Your time spent resting on your stellar reputation is over, Thurgood!

The hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan are underway. You know the drill: in order to be allowed onto the highest court in the land, the nominee vows to remain as silent as possible, dodge any question that may in fact reveal a personal thought or long held position, and attempt to set a Guinness world record for saying the phrase "I don't answer hypotheticals, Senator." You know, it's the way a serious country full of adults and intelligent elected officials selects a slot on its most august judicial body.

Then there's the dance our elected betters put on. Kagan's supporters on the Democratic side spend their time telling us how she's the most qualified nominee in the history of judges and law, that merely asking her a negatively toned question is likely to make God weep, and that any opposition to putting her immediately on the Supreme Court is rooted in the blackest evil, the foulest magic, and darkest blood rituals.

On the other hand, the GOP concocts scenarios in which her activist judicial fiats will split the earth in two in a literal orgy of flag burning illegal Mexican immigrants performing mandatory abortions on the Children of God, and how it is entirely conceivable that the President has nominated a dangerous mental defective and terrorist sleeper agent who, the second she gets on the bench, will strap C4 to herself and make for the Constitution.

You know how it is. It pretty much went by that book yesterday. But there was an unexpected addendum to yesterday's proceeding. Apparently going after Kagan was not enough, so the GOP decided to set their sights on another ACTIVIST JUDGE: Thurgood Marshall, who is apparently a massive shitbag.

Looks like Senate Judiciary Republicans have at least one unified talking point today: Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to ever serve on the Supreme Court, was an "activist judge." As Elena Kagan kept on her listening face, multiple senators slammed both Marshall's judicial philosophy and her service as his clerk in the late 1980s.
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In an example of how much the GOP focused on Marshall, his name came up 35 times. President Obama's name was mentioned just 14 times today.

Ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said Kagan's reverence for Marshall "tells us much about the nominee," and he meant that more as an indictment than a compliment.

The Washington Post says the Republicans even went so far as to pass out opposition research on Justice Marshall. Thurgood Marshall! You know, the guy who argued Brown v. The Board of Education, worked tirelessly on civil rights, and worked to fix institutional barriers of racial discrimination. That Thurgood Marshall. He was apparently a massively activist asshole. So, of course, the GOP spent an entire day trying to tear him down, discredit him, and attack him in order to knock Kagan's time spent as a law clerk for Marshall. One of the most accomplished, important justice and lawyer in US legal history. I'm not sure they even asked Kagan a question.

But there is one question we do need the answer to: would current GOP Senators vote to confirm Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court?

Sen. Orrin Hatch, like many Republicans these days, is arguing that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s hero, Thurgood Marshall, was an activist judge and that raises questions about Kagan’s judicial philosophy.
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I caught up with Hatch after today’s confirmation hearing to ask an obvious question: Would Hatch have voted for Marshall?

“Well, its hard to say,” Hatch said.

Jesus Christ.

/throws up hands, walks away

Quote of the day

So what do you do when you seemingly endorse repealing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, set off a firestorm, and have to walk things back so much that at the end of the day you are not only disavowing any connections you have to yourself, but you're seriously considering claiming you have a big tattoo of Martin Luther King high fiving Sojourner Truth across your back?

If you're Rand Paul, you criticize the President and stick up for BP in the midst of a massive ecological nightmare. Of course you do.

On Good Morning America today, Paul also steered the conversation toward something more recent, President Obama's criticism of BP following the oil spill. Paul said: "This sort of, you know 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,' I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business."

Paul continued: The President's reaction is "part of this sort of blame game society" where "it's always someone's fault." Paul added: "Maybe sometimes accidents happen."

"Accidents happen." That's one way of putting it. I'm no political expert, but maybe the best pivot point off of "Businesses should be allowed to discriminate. A pox on the Civil Rights Act" isn't "How dare the President criticize a corporation just because it's extreme negligence is causing an unprecedented environmental disaster." At least Rand took out time to also intensely whine about the criticism he received yesterday.

But, maybe we're being too harsh on Raaaaaaaaandy. As Orrin Hatch explained

“If I were you guys I’d give him a little leeway,” Hatch told reporters. “He just got elected. It’s a tough thing for him to get in the middle of this cauldron.”

Yeah, it's his first day on the job. How's he supposed to know criticizing one of the landmark bills in US history and openly endorsing the right to discriminate would make him look like an ass? C'mon, lay off.

