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What a breath of fresh air it is to read a journalist who, instead of playing election season stenographer, actually takes the statements of a candidate and puts them in the context of real life consequences.
When others simply note the arrival of Ayotte's new ads on the Addison death penalty conviction, John Gregg of the Valley News adds this discomfiting insight:
The killing of a police officer, and the imposition of the death penalty, are solemn issues; whether it's appropriate to try to derive political advantage from such a case is a question each of us can answer for ourselves.
When others duly noted the opposition to Kagan that is basically pro forma among GOPer candidates, Gregg takes careful note that Ayotte didn't even bother to wait for hearings before declaring her judgment. After listing the support Kagan received from several prominent Republican legal minds, he adds:
And U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who has endorsed Ayotte as his replacement, last week said he will vote for Kagan, saying, "Ms. Kagan and I may have different political philosophies, but I believe that the confirmation process should be based on qualifications, not ideological litmus tests or political affiliation."
All of which raises the question: When it comes to the great value New Hampshire voters place on independent thinking and analysis, is it Elena Kagan who is out of the mainstream, or Kelly Ayotte?
Back in the day when Kelly Ayotte thought she had the nomination all to herself and was free to model her positions on Judd Gregg (who basically handpicked her as successor), she supported a Wise, Empathetic Latina who is decidely to the left of retiring Justice Souter.
But now she can't bring herself to support someone likely to the right of retiring Justice Stevens.
Turns out SCOTUS retirements provide a useful marker for the Ayotte campaign's level of insecurity about winning the GOP primary.
Wouldn't it be nice sometime to have a leading candidate for office on the GOP side who isn't a phony?
Because she isn't a judge, Jim Bender and and Ovide Lamontagne can't even deign to consider voting for Elena Kagan.
Guess that leaves out poor Salmon Chase too. Sorry, Cornish; you'll have to make do with J.D. and Maxwell as your leading lights!
(Of course, we all know that Bender's and Lamontagne's opposition to Kagan has nothing whatsoever to do with Kagan herself or anything principled, and everything to do with trying to paint Ayotte into a corner over her previous support for The Wise and Overly Empathetic Latina.)
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the charge is being led by one of my daily reads, Andrew Sullivan. Why does it not occur to some that the spectrum of personal investment in sexuality is as broad as the spectrum of sexual orientation itself? Is it so hard to fathom that certain people, perhaps from a surfeit of mental profundity, are disinclined toward physical relationships? Some folks would swim every day if they could; others detest the water. Life is big and large and full of all kinds of fascinating people.
Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the woman who tops President Obama's short list for the Supreme Court, is the subject of a baffling whisper campaign among both gay rights activists and social conservatives: those whispering assume she's gay, and they want her -- or someone -- the media! -- to acknowledge it.
...Human beings tend to conflate sexual orientation and diversity within gender. A woman who has short hair, favors pant suits, hasn't married, and doesn't seem to be in a relationship must be a lesbian. (It is ironic and disheartening that the first female solicitor general ever isn't enough of a woman for some people.) Former Attorney General Janet Reno and current Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano are victims of this confusion.
This all seems so familiar:
Like other aspects of his life, the unmarried Souter's social activities resemble those of an 18th century gentleman, when an unmarried relative was often the backbone of the community, with the leisure to do what those with children did not have time for. Like Henry Higgins, Souter may be happiest spending "his evenings in the silence of his room; ((in)) an atmosphere as restful as an undiscovered tomb."
But Souter had barely left the podium in the press room of the White House before Republican Party officials were raising "the 50-year-old bachelor thing," which was widely interpreted as a way of introducing speculation that Souter is homosexual.
Just by way of an example of how stoopid the Village can get over SCOTUS nominees, it's also worth remembering why the objection to Souter's bachelor bookishness:
The more serious question about Souter's ascetic ways is whether a man who seems to prefer books to people can empathize with and understand the problems of ordinary people.
So Souter was too bookish to have sufficient empathy, but Sotomayor was too Latina to have insufficient empathy. And Kagan is either not gay enough, or too gay.
Adding: Of course, the degree to which an individual tends toward engagement in his or her sexuality is as broad a spectrum as an individual's tendency in sexual orientation, but that's hardly a conversation suited to the intelligence level of the current CNN pundit set.
