October 30, 2005

Why not do a political vault over the casket of Rosa Parks?

Lawprof Douglas Berman thinks that the real nominee behind the Alito rumors is not Luttig, but Janice Rogers Brown:
President Bush "and First Lady Laura Bush were scheduled to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony this evening honoring late civil rights activist Rosa Parks." Wouldn't it be an incredible moment of political theater and strategy to announce the SCOTUS nomination of Brown at this event? The President could describe Brown as the judicial equivalent of Rosa Parks, and framing the nomination in such terms would, I think, greatly impact the political dynamics and debate surrounding this nomination.
Oh, it would be an incredible moment all right. An incredible moment of mind-shattering bad taste.

9 comments:

Troy said...

That choice morsel of political theatre would make choosing Harriet Miers seem genius in comparison.

traderrob said...

Your opinion, bad taste. My opinion, a political master stroke. The Dims wouldn't hesitate to exploit the situation, nor should we.

Troy said...

It would be a masterstroke if Dems did it because they would get a pass.

Bush, you know... hates Black folks, creates hurricanes to do them damage and blows up levees to flood them out of their homes. He wants to "turn back the clock" (my personal fave).

I say don't do it if for no other reason than not having to listen to Sharpton's pie-hole one more time.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks for reminding me to turn back my downstairs clock!

Ron said...

Good God, Ann, I agree that this is astonishing bad taste! Perhaps Prof. Berman would also wish they could could bring a displaced-by-Katrina Voodoo Master from New Orleans to make a zombieRosa Parks croak her approval of Janice Rogers Brown on Halloween! Now that's political
grandstanding! And what's doubly frightening is that if they could do it...they might do it...

Lonesome Payne said...

I agree it would be astonishingly bad taste.

I also agree with the comment that if a Democratic president chose to do something parallel, it would be hailed in the press as a great moment advancing the cause of Rosa Parks. Republicans would grumble to no great effect.

traderrob said...

'who are the "dims" and who are "we"'

Dims are Dims, we = everyone else.

jeff said...

Agreed. It would be a horrible time to do anything at all political.

SWBarns said...

Too late, Chuck Schumer just used Mrs. Parks’ coffin as a soap box stating Alito would “roll back the achievements of Rosa Parks.”

Now we can test Troy’s hypothesis on whether Dem’s would get a pass.