I just got Chaplain Klingenschmitt’s Top Ten list of reasons Sotomayor won’t be confirmed via the Human Events mailing list. Here’s the number one reason:
1) SOTOMAYOR: BASEBALL BIAS FOR NEW YORK YANKEES!
As a native of South Bronx, Sotomayor’s hidden home-town bias became manifest in her love for the New York Yankees, judicially favoring her “Bronx Bombers” over teams from all other cities. No kidding! When ruling to end the 1995 baseball strike, she sided with the player’s union against team owners (who sought parity among all teams with an talent-sharing salary cap). Instead Sotomayor created bias in favor of rich teams who can afford to buy up all the good free agents. So when the New York Yankees hogged 4 titles and 6 pennants in the 8 years after her ruling, with payrolls averaging three times most other team salaries, you can blame Sotomayor for creating that competitive imbalance. I understand why Yankees fans might celebrate her promotion to the Supreme Court, but baseball fans from all other cities should complain loudly against her confirmation!
But George Will told me that revenue sharing was a communist plot.
(You can see the whole list here on some Paultard forum.)
Viva Brisvegas
This baseball, it’s a game like rounders isn’t it?
Robertdsc-iphone
Has George Will ever been right about anything?
Jay C
The sad part is, that there is a non-trivial probability that someone, somewhere (on a rightwing blog, no doubt) will take this crap seriously, and actually make this argument against Judge Sotomayor – notwithstanding the fact that “ending the Baseball Strike of 1994” – assuming anyone remembers her role – is generally considered a positive accomplishment.
Good thing Sonia isn’t known as a Mets fan: we’d probably be in for another round of “Latino racist” venom from the frog-chorus,- as they’ve become known as the most “Hispanicized” team in the majors.
Incertus
I’d say that that entry was written with a wink and a nod if it weren’t from Human Events Online. I mean, there’s an honest conservative objection to Sotomayor in that case–she sided with a union over management, which is never allowed, even if the union is made up of people who make more in a month than most working people make in a year and who tend to vote for Republicans. But they can’t help bringing the stupid whenever possible, which is why I’m convinced that the Young Cons video isn’t a parody.
Comrade Jake
@Robertdsc-iphone:
Not recently. He mailed it in this morning on This Week, and it was pretty ugly. When even George Snuffaluffagus is shooting you down right out of the gate, you know your sauce is weak.
tavella
Good god, they are STILL trying to push the ‘she was overruled’ shit? Now with some bizarre attempt to inflate the numbers by counting the votes of individual justices?
JGabriel
DougJ, I still have the Bee Gees Emotions stuck in my head, damn you!
.
DougJ
I’m sure the Young Cons thing is real.
geg6
Um, didn’t that ruling “save” baseball? That’s how I remember it. And believe me, as a Pirates fan, it wasn’t an argument that wasn’t prominent in my mind. IMHO, that is the exact ruling that led to the events that turned me off baseball forever. That said, IANA and it may have been a perfectly correct ruling on its legal merits.
Persia
@geg6: Yeah, her judicial history seems to be, ironically (or not) mostly dispassionate rulings on the merits of any given case.
malraux
That’s my favorite reason given. Evidence that she cares about personal religious liberties doesn’t count because it was for the wrong religion, but its perfectly ok to just assert that she’ll rule against christians.
I really hate Poe’s Law.
joe from Lowell
How sad is it that this is the strongest argument I’ve yet seen against her confirmation?
JenJen
What, no CBS Sunday Morning open thread? :-)
I just came over to talk about the segment on Dave Matthews Band and was ready and willing to take all the hater-abuse in their honor. Huh.
@joe from Lowell: No doubt! For the first time since the announcement of her nomination, I’m beginning to have second thoughts.
Bostondreams
Yankees SUCK! Yankees SUCK!
(ahem) Err..sorry, reflex action.
I wonder if these people believe what they write.
The Grand Panjandrum
In a related note NPR did a report on Rosen’s Sotomayor hit piece. It was actually pretty good and I just read Greenwald’s response to it. And Rosen, in one of my favorite internet traditions, does his GBCW! It’s a thing of beauty. And as Glenn notes:
I just wonder what kind of cheese Rosen was having with his whine. But go listen ot the audio on NPR, it is pretty good listening.
Incertus
@DougJ: I am now. I was kind of hoping it wasn’t, though, because it’s a little disturbing to see your caricatures come to life, you know?
Incertus
@joe from Lowell: Why is this a strike against her? She sided with labor over management. The Court already has enough people who’ll side with management no matter what the situation.
JR
As a Braves fan, does this mean I can blame her for every failure to seal the deal in October that happened after 1995? Surely OUR streak (that began in ’91) has to have something to do with a federal judge from the northeast stacking the deck in favor of her favorite franchise, right?
SrirachaHotSauce
Off topic, but since we had a thread that pimped this “story” the other day …..
It turns out that the Great Chrysler Dealership Closing Conspiracy …. uh …. never happened.
Another blow to the Spooftroll community and to righty bloggers everywhere.
