The meaning of ‘mainstream’ - (excellent! why isn't the GOP leadership SAYING THIS?!)

JEWISH WORLD REVIEW.COM ^ | MAY 27, 2005 | MARK GOLDBLATT

[CHARLITE]

In the fight over filibustering judicial nominees, the Senate gave us something new: defining extremism leftward. Judges whose views Democrats have regarded as merely conservative are now seen as right-wing extremists — or, to use the phrase that keeps coming up in the current Senate debate, "out of the mainstream."

But what does the phrase mean? From Democrats' public statements, it seems to mean the following: Judges who would uphold a state's ban on gay marriage are out of the mainstream; judges who would rule that parents should be notified before their underage daughter has an abortion are out of the mainstream; judges who would question the wisdom of affirmative action are out of the mainstream.

Yet each of these positions is well within the mainstream of popular opinion — indeed, each arguably represents the view of a majority of Americans.

What might an actual extremist look like? A judge ruled who not just to uphold a state's ban gay marriage but to re-criminalize acts of sodomy, perhaps. Or one who ruled not just to allow legislative restrictions of abortion, but to ban abortions outright, by judicial fiat. If a judge ruled not just to disregard race in college admissions but to re-establish separate-but-equal schools, that would be out of the mainstream.

None of President Bush's judicial nominees is an extremist — or even close.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, nominated by President Clinton for the Supreme Court in 1993 and confirmed by the Senate 96-3, once proposed the abolition of Mother's and Father's Day in favor of a unisex Parent's Day; she also once called for co-ed prisons and speculated that prostitution and polygamy might be rights guaranteed under the Constitution. Yet none of that put her "out of the mainstream" in the eyes of an overwhelming majority of Republican senators.

[John Lenin]

I'm telling you, we are getting a complete snow job on the judges issue. I would bet that 70% of the country wants conservative judges. We are being hoodwinked by the GOP and the MSM. Because, we are a government of the lawyers, by the lawyers and or the lawyers, and to hell with the consequences.

[papertyger]

Yet another example of the truism that the quickest way to defeat a liberal is by interupting their grand pronouncements and FORCE THEM to define their terms.

Never let them proceed until they do.

[CHARLITE]

"FORCE THEM to define their terms.

That's what I love about Ann Coulter. She emphasizes exactly this theme.

Great comment! Thanks!

Char :)

[Jeff Chandler]

We need a War Room.
Where is W? Where is Karl Rove? Don't they give a damn about anything except Social Security?

[hardworking]

"Why isn't the GOP leadership saying this?"

Sadly, right now the term "GOP leadership" is an oxymoron. IMHO the GOP is currently without leadership. Huge disappointment. Some of the great senate leaders of the past must be spinning in their graves.

[alwaysconservative]

Excellent advice!

[R.W.Ratikal]

The Socialist movement in America (the Democrat Party) has been successful in moving the Center of the political spectrum to the far left.

The American Eagle now flies with a huge right wing hardly moving, and a tiny left wing flapping away furiously to try to keep the rapidly descending nation in the air.

The "Mainstream" today means the leftist/socialist viewpoint. Anyone who is to the right of, say Teddy Kennedy, is out of the "Mainstream" as defined by the socialists.

Read any edition of the New York Times and you will see that the U. S. Constitution, rule of law, free enterprise, individual responsibility, capitalism, personal freedom and liberty, state sovereignty, and the checks and balances in government place there by the founding fathers, are all out of the "Mainstream."

[rcocean]

I agree 100 percent. Anne made this case - but no other pundits picked up on it. Everytime I hear Schumer attack someone who believes in the Constitution as a "Right-wing extremist", my blood pressure rises.

Frankly, I think the Republican leadership is in the tank on this issue.

I notice that year after year we get liberal judges no matter who gets in power. We elect Reagan and we get O'Conner and Kennedy. We elect Bush I and we get Souter. Remember him? He was the Conservative stealth candidate. Only he ended up being to the left of Ginsburg.

Please note that of the 9 SC Justices, 7 were appointed by Republicans.

[MNnice]

I know a lot of you don't like Newt Gingrich, but can you imagine him as senate majority leader? Frist is so concerned about offending people to preserve/create a non-controversial senate record for his run in 08 that he has become Casper Milquetoast. One thing about Gingrich, he didn't care who he offended ... he stood on principle.