carefully husbanding her thoughts and shielding her philosophy from view.’ Put it all together and this looks like an ambitious radical stealthily, and for many years, grooming herself for the pinnacle of judicial power. … With the Supreme Court likely to scrutinize the constitutionality of ObamaCare and other recent Washington power grabs, Elena Kagan is another liberal elitist sure to give her stamp of approval.” –Investor’s Business Daily

Upright

“True judicial restraint asks the question: ‘What does the Constitution actually say?’ and then limits Supreme Court decisions to an honest application of the law.” –David McIntosh, co-founder of the Federalist Society and former congressman from Indiana

“It will be tempting but futile to ask [Elena] Kagan whether she thinks Congress’s enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce is elastic enough to justify requiring individuals to buy health insurance. That is, does the power to regulate interstate commerce give Congress the power to punish the inactivity of not making a private purchase from a private health-care provider? If the commerce clause is sufficiently elastic, in what sense do we still have limited government – government limited by the Constitution?” –columnist George Will

“Some of the senators – not most, but some – will be interested to know what [Kagan] thinks of the Constitution as the Founders wrote it. President Obama will want her to rule on the law as decent and high-minded folk like him think it ought to be, not what it is. The gay community, which rarely seems very gay, expects her to be a reliable vote for changing the definition of marriage and for remaking the military into something Barney Frank can be proud of. Since Mzz Kagan has argued that the Supreme Court’s role is mainly to tend the interests of ‘the despised and disadvantaged,’ somebody will be disappointed.” –Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden

“What we’re seeing in Greece is the death spiral of the welfare state. This isn’t Greece’s problem alone, and that’s why its crisis has rattled global stock markets and threatens economic recovery. Virtually every advanced nation, including the United States, faces the same prospect. Aging populations have been promised huge health and retirement benefits, which countries haven’t fully covered with taxes. The reckoning has arrived in Greece, but it awaits most wealthy societies.” –columnist Robert J. Samuelson

“Anyone who thinks Greece isn’t the proverbial canary in the coal mine is in a coma. See if this sounds familiar: out-of-control spending, a bloated, self-entitled public service sector, a mountain of accumulated debt, trillions of dollars in unfunded mandates – and a corrupt political class completely out of touch with the people. With precious few exceptions, what nation couldn’t be plugged into the above description?” –columnist Arnold Ahlert

“Have you ever noticed how liberals desire to be judged by open minds and met with understanding when their policies fail, while all the while they’ve zero tolerance for anything less than perfection in their political opponents? If so, you only have to remember they view ‘big oil’ as an appendage of the Republican Party to know that one major spill in forty years is no better in their eyes than one major spill every two years.” –columnist AWR Hawkins

Dezinformatsia

Digging deep: “She is expected to play a role as somewhat of a conciliator, the bridge across the conservative and liberal wings of the court. In fact, she loves opera, which Justice Scalia loves.” –ABC anchor Diane Sawyer (“What more evidence of her judicial philosophy do we need?” –L. Brent Bozell)

Defining terms: “You hear conservatives talk about strict constructionists and that’s what a conservative justice would be, someone who looks really closely at only the words of the Constitution. It’s conservatives who actually refer to liberals as activists because they think they go too far in reading the Constitution. Now, Elena Kagan is a moderate liberal. And so to call her an activist, I think, would be really a stretch for … even the Republicans. She’s got a lot of conservative support.” –CBS’s legal correspondent Jan Crawford on Elena Kagan

Repeat a lie often enough: “The right-wing governments in Europe seem to be the ones that are most precarious right now: Greece, Portugal, Spain.” –MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on the left-wing/socialist governments in Greece, Portugal and Spain

That’s racist! “The Tea Party has raised concerns that it may have, I guess, racism built within it. We have seen some racist signs at past events, people have said that that is not a part of the Tea Party movement, but are African-American candidates aligning themselves with the Tea Party?” –MSNBC anchor Peter Alexander to retired Lt. Col. Allen West, Florida Republican congressional candidate who is black (West responded: “The principles and values that I espouse, limited government, lower taxes, individual responsibility, and accountability, liberty, and honoring the traditions of our constitutional republic, are connecting me with those grass roots Americans that attend tea party rallies. And I’ve spoken at four to five of those rallies and I’ve not seen any racist type of signs.”)