I don't know, Rand, what's on tap for tomorrow? Feel a need to praise the Pope's handling of the whole child molestation thing? Opine on the sporting excellence of the Pittsburgh Pirates? Start an intensive discussion on all the good policy ideas Hitler had? Talk about the chilling effects the Emancipation Proclamation had on business; especially the cotton industry? Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll do it in your trademark smug, entitled style. Never pausing to actually think about how what you're saying sounds. Keep it up, Rand. We need a new punching bag now that Palin and Bachmann have seemingly learned to shut up.

The teabaggers have turned on their masters

Today is primary day and thus the last day we'll have to see cheaply produced attack ads about subservience to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama's radical agenda or how some fatcat hates every working person and the start of the first day of having to see expensively produced versions of those same ads. America's wonderful election process moves on.

But with Democrats Arlen Specter and Blanche Lincoln as well as a host of other crazy Republicans who have been deemed "not crazy enough" by the teabagging movement poised to lose their primaries today, don't go thinking that all the basking in the misery of others only happened today. No, you might have missed out on Utah's GOP primary over a week ago, where sitting US Senator Bob Bennett came in a distant third as the Tea Party movement deemed his brand of right wing behavior as lacking that total commitment to unreasonable obstruction and lunacy and took their first of many Republican scalps.

To his fellow Senators, Bennett's defeat was a hallmark of everything that's wrong with the American voting process today: namely a sitting Senator being held to account by his voters in a primary. The outrage! But to those within the Senate GOP, this was a sign that those teabaggers were taking things too far.

Hatch — who has previously warned the Tea Party to start working more closely with the Republican Party — criticized the Tea Party for rallying against Bennett:

HATCH: A lot of these Tea Party people are angry, and I’m angry too. … I mean my gosh, They’re mad. They have a right to be mad and I think these Tea Party people are doing the country a service. But when they don’t have an open mind and they won’t listen, that’s another matter and that’s something I think anybody would find fault with.

The Tea Party doesn't have an open mind and doesn't listen? I thought that's what you prized in them? No? Oh, you don't like it when they use that impotent rage and fury against their masters in the only place they have power: the GOP primaries of intensely Republican states. But I can see why Orrin is mad, even beyond the outrage of a sitting Senator not being re-betrothed his seat like a gilded birthright that the people owe him. I mean how could they have ever foreseen that Frankenstein's monster would inevitably turn on his master? That never happens.

But lest the teabaggers turn on him and force him into a primary like they did his fellow Utah Senator, he wants them to know one thing: Washington... what's that? He's never heard of the place and he's certainly never been there.

INGRAHAM: But aren’t you part of Washington?

HATCH: Hell no. I’ve never been. I’ve never considered this a job. I’ve had, people have asked me, they said, “say Senator Hatch, don’t you just love being a U.S. senator?” My constant answer is this. No, I don’t love it at all, but I’m good at it.

For those of you playing at home, Hatch has been in the Senate for nearly 34 years. Which is longer than either Sean or I have been alive. But he's not a part of Washington. He just fits in well there and should be re-elected. Because he's not a part of it.

Maybe things like primary purity tests are the things you should have thought of when you and your fellow elected betters decided to turn your party over to the Tea Party. Ah well, here's hoping that they gorged themselves on so much meat and blood that when they come for you in the night, they don't have the wherewithal to eat your face, Orrin. I'm sure this strategy will keep them at bay. Good luck with that.

Good morning to our Jewish friends

'Tis the season for Jesus and his much better older brother Santa. But just because Sean an I are nominally Catholic it doesn't mean we've forgotten our Jewish brothers and sisters. No, who can forget Hanukkah, the treasured celebration of...... that time...... Moses... freed.... the city of... Hanukkh.... from... Satan?

Irregardless, we didn't forget you and neither did Mormon Utah Senator Orrin "the Balladeer" Hatch. Hell, he not only remembers, he composed and performed a song on behalf of your people and what all we Christians assume is an important holiday. This is the kind of thing you have time for when you don't contribute in any way to getting health reform passed. Enjoy.

Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

Your morning reminder of the crushing stupidity of the health care debate

We've heard lots of reasons for why we shouldn't pass any type of health care reform: Joe Lieberman's feelings are hurt, it'll eat all the money the financial sector hasn't already eaten, SOCIALISM~!, COMMUNISM~!, because Americans prefer their shitty health care system, or because it will result in our Muslim President ordering the mass deaths of everyone's favorite grandma or great aunt. But it's rare when we see a political hack just open up and admit the naked political calculation behind desperately trying to block a bill. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is just that kind of hack.

