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November 15, 2003
Judicial Appointments Blocking Memo
Continuing this morning's apparent memo theme, there's an interesting article about some leaked Democrats' memos about the reasons for blocking judicial appointments. Here's a sample.
In the Nov. 7, 2001, memo, the Durbin staffer was recounting a meeting his boss had missed with Mr. Kennedy and "representatives of various civil rights groups."
"[Y]esterday's meeting focused on identifying the most controversial and/or vulnerable judicial nominees, and a strategy for targeting them," the staffer wrote about the groups present. "They also identified Miguel Estrada (D.C. Circuit) as especially dangerous, because he has a minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment." [Emphasis mine]
Yep. One of the reasons for the Dems blocking Mr. Estrada's nomination was because of his ethnicity. Party for minorities my ass.
And what do the Dems have to say about this?
[Kennedy spokesman] Mr. Smith also said the leaked documents raised serious questions about Republican tactics.
"There's been this rash of stolen Democratic memos by Republicans recently," he said, citing the memo written by a staffer to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia Democrat, that strategized to make political hay out of the Iraq war.
"These are thefts of Democratic memos," Mr. Smith said.
Not much else you can say, I suppose, when you're hung with your own rope.
Posted by Rita at November 15, 2003 07:31 AM
Comments
Let's all get together and block their re-elections!
Posted by: Ralph Gizzip at November 15, 2003 07:31 PM
That's a rather unintuitive reading of the memo. What I get out of it is that Estrada is dangerous because he's Latino -- and therefor will be supported by certian people regardless of his politics. The writers of his memo would block him whatever his race, because they don't like his politics.
Nobody's saying "block him, he's a minority" -- they're saying "watch out, he'll be harder to block because he's a minority."
Big difference. I'm sure the democrats think Condi Riceis "dangerous" too -- not because they don't want minorities getting elected, but because if by some crazy miracle Bush were to decide to run with Condi in 2004 he'd be harder to beat.
Posted by: Aaron Butler at November 16, 2003 12:59 AM
Nevermind the context of the damned memos, "hey, they're stealing our memos!" Give me a f*$%&@ break!
Posted by: Sgt Hook at November 16, 2003 03:17 AM
What's offensive is the way the quote was use in the linked story, given its context. The story quoted the memo as saying Estrada is "especially dangerous, because ... he is Latino."
Then later on in the story they quote Smith as saying the first quote is out of context. Duh. What an inflammatory non-story this is.
However, props to Rita for not running the stupid out-of-context version. It makes sense in its full form -- which is why I thought the assumption the item makes is counterintuitive.
Posted by: Aaron Butler at November 16, 2003 12:01 PM
What the memo really meant is that Estrada is a Neanderthal. [/sarcasm]
Posted by: Jim - Parkway Rest Stop at November 16, 2003 03:02 PM