Shock! Palin Appoints Former Planned Parenthood Member to Supreme Court
If one listens carefully, one can hear the sounds of conservatives hearts breaking all over the lower 48.
Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday picked a former board member of Planned Parenthood to fill the latest vacancy on the Alaska Supreme Court despite efforts by a conservative Christian group to convince her to do otherwise.
Heartache?
Now, before you write off Palin completely there are some extenuating circumstances. You should know the way the process in Alaska goes. A liberal board (made up of leftist trial lawyer types) nominates two people and the Governor has to pick one. And from what I understand, neither option was great but of the two, it would appear that Palin may have picked the more liberal of the two, at least according to Alaska Family Council's Jim Minnery. Minnery wrote Palin in support of the other candidate, Judge Eric Smith saying Smith was “more conservative” and that Christen would be “another activist on the Court.”
This would not seem to be good news for those who love Sarah. There's one thing conservatives take seriously - and that's judges.
I hope this wasn't some calculated move by Sarah Palin to show that she's not an extremist. But either way, I believe many people are not going to be happy.
Some people who clearly are happy, however are liberal bloggers. According to the Alaska Standard the liberal bloggers there are esctatic.
“Ohmigawd!??The governor's been taken over by space aliens.??What an improvement!”The fact that the liberals are so excited is likely a bad sign.
“Wow. Way to go Palin! I can't believe I just said that. But hey, credit where credit is due.”
“Glad to see a woman in the position to balance out the court. Good for Palin for keeping bible thumper beliefs out of the court system and honoring the separation of Church and State.”
“This is the one good action that Sarah Palin has taken over the past three years. And I have no problem admitting it. Great pick!!!! So even if the wing-nut parental consent bill passes, the state Supremes now have enough votes to overturn it as unconstitutional.”
Years ago, then Governor Murkowski refused to appoint any of the names given to him but caved after the liberal media jumped ugly on him. Likely, Palin didn't want to make this her fight as it would've surely become a national spectacle.
In short, this smells like political calculation by Sarah. And it's one I don't think pro-life conservatives are going to forget.
One can almost imagine the one person who is happily reading this news today - Mike Huckabee.
Some updates can be found at Conservatives 4 Palin.
Thanks to Matt Swaim for alerting me to the story.
45 comments:
Put not your trust in kings and princes.
Murder is not nice. Shame, shame, shame. I voted for Sarah for President (unfortunately, some dead weight was attached); I will not do so again.
Rush Windbagh is obnoxious, Mr. Steele is weak, and Sarah Palin caved. Oh, where is the Republican Party?
Amen, Scott W.
Have to say I was never really won over by Sarah Palin. The convention speech was brilliant, but as with all modern politics, just more theater.
I'm done with political parties.
-Emil Berbakov
You guys are kidding, right? Including the other commenters, yes? What cave are you living in? What realm? What universe? Ayn Rand wrote "Conservatism: An Obituary" in 1960. You people have been dead so long you don't even smell any more.
Go Sarah!
