Are we in such a bad shape that an agreement brings more unhappiness
than a fight? The answer is yes.
The “gang of 14,” seven Republicans and seven Democrats
came with an eleventh hour agreement to avoid the nuclear option.
Obviously, compromise means everyone lose something, but supposedly,
everybody also wins.
Not this time, it seems.
Democrats agreed to allow the confirmation of three extremely conservatives
judges; in exchange the Republicans agreed no to allow Frist to
pull the trigger of the nuclear bomb that would have brought down
in flames all those constitutional chapters we hold dear.
Somehow, Democrats’ victory chants were a bit louder than
the Republicans’.
But that does not mean that some groups aren’t complaining
on the Democrats’ camp. Planned Parenthood sent an email warning
that the compromise hurts women, in anticipation of the sure fire
confirmation of Priscilla Owen, who while sitting on the Texas Supreme
Court wrote a number of opinions concerning the application of the
Texas law mandating parental notice before a minor may obtain an
abortion.
The Texas law provides a “judicial bypass,” a proceeding
that allows a mature minor, or a minor for whom parental involvement
would not be in her best interests, to obtain a waiver of the parental
involvement requirement. Justice Owen’s opinions have sought
to impose a standard of proof on a minor seeking a judicial bypass
that, in the words of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who was
also a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, would “create hurdles
that simply are not to be found in the words of the statute”
and would be “an unconscionable act of judicial activism.”
Of course, now Gonzales is finding words to say that’s not
what he said.
Then comes the worst of the worst, Janice Rogers Brown, an associate
justice on the California Supreme Court, who counts with the opposition
of pretty much every organization without a corporate backing; and
with the support of many corporations.
Even Republican pundits say that any other candidate proposed by
president Bush would be to the left of Rogers, probably because
there is no room on her right side. Many Democrats think that was
too much of a concession, but still insist the compromise was the
best possible solution to keep checks and balances in place, along
with that old fashioned thing called democracy.
But to see unhappiness one needs to hear what the extreme right
is saying.
Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson blasted
the compromise as a “a complete bailout and betrayal by a
cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats...
The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain in effect, and
nothing of significance has changed.”
The extreme right feels it has such a stronghold on the American
culture and politics that the smell of a compromise nauseates them.
It doesn’t seem to matter that most Americans considered the
nuclear option an abuse of power by Republicans. Nor even the majority
is important enough to these God-fearing zealots who are convinced
they can rewrite the Constitution as needed. |