Llelldorin
@Viva Brisvegas:
Yes, with a few exceptions:
(1) The bases are flat plates on the ground, not vertical posts.
(2) There’s no fourth base; the base path completes back at home.
(3) The bat is considerably longer and heavier.
(4) Players don’t carry their bats as they run the bases; the bat is dropped when a hit is made.
(5) An inning ends on the third out, not when an entire side has been retired.
(6) The game ends at nine innings if the score is unequal, or at the first inning after the ninth at which one team has a higher score.
(7) An overarm “pitch” replaces the underarm bowling of rounders.
(8) It’s played seriously, not as an alternative for kids who don’t like cricket.
(9) The teams are fixed at 9 or 10 active players (the leagues have slightly different rules), although substitutions are allowed. Substitutions are permanent—a player removed by substitution is out of the game.
I remember when I was in the UK that I had a heck of a time remembering to keep the bat when I was playing rounders. Dropping it is very, very ingrained in Americans.
JR
@JenJen: I got your back on DMB. But check this: I can reconcile your DMB comment with the anti-Yankee thread in just one move:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QaliHPq67A
Mike
Man, Ty Cobb would have loved rounders.
dmsilev
Speaking of New York and wingnuts, apparently the Outrage of the Day is that Obama *dared* to take his wife on a date to a Broadway play.
Quoth the RNC (via Steve Benen):
And for real giggles, check out the right wing scream-o-sphere reaction. This was my favorite:
Strong with the FAIL, they are.
-dms
JenJen
@JR: My friend, that was pure, quick-thinking genius!!
Did you happen to see the segment on CBS Sunday Morning? It was really, really good.
@dmsilev: Yes, I, too, am getting a big kick out of the RNC-smear job on a man taking his wife on a date to NYC. While they get their hate on, did you notice that New Yorkers and tourists alike lined the streets of Broadway eight-deep just to get a glimpse of the First Couple? Video over at HuffPo, it’s pretty cool to watch.
The Grand Panjandrum
@JR: Win.
kay
@malraux:
David Hamilton was promoted by Lugar, is considered a moderate, and was endorsed by the head of a chapter of the Federalist Society in Indiana, not as leader of the Federalist Society, but as a lawyer who has practiced before Hamilton. “First rate jurist” is how he was described.
The Obama White House chose Hamilton deliberately to gauge how serious Republicans were regarding substantive input on judicial appointments, because he should have been a non-controversial lock, a bipartisan celebration of How We Work Together.
Republicans said “screw that”, essentially, and cranked up the smear machine.
I think we can safely say they failed the test. I think he should nominate the most liberal judges he can find, because what the hell is the upside of trying to deal with Republicans?
Comrade Jake
@dmsilev:
That RNC response is equally tone-deaf and piles of stupid. They are really fucking clueless.
burnspbesq
After much deliberation, I have decided to support Sotomayor’s confirmation. Ordinarily, I would see rooting for the Yankees as compelling evidence of disqualifying character flaws, but on balance her record of achievement overshadows this one troubling aspect of her credentials.
Still, as noted above, the Yankees suck. Not only do they suck, but along with Real Madrid they are the embodiment of all that is evil in the universe.
SGEW
@malraux:
This is the absolutely the best thing I’ve heard all weekend.
[dances little secularist dance of hope]
dmsilev
@JenJen:
I saw some stills of their arrival, and yeah, the crowds were pretty impressive. There was one caption which I really liked; something along the lines of “cab drivers standing on top of their vehicles to get a look”. Anyone who can inspire the respect and admiration of NYC cabbies is *really* special.
-dms
MikeJ
This is one of the truest things ever written here. But it should be remembered that our beloved Sox won the Series *after* Sotomayor’s supposed pro-Yanquis ruling. This leads me to believe that 1)the ruling was even handed and 2) the Yanquis suck.
The Grand Panjandrum
@dmsilev: Shit any black man who can get a cab to stop for him in The City deserves respect.
JasonF
Some of the posters around here seem to be laboring under a grave misapprehension. More specifically:
1) The Yankees do not, in fact, suck. The Yankees rule.
2) The Red Sox suck.
Please take these lessons to heart. Those of you who are claiming that the Yankees suck are just embarassing yourselves; nobody wants that.
kay
@SGEW:
Hamilton ruled that you can’t end the prayer you insist on saying, at a public meeting, if you’re on the taxpayer payroll, with “in Jesus name”, if said taxpayers object to you hijacking their meeting and excluding half of them, with your sneaky insertion.
I know. He’s a fascist.
JR
@JenJen: I was asleep still when it aired (I was up late that night watching “Spenser: For Hire” online), but hopefully my faith in the power of the interwebs will be borne out and I’ll stumble across it soon.
Unrelated topic: does everyone else’s Preview pane stay blank after the “@” when replying to another comment?
gwangung
He brought the STAR TREK movie into the White House.
Doug
Jesus Tap-dancing Christ
They are scraping the bottom of the barrel for reasons to oppose Sotomayor, yet it never occurs to them to simply be silent. Perhaps because if they ever stopped blowing hot air, they’d explode.
