This is stunning. You know, it's one thing when a partisan Democrat like Al Gore talks about "an extraordinary constitutional crisis" and "the politics of fear...the path which leads to oppression." Not that Gore is wrong in any way, but his words can be written off by right-wingers and Bush apologists as those of a "liberal" or whatever. However, it's got to be a bit harder for the Bush/Cheney/DeLay loyalists - if any are left at this point, aside from nincompoops like Thelma Drake that is - to write off Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican who helped put Bush in the White House in the first place. Here's what the recently retired Supreme Court Justice had to say recently (at Georgetown University) about Republicans like Rep. Tom DeLay and Sen. John Cornyn. The story was reported by Nina Totenberg on NPR this morning:
O?Connor observed that there have been a lot of suggestions lately for so-called judicial reforms, recommendations for the massive impeachment of judges, stripping the courts of jurisdiction and cutting judicial budgets to punish offending judges. Any of these might be debatable, she said, as long as they are not retaliation for decisions that political leaders disagree with.I, said O?Connor, am against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning. Pointing to the experiences of developing countries and former communist countries where interference with an independent judiciary has allowed dictatorship to flourish, O?Connor said we must be ever-vigilant against those who would strongarm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.
The country falling into dictatorship? Nakedly partisan reasoning? Indirectly - but clearly - comparing the Bush White House and Republican Congress to "former communist countries?"
Wow. Is this Sandra Day O'Connor, Al Gore, Bob Barr, Teddy Goodson, or yours truly talking here? Not to mention conservatives like former Reagan aide Bruce Bartlett calling the Bush Administration "unconscionable," "irresponsible," "vindictive," "inept," "reckless," and "betraying 'almost every principle conservatism has ever stood for.'"
You know, it's pretty damned scary when people from all parts of the political spectrum start agreeing that America is in grave danger under Bush, Cheney, DeLay and company. Pretty. Damned. Scary.
P.S. Hat tip to "the raw story" for transcribing this.