Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, July 7, 2005
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■ in my opinion
Why I’m becoming a Republican
All right, that tears it — I’m becoming
a Republican.
It’s been a long time coming and I
have a lot of reasons. The straw that
broke the camel's back, however, was
the Supreme Court vacancy announced
last week.
As I was getting ready to go to work
Friday morning, a news anchor on tele
vision said the president was about to
address the nation. This struck me as
particularly extraordinary because the
president — a relatively close-lipped
president — had just addressed the na
tion on Tuesday evening.
Oh my god, I thought, something ter
rible has happened.
The anchor’s choice of words did lit
tle to ease my fears. He said the presi
dent was going to speak about “the
bombshell that came out of Washington,
D.C. this morning.”
Just as I was reaching for my duct
tape, the anchor clarified that he was
referring to a metaphorical boirib
shell, not a literal bombshell. I
breathed a sigh of relief as I reset my
internal terror alert down a notch
from, “We're all going to die!” to
“We're all going to die ... eventually.”
Then the anchor explained the situa
tion. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor — of
ten called the “swing vote” by my fellow
denizens of Punditville — had an
nounced her resignation.
In that moment, I was overwhelming
ly glad George Bush is our president be
cause I knew he was going to appoint a
strict constructionist to the vacancy.
I believe in a constructionist approach
to the Constitution. Sure, I believe in a
living, breathing Constitution. But I also
Relieve the living and breathing should
done through elected legislatures mak
ing decisions and passing Constitution
al amendments rather than the courts
applying the Constitution to situations it
was never intended to address.
Federal judges are not beholden to
the will of the people because the fed
eral judiciary is not supposed to be a
political branch of government. It’s
not about right or left, it’s about
judicial philosophy.
But right on cue, from stage left, enter
the clowns who are now running
around saying the sky is about to fall
down if the president appoints “an ex
treme right-winger.” Here come the
GABE BRADLEY
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
Democrats, urging Bush to select a mod
erate, or maybe even a liberal.
More frustrating than the Democrats’
insistence on turning this into a partisan
issue when it needn’t be is the underly
ing misconception they have that leads
them to believe their opinions matter
worth a damn in this process.
Republicans win elections so Repub
licans get to pick judges. When Democ
rats win elections, they get to pick
judges. Until then, they might as well
just shufup.
George Bush’s reelection was the first
time in almost two decades that a presi
dent has been elected with a majority of
the popular vote. Immediately after the
election, the pundits tried to marginalize
the victory. It was all Karl Rove’s master
plan to mobilize the evangelical Christ
ian vote, they said. George Bush didn’t
really win — those backward rubes and
Jesus people handed him the election
out of ignorance.
Contrary to the outrageously arrogant
post-election statements by Michael
Moore and others, 54 percent of the vot
ers did not reelect President Bush be
cause they were ill informed.
Fifty-four percent of voters didn’t de
cide that Geoige Bush was more sincere
when he said, “God bless America.” Is it
really so hard to accept that the elec
torate saw a clear difference between the
candidates and made a choice?
Fifty-four percent of the voters decid
ed that George Bush was the man they
wanted leading our armed forces. Fifty
four percent of voters decided that
George Bush was the man they wanted
to champion Social Security reform. And
54 percent of voters decided that George
Bush was the man they wanted to select
Supreme Court justices.
Also, by giving a majority of Senate
seats to Republicans, the voters further
placed the role of picking judges into
the hands of Republicans. But now the
Democrats are yacking their heads off
about what Bush should do because
that’s all they can do — talk. They’ve
been totally stripped of all power and
responsibility in this process by the
people of this country.
It’s not like this was a surprise. In both
2000 and 2004, a big issue in the presi
dential campaigns was the potentially
imminent retirement or death of several
Supreme Court justices.
Even Cosmopolitan magazine was
politically astute enough to be aware of
this when they urged their readers to
vote for John Kerry because George
Bush would appoint justices who would
systematically dismantle the Cosmo-girl
way of life.
I just hope Republican senators
have the guts to support the president
instead of trying to suck up to the me
dia and try to build reputations as
“maverick” Republicans.
The voters didn't put the Maverick
party in power. The voters didn't put the
Moderate party in power. The voters put
the Republican party in power.
Every “maverick” Republican is trying
to do a John McCain impression. They
hope to gamer media support and atten
tion by having the “courage” to cross
party lines.
Well there's only room for one John
McCain. A far more viable political strat
egy would be to faithfully represent the
base that put you in power rather than
trying to curry favors with the media.
Besides, nobody trusts the
media anyway.
We don’t need to feel bad for win
ning elections. The public had a
chance to try things the Democrat
way — they said, “No!” And putting
up with obstructionism now so we
can reserve the right to be obstruc
tionists later is no way to govern.
So I’m becoming a Republican be
cause I’m done standing on the side
lines. One party has a clear agenda
that makes sense while the other par
ty’s only course of business seems to
be negativity and a nearly impotent
attempt at obstructionism.
I don't know if there's a secret hand
shake I need to learn or a T-shirt I need
to buy. But here I am, ready to do ...
well, whatever it is we do, I guess.
gabebradley@dailyememld.com
■ Editorial
Bush's judge
nomination
should be a
moderate
By this fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will
have a new member, to be nominated by
President George W. Bush. The space of
time between now and October is sure to be
filled with much debate about which candi
date can best fill the shoes of retiring Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor— a scary thought for
both liberals and conservatives concerned
about the future of the United States.
Supreme Court positions last a lifetime,
and though justices are supposed to abide
by a strict interpretation of the Constitu
tion, no one doubts that present political
situations and parties almost always have
an impact on relevant court decisions. Al
though President Bush’s nominee will be
scrutinized by the Senate, Bush’s first
nominee is basically guaranteed to land a
spot on the Court.
Luckily, the president has said that he will
not choose a nominee based on the person’s
views about any “hot-button” issue, such as
abortion. Hopefully Bush does not plan to
retract that statement. Agreeing to step
away from sharply partisan political ques
tions is important in creating a supreme
court that can evaluate the constitution
without too much influence from the politi
cal viewpoints of either party.
Thus far, President Bush also deserves
praise for his consideration of Attorney Gen
eral Alberto Gonzales as a nominee. Al
though many fellow republicans have criti
cized Gonzales for being too lenient on
abortion and affirmative action, he is still
one of Bush’s top choices. Even if Gonzales
does not end up receiving the nomination,
the President should remember his earlier
(correct) convictions that pleasing a conser
vative base is not as important as providing
the Supreme Court with an appropriate,
moderate justice.
The implications of nominating a far right
wing judge (as many agree Bush is likely to
do) are enormous. If a very conservative
justice is appointed to the Supreme Court, it
is likely that Roe v. Wade will be over
turned. O’Connor has historically acted as
the swing vote when it comes to constitu
tional issues about abortion; if O’Connor’s
replacement denies that the fourth amend
ment guarantees pregnant women the right
to privacy, states (or a national government)
can easily outlaw abortion.
Young women of this generation have
always enjoyed a world where their bod
ies are protected from governmental deci
sions, but without the precedent set by
Roe v. Wade, that right would surely be
under attack.
President Bush might not be the first
choice of many American citizens as the
man whose nominee will influence this
country for years to come. However, thus
far, the President has acted admirably in ad
mitting that moderation is the key. If they
stick to that value, Bush and the Senate
ought not to disappoint the nation by the
time October rolls around.
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