Then this:
How can one be “pro-lesbian?” Seems awfully specific.
Ash Can
Holy crap — I did the Google and sure enough, it was Sonia Sotomayor who defeated that godawful baseball strike! Sonia, you’re my hero!
I used to turn my nose up at the Yankees until I really began to watch their fans in action during the playoffs. Even in the early rounds, even when their team is fucking always in the damned postseason, the fans are up and yelling with every pitch. I have a lot of respect for that. And now with Joe Girardi at the helm, I can’t help but soften up on them.
@DougJ:
Oh God, I hope not. If that wasn’t satire, it’s embarassing to the point of cringing and weeping. Just thinking about those two guys actually meaning it when they made that video makes me wince for them. Ouch.
@dmsilev:
It’s OK for Dubya to take every other week off to Maine and Texas on the taxpayer’s dime, but if Obama takes one lousy evening off on the taxpayer’s dime, the professional pantswetters are soaked all the way down to their shoes. If it were ever to dawn on them someday how fucking stupid they look doing things like this, they’d hide under their beds and never come out.
iluvsummr
@Incertus:
I’m still convinced that it is. After watching the video though, I googled “hip-hop” and “republican” and stumbled on the HipHopRepublicans website. Looks like the GOP has not yet alienated this fan base.
One reflection on Sotomayor’s nomination from that site:
[start of blockquote]
[end of blockquote]
I just love the typo up there. Miniority (minion + minority) encapsulates what it must feel like to be a person of color in the GOP these days.
Doug
Speaking of George Will, anyone notice this pearl of wisdom from him today?
So in George Will’s view, cars should be bigger and heavier. Because that makes them safe and comfy. Well, for the owner anyway. Just not for everyone who’s forced to share the road with him. They can go suck exhaust.
dmsilev
@JR:
There’s an easy trick to fix that. Right after the @, you see something that looks like a href=”#comment-12345″. Delete the quotation marks, and everything will be fine.
-dms
SrirachaHotSauce
@dmsilev:
Ten bucks says that is spoof. Spoof so easy, even I could write it.
bago
Klingenschmitt!
JR
@dmsilev: Gracias!
SrirachaHotSauce
@Doug:
Yes, this “small dangerous car” theme is all over the airwaves this week. It’s a GOP talking point against the new CAFE standards.
Absurd, self defeating and moronic don’t even begin to describe this tactic.
The previous week, it was the idea that the new credit card regulations will harm consumers, because, if you follow their logic, the high fees and interest rates were put in place to permit giving credit lines to consumers who otherwise could not get them. Restricting those practices will take credit opportunity away from some consumers.
So you see, the GOP pimps (for its corporate benefactors) the idea that predatory fees and interest rates were put in place for the benefit of consumers.
I am not making this up, or exaggerating. That’s what they were saying.
Bill Herbert
“Chaplain” Klingenschmitt? Not in my Navy.
Bill Herbert
“Chaplain” Klingenschmitt? Not in my Navy.
Aaron
In the words of the late great Steve Gilliard:
“F–k the f–king Yankees!”
tc125231
@Robertdsc-iphone:
dj spellchecka
faux outrage o’ the day…. ” By the way, note that the Obamas went to a ‘black’ show. When does he ever pay homage to his white side?”
wtf? He collects spider man comix and knows how to make the spock hand sign…..and this:
US President Barack Obama asked Harry Potter author JK Rowling for her autograph.
The President has read all the books to his daughter Malia and both are said to be big fans of the boy wizard and his gang.
So when he met Rowling at a Downing Street party this week, he played the good dad card and got her signature to take home.
Brachiator
@iluvsummr:
Or they were thinking about Jack-in-the-Box mini-sirloin burgers and got confused.
He was among the first and most vocal critics of Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, even as Rush and more sycophantic conservatives were praising her to high Heaven.
bullethead
I hate the Yankees myself. But the fatuousness of the “Sotomayor perpetuated an economic system in baseball that favored the Yankees” argument is shown when you think about how those 1996-2000 Yankees teams won: not, for the most part, with unfathomably expensive superstars, but with homegrown and at that point cheap talent like Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada and Bernie Williams (who was a bit older and thus a bit more expensive), and solid non-superstars like Scott Brosius, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, Ramiro Mendoza and Jeff Nelson.
Not that logic or history is of much interest to these clowns.
Brachiator
@SrirachaHotSauce:
Let’s see now. Wingnuts were arguing that the banking crisis was caused by Democrats forcing lenders to give housing loans to unworthy customers who otherwise could not get them. But now, credit card companies may be hurt unless they can give credit lines to consumers who otherwise could not get them.
I love wingnut logic. It inevitably twists back on itself.
cosanostradamus
.
We don’t have MLB in Hawaii. Just music. It’s like a foreign country, without even any birth certificates. The local people are brown & they talk a funny lingo, so I guess we’ll never have a Supreme Court Justice from Hawaii. Or a President….
.
Dayv
So wait, is this a Ron Paul devotee complaining that Sotomayor allowed the free market into baseball contracts?
You seriously can’t make this shit up.