I'm with Larry Lessig.
Lessig Calls Greenwald's Take on Kagan "Absurd"
Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig took Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald to task for his opposition to Kagan, the current U.S. Solicitor General. Lessig took particular exception to Greenwald's contention that Kagan lacks a clear judicial record.
"The hyperbole in what Glenn is saying here is something we really have to check. He said right at the top of your show that there's a complete blank slate here. That every substantive legal question she has left unanswered," Lessig told Maddow Monday night. "That is just absurd."
And I think those who are getting all hysterical need to recognize their own groupthink hysteria. It's pretty hopey-change, with us or agin' us, rabid mob rule kinda thing.
Not pretty.
6 comments:
Liberals are supposed to (and mostly will) rally to support someone with an almost non-existent record of championing liberal causes because she's in thick with a few well-placed, well-heeled "progressives" or because of her gender. How tribal can it get?
Maybe one in a hundred Democrats (at most) will ask what Tom Harkin did:
"Why do the conservatives always get the conservatives, but we don’t get to get the liberals? What the hell is that all about?"
Remember when it used to be the most important thing in the world to move the Supreme Court to the left, to save America's soul? Good times!
I dunno.
Some of this groupthink is what led to the downfall of actual progressive and 2007 early Goldman-Sachs-Slayer MA AG Martha Coakley.
I've always liked Larry Lessig, not that I don't like Greenwald, and when it comes to law, I trust his expertise over Greenwald's.
Besides, she's from the Upper West Side. That's passing a litmus test right there with flying colors.
The actually knowing someone part, which Lessig has, is important. Should I run into a person, shrieking, "VastLeft is a {insert negative atribute her]!!!" I get to say, "No, I know VastLeft, and that just is not the case."
How much "groupthink" is involved with left-side Obama skepticism, which exists in a minute part of the left, and something that is practiced at great social cost?
Martha Coakley sealed her no-vote warrant for the likes of me by agreeing to be branded as the (prospective) 60th vote for a terrible healthcare bill. Her. Own. Doing. How about laying that at her feet, instead of suggesting (without evidence) that those who didn't like it (or much of anything else from today's Democratic Party) are groupthinkers?
Glenn's argument that Kagan has a wafer-thin record as a progressive leading light easily withstands the weak tea arguments of her pals. And how is he a groupthinker here? What's the group? What's the faulty thinking?
References from friends are nice on the "he's a good guy / she's a good gal" level, but they aren't much of a remedy for a near-complete lack of proven interest in matters of the day for someone who will shape American law for decades to come. Someone can read literally thousands of things I've posted that clarify where I stand on socio-political issues. She opposed ROTC presence at Harvard, until she didn't. I'm quite the groupthinker to think that's not much on which to base support for her replacing Justin Stevens, if you think a genuine lefty agenda is vital for the future of this country and for those impacted by its policies.
Not following you on the significance of her belonging to the Upper West Side tribe.
Thanks for your clearly articulated argument, VLWC!
I agree, and I've been studying all the data available on Kagan's record.
Not impressed.
She is not progressive or leftwing in any sense. How the hell this balances out the court in any way is beyond me - and you can read my blog to figure out where I'm coming from.
I'm with Glenn.
Show me the money!
S
Glenn's argument that Kagan has a wafer-thin record as a progressive leading light easily withstands the weak tea arguments of her pals. And how is he a groupthinker here? What's the group? What's the faulty thinking?
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is kagan as left-wing as I'd like? hell no! Is she a better choice than we would have gotten under McCain? hell yes!
She might not be the person I would pick and I don't think she is a "progressive" (whatever the hell that is these days) but I do think she will make a decent Justice and I do think she is well qualified. And anyone who still thinks Obama is some sort of champion of the Left is probably carrying a misspelled sign at a tea-bagger rally
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