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Obama on Clarence Thomas
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ^ | August 18, 2008 | Editors

Posted on 8/18/2008, 5:20:50 AM by ricks_place

Barack Obama likes to portray himself as a centrist politician who wants to unite the country, but occasionally his postpartisan mask slips...

Pastor Rick Warren asked each Presidential candidate which Justices he would not have nominated. Mr. McCain said, "with all due respect" the four most liberal sitting Justices because of his different judicial philosophy.

Mr. Obama took a lower road, replying first that "that's a good one," and then adding that "I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don't think that he, I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretation of a lot of the Constitution." The Democrat added that he also wouldn't have appointed Antonin Scalia, and perhaps not John Roberts, though he assured the audience that at least they were smart enough for the job.

So let's see. By the time he was nominated, Clarence Thomas had worked in the Missouri Attorney General's office, served as an Assistant Secretary of Education, run the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sat for a year on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation's second most prominent court. Since his "elevation" to the High Court in 1991, he has also shown himself to be a principled and scholarly jurist.

Meanwhile, as he bids to be America's Commander-in-Chief, Mr. Obama isn't yet four years out of the Illinois state Senate, has never held a hearing of note of his U.S. Senate subcommittee, and had an unremarkable record as both a "community organizer" and law school lecturer. Justice Thomas's judicial credentials compare favorably to Mr. Obama's Presidential résumé by any measure. And when it comes to rising from difficult circumstances, Justice Thomas's rural Georgian upbringing makes Mr. Obama's story look like easy street.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; clarencethomas; judiciary; obama; saddleback; scotus
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Obama has allegedly quit Cocaine and Marijuana but his recent public displays put this "major accomplishment" in doubt.
1 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:20:50 AM by ricks_place
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To: ricks_place
But yet the MSM tells us that people who oppose Obambi because he lacks experience are "racists".

Hmmmm.

2 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:25:06 AM by comebacknewt
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To: ricks_place
Obama’s inexperience covers a multitude of sins.
3 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:27:08 AM by Reagan Man ( McCain Wants My Vote --- this conservative is ambivalent to the odious Johnny Mac)
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: ricks_place
"Clarence Thomas had worked in the Missouri Attorney General's office, served as an Assistant Secretary of Education, run the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sat for a year on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals,..."

And what is Obama's qualifications to be president of the United Satates Of America? He really, really wants the job?

5 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:28:05 AM by Daaave ("Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends")
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To: ricks_place
Even more troubling is what the Illinois Democrat's answer betrays about his political habits of mind. Asked a question he didn't expect at a rare unscripted event, the rookie candidate didn't merely say he disagreed with Justice Thomas. Instead, he instinctively reverted to the leftwing cliché that the Court's black conservative isn't up to the job while his white conservative colleagues are.

WSJ.

Nicely penned editorial.

6 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:32:17 AM by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: ricks_place
Obama graduated from Harvard Law School, Clarence Thomas from Yale Law School.

So Clarence Thomas got in and through Yale Law School with Affirmative Action, but Obama get didn't AA at Harvard?

If you are going to be casting stones at Judge Thomas, Senator Obama, lets see your LSAT's.

7 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:33:17 AM by Plutarch
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To: ricks_place

Mark Levin: “On Obama’s best day he can’t hold a candle to Thomas’s intelligence.”


8 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:34:08 AM by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: ricks_place

Obambi: “What’s that pubic hair doing in my crack pipe?”


9 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:36:25 AM by rfp1234 (Phodopus campbelli: household ruler since July 2007.)
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To: Daaave
And what is Obama's qualifications to be president of the United States Of America? He really, really wants the job?

Well, that and he wants to be nice to people.
10 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:38:14 AM by Dominnae (This is my opinion, and worth every penny you paid for it.)
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To: ricks_place
Obama has allegedly quit Cocaine and Marijuana but his recent public displays put this "major accomplishment" in doubt.

Actually, I've wondered about this possibility for a while. Sincerely so.

11 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:41:31 AM by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: ricks_place

Despite my agreement with many of Mr. Thomas’s opinions, I would have to agree that his resume at the time of his nomination was not so impressive as to warrant elevation to the Supreme Court. where supposedly the most qualified jurists in the country sit. If you compare his qualifications with that of Scalia or Roberts or any of the other justices that come to mind, he comes up on the short end of things. Indeed, it looks like he was nominated on the dreaded “affirmative action” basis. A white man with such limited credentials would not have been nominated, I think.


12 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:43:49 AM by vanishing liberty
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: comebacknewt

But the people who oppose Obama are Democrats, so is the media telling us that Dems are racist?


14 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:46:34 AM by Hildy ("We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.")
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To: ricks_place

http://www.glennbeck.com
15 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:47:27 AM by Texas Eagle (What do Barack Obama and a bowl of chili have in common?)
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To: vanishing liberty

You must be a fan of David Souter then.


16 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:48:39 AM by Hoodat (Obama's only connection to the descendants of American Slaves is that his muslim ancestors sold them)
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To: ricks_place
Barry's jealous because Justice Thomas is a real man, a man of actual achievement.

Obviously Hussein is very much in need of a father figure, he seems a bit disrespectful and cocky for a community organizer.

17 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:51:22 AM by roses of sharon (SAVE YOUR GAS RECIEPTS, SEND TO PELOSI!)
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To: vanishing liberty

The opposition to Thomas came from people who think that he isn’t really black because of his conservative brain. I think he was nominated for his conservatism, not for his color.


18 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:51:50 AM by Misterioso
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To: ricks_place
'When he comes to Los Angeles
Make sure he knows the pot store's open there....'
19 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:52:57 AM by onedoug
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To: Misterioso

“I think he was nominated for his conservatism, not for his color.”

What I am saying is that I think a white conservative with his credentials would not have been nominated.


20 posted on 8/18/2008, 5:54:01 AM by vanishing liberty
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