"And if they get there, of course, you're going to have a very rough time having a two-party system in this country, because almost everybody's going to say, 'All we ever were, all we ever are, all we ever hope to be depends on the Democratic Party,' " Hatch said during an interview with the conservative CNSNews.com.

"That's their goal," Hatch added. "That's what keeps Democrats in power."
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"Do I believe they're that diabolical? I don't believe most of them are, but I think some of them are," Hatch said. "Maybe diabolical's too harsh of a word, but the fact is, they really, really believe in socialized medicine."

That's right, we can't do a reform of health care or include a public option because people will like it too much, will be grateful, will vote for Democrats on the basis that they passed it, and vote against Republicans just because they opposed its entire creation and worked actively to kill it. Well, I have to say that's clearly a concern. I mean who would want to vote for a plan that people would like? This whole popularity/voting problem is even more of a problem than Ben Nelson's fears that a public option would be too beneficial and win any competition against private insurance. Thankfully our elected betters exist to protect us from things they know we'd like and would work to reduce health care costs and make health care more available.

Just one last thing Orrin: the Democrats don't really believe in socialized medicine, or even really, really believe in it. If they did they wouldn't be trying to pass some ultra-watered down, half-assed public option that will almost invariably now be taken out of the bill. No, they'd be trying to pass the thing that would actually massively reduce health care costs and cover everyone: single payer health care. But after Medicare and Medicaid reduced costs for its users, proved to be the two most popular health plans in the country, and covered people fully, Government learned better than to try that horrific fiasco again. So keep on protecting us from things we'd like and things that would make life better and easier for us, otherwise we might just like and vote for the people that do pass it. Orrin, I can't believe you were actually in the Senate Finance Committee health care negotiations. Great call, Max.

Orrin Hatch is an adult

Since no one yelled out something during a speech or accused anyone of wanting to put the nation's grandmothers into an apple press for "ciderizing" you might be under the impression that our elected betters are returning, if not to the emotional level of adults, at least to the level of less angsty teenagers. Well, you didn't read the list of 534 amendments proposed to Max Baucus' Senate Finance Committee health bill. To be fair, neither did I. But I read someone else's summary, and while there are some worthwhile amendments in there, it mostly goes to show how juvenile and childish the Senate is.

Roberts 144: To ensure that if people like the hometown hospital they have, they can keep it.

Did I miss this meme? Was there an "Obama's gon stealz ur hospitalz" movement that came right on the heels of the grandma murder one?

Ensign 409: Transparency in Czars.
Hatch 511: Prohibits authorized or appropriated federal funds under the Mark from being distributed to or used by ACORN.
Ensign 543: Strike the word “fee” everywhere it appears in the bill and replace with the word “tax”.

When I think of things that are absolutely vital to the fight to reform health care, czars and getting pissy about ACORN are the first two things I think about, not to mention making it easier for my colleagues to demonize something as a tax.

But perhaps the childish coup de grâce, after you get though all the amendments prohibiting the government takeover of health care, amendments getting the vapors over rationing, or stripping out anything useful from the bill, was delivered by Orrin Hatch of Utah...Utah....U.....tah:

Hatch 497: add transition relief for the excise tax on high cost insurance plans for any State with a name that begins with the letter ‘U’.

Whew, thank God he's trying to get that one in there. That's got to help, what, 20-30 extra states dodge that tax fee on gold plated policies, right? Glad to see you're taking this seriously Orrin. Now I'm kind of hoping that Rockefeller 612, the amendment that states "any doctor is allowed to beat any person named Orrin with a sack of surgical grade oranges on any day ending with the word 'day'" passes.

That makes one

Instead of trying to present themselves as a sane party who was going to fight this SOCTUS nomination battle over judicial philosophy or even wait until Sotomayor's hearing to throw a hissy fit, most of the GOP decided to spend yesterday stripping themselves naked, setting themselves on fire, and running through the town square, nude and ablaze, screaming "RACIST!!!!!!" But there was a man who took a look at what was going on and decided he was going to kindly step aside and not associate himself with all the other people that decided to speak for his party yesterday. That man? The Balladeer, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) attacked Judge Sonia Sotomayor on his Twitter feed today as a “Latina woman racist” who should withdraw her nomination. On CNN this afternoon, Wolf Blitzer asked Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, if he agreed with Gingrich. “No, I don’t agree with that,” replied Hatch

Ok, that makes one. Anyone want to lay odds on there being a second?