Monday, July 13, 2009

The Left's Socialist Empathy Scam

Here's the headline from - I kid you not! - the People's Weekly World, "Senators Praise Sotomayor’s Empathy for Poor, Voiceless." And from the introduction:

With Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sitting in the witness chair, Democratic senators praised her wide-ranging judicial experience and her empathy for working people and the oppressed.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings on Judge Sotomayor opened July 13 with her enjoying so much goodwill that South Carolina’s Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told her she will be confirmed “unless you have a complete meltdown.”

Blah, blah, blah ... Meltdown, schmeltdown. Sotomayor's in like Flynn with the Democratic majority as a La Raza quota queen. But don't you love that part about "empathy for working people and the oppressed."

Note that while the People's Weekly World is the newspaper of the Communist Party USA, the ideological viewpoint is virtually identical to what we see routinely at Daily Kos and other hardline radical blogs.

For example, here's Markos Moulitsas' piece today, "
The GOP's Continued War on Empathy":

... people want empathy in their government. And if Republicans aren't going to provide it, they will cede the electoral battlefield to the one party who will ....
Well, actually not. While leftists will argue otherwise, Americans reject this socialist empathy scam. Here's this from Investor's Business Daily last month, "Thumbs-Down On Obama's 'Empathy' Standard":

Most Americans reject the broader criteria that judicial activists think can be brought to bear on Supreme Court decisions, including the "empathy" standard that President Obama has said is important in particularly difficult cases, a new IBD/TIPP Poll shows.

Three in five (59%) believe a high court justice should consider only the Constitution, applicable laws and precedents rather than all of these plus his or her own life experiences and views. Only one in three (32%) say justices must consider their life experiences and personal views.

By party, 42% of Democrats, 81% of Republicans and 66% of independents favor exclusive reliance on law.

By ideology, 71% of conservatives, 57% of moderates and 39% of liberals favor this approach.

On the empathy factor, a majority (51%) disagree with a statement paraphrasing remarks Obama made in 2005: "When it comes to the Supreme Court justices, law and precedent should determine rulings in 95% of the cases, but in the really hard and important cases, justices should go with their heart."

Only 23% agree with the statement. Most independent voters (58%), conservatives (61%) and moderates (50%) disagree with it. Democrats (31%) and liberals (35%) are the leading supporters of the concept that justices should go with their heart.
And communists ... netroots leftist communists, like the folks at Daily Kos.

Cartoon Credit:
Michael Ramirez.

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