When the Ship Comes In

Elena Kagan has been launched with a TV ad and Obama's video e-mail to Organizing for America members. I would loved to be introduced the way she was by the President. Although do we really need to have each nominee have a story? The bottom-line like Sotomayor, she's a moderate liberal. Now we're being told she's a blank slate and a risky pick because all we have to go on is her writing, his professional experience and her teaching career. And she was even paid $10,000 as a consultant to Goldman Sachs, owners of America.

To alienate the Left, it's been reported that Elena Kagan said there is no federal constitutional right for same sex marriage, although that's not how Ted Olson will be argue it before the Supreme Court. All marriage laws are local. And she reportedly advised Bill Clinton to ban late-term abortions. To the right, she's a closeted lesbian--I guess that's the new term for professional woman--and an activist judge who will "subvert the Court's pro-business tilt." Little Billy Kristol today retrenched, saying she would have to apologize for her stance on military recruitment on campuses. College dropout Rush Limbaugh said " she's elitist." While I went to the University of Chicago and Harvard for my graduate work, I do distrust people who went to Princeton for their undergraduate--even Sonya Sotomayor. And, horrors of horrors, she's another woman from New York City.

Jim Inhofe from the state of Oklahoma has already stated he will oppose because she puts political correctness above our national security--in regard to the DADT policies. Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions claims she's an activist, who will not follow the original intent of the Constitution like, for instance,the Supreme Court's decision on Citizens United, which ignored the Founding Father's anti-corporate animus and expanded the notion of legal person to let foreign and domestic companies give unlimited funds to political campaigns. I'm being snarky. The GOP will definitely try to get her on the record in terms of the constitutionality of the health care bill.

While Michael Steele today embraced slavery by slamming her support of Thursgood Marshall's statement that the Constitution was flawed, some blogger happened to discover George Washington's letter to his nephew where Washington reflected that the Constitution was "not free from imperfections." Of course, the natural answer is that it had to be imperfect otherwise why would it need amendments. And, let's not forget, after slaves were freed, there was quite a wait to give women their rights.

Patrick Leahy got the gist right,"The President could have nominated Moses and the Republicans would have objected and asked him for his birth certificate."

The strategy of the GOP is to fling paper in the air and make accusations after accusations until something sticks. Their ultimate goal is to delay any other agenda items of the President and to push this past the August recess because "that forces the red and purple state Democrats to have to go home and face their constituents." It's simply another form of obstructionism.

In the last few days there has been a rash of other states who want to emulate the Arizona immigration law. However, immigration reform has gotten a boost from the evangelical community. It's not because they repented or re-read the New Testament. It's they did the math. Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy wing, Matthew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law, Rev. Samuel Rodriquez, an Hispanic evangelist, and Rick Tyler of Newt Gingrich's group announced they would lobby Congress for quick passage of immigration reform.

In their statement, they said,"We must allow the millions of undocumented and otherwise law-abiding persons living in our midst to come out of the shadows".

Richard Land, speaking about Hispanics voting Democratic, stated the objective bluntly," Hispanics are hard-wired to be like us (Southerners) on the sanctity of life, marriage and issues of faith. I'm concerned about being perceived as being unwelcoming to them." You Betcha.

This will be fascinating to watch as it plays out, especially in the list of states in the South, which I wrote about yesterday.

But here in the original capital of the Confederacy, Bob "Jobs" McDonnell has appointed Fred Malek, Sarah Palin's adviser to chair the state commission to restructure government. Fred is best known as the man Nixon appointed to develop lists of all the Jews in the Nixon White House. So I guess his new job is to follow the Governor's passion and find out how many gays work for the Virginia government.

And finally the BIG FLOP. Billionairess Meg Whitman once had a 50-point lead against teabagger Steve Poizner, then two weeks ago it dropped to a 22 -point lead. Yesterday after ads linked her to Goldman Sachs, she only leads by 2 points. I'm having a tough time wrapping my mind around the victory of Governor Moonbeam, Jerry Brown.

One hopeful note--One third of all birthers approve of Obama's handling of the Presidency. My response to a conservative e-mailer today was that even they know the white boys screwed up so now we have to get foreigners to clean up the mess.

Remember: "Every day in the United States of America is secular."