Bummer: “This is a d— outrage, to be honest. This is a guy who was a good senator and he was a … good conservative who was trying to get things done.” –New York Times faux-conservative David Brooks on Utah RINO Sen. Bob Bennett’s loss at the state GOP convention

Parallel universe: “Do you see what’s happening in the oil industry and offshore drilling comparable or some kind of parallel to, like, the movie Avatar?” –FNC’s Craig Rivera to “conservationist” Rick Steiner

Newspulper Headlines:

Breaking News From 2000: “Karl Rove, Republican Party Plot Vast Network to Reclaim Power” –Politico.com

The Last Incumbent Left, Please… “Turnout Light for Midterm Elections” –The Washington Times

Breaking News From Genesis 3:13: “Satan a Surprise to Everyone but Himself” –NHL.com

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: “Some Black Holes Can Kill Entire Galaxies” –Space.com

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Elena Kagan Donated to President Obama, John Kerry” –Politico.com

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

The Demo-gogues

Says a lot: “While we can’t presume to replace Justice Stevens’ wisdom or experience, I have selected a nominee who I believe embodies that same excellence, independence, integrity, and passion for the law – and who can ultimately provide that same kind of leadership on the Court: our Solicitor General, and my friend, Elena Kagan.” –Barack Obama, introducing his Supreme Court nominee

Information is bad for you: “[Y]ou’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank that high on the truth meter. And with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations – none of which I know how to work – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.” –Barack Obama admitting technological ignorance to Hampton University graduates that would get a Republican some special media attention

Forecasts: “We will have our fundamentals in place. We will not lose the House of Representatives. … Nobody is going to be taken by surprise. That is what happened in 1994.” –House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the mid-term elections

The BIG Lie: “You can guarantee, even though the scare tactics will come, this bill is consumer friendly, citizen friendly. It is really a refund bill where almost any revenue that comes, nothing stays in the federal government. Nothing grows the size of government. Every penny goes back to creating jobs and protecting the American consumer.” –Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) on the cap-n-tax bill

Global warming is dumb enough as it is: “I think the newspapers are supposed to be printed at the sixth-grade level and I think with something as important as [global warming], we’ve got to figure out how to simplify the language for the public, because otherwise they’re going to get a headache and bail out because they – not because they’re not concerned, but because they don’t get it.” –Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)

Glass half full? “The unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 9.7 to 9.9. Given the strength of these job numbers, this may seem contradictory but this increase is largely a reflection of the fact that workers who had dropped out of the workforce entirely are now seeking jobs again, encouraged by better prospects.” –Barack Obama, trying to spin the news in his favor

Village Idiots

Some comparison: “Kids who wear American Flag t-shirts on 5 May should have to share a lunchroom table with those who wear a hammer and sickle on 4 July.” –film critic Roger Ebert

Don’t drill, baby! “There is no safe way to drill for oil in oceans. This [Deepwater Horizon] disaster is an impetus to halt our dependence on oil completely and move to a clean energy future fast.” –Michael Brune of the envirofascist Sierra Club

It’s a religion alright: “In so far as all morality is fundamentally based on preservation, betterment and continuation of life, there is no higher morality than environmentalism. All religions pale in comparison.” –blogger “HumeSkeptic” at the leftist Daily Kos site

Feelings: “You know what I feel that ‘Avatar’ did was show the world how concerned people are about our planet. That we are aware of the damage we are doing to our planet. That it is time, more than time, for us to stop now and all help each other find energy efficient ways of producing energy.” –“Avatar” actress Sigourney Weaver

Marxism and class warfare: “The struggle is not over until we achieve equality. … [Martin Luther King’s] dream was not to put one black family in the White House. The dream was to make everything equal in everybody’s house.” –the racist “reverend” Al $harpton

Short Cuts

“Tories beat Labor in Britain’s elections Thursday, however the lack of a majority could result in what Britain calls a hung Parliament. It made their cousins wistful on this side of the pond. If Americans could hang congressmen, the U.S. income tax would be celebrating its two hundred twentieth anniversary of never being introduced.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

“To be fair, at Emirates Airlines, being on a ‘no-fly’ list makes you eligible for pre-boarding.” –columnist Ann Coulter

“Never forget: the same media which castigated the Bush administration for a 5% unemployment rate is now saying an increase in unemployment rate from 9.7% to 9.9% is good news, because it means more people are looking for jobs. Perhaps if the unemployment rate tops 10%, they’ll be ecstatic.” –columnist Arnold Ahlert

“The Obama administration has revealed the size of America’s nuclear arsenal. The U.S. has 5,113 warheads: approximately a thousand of them aimed at China, a thousand of them aimed at Russia, and the rest, of course, aimed at Fox News.” – comedian Jay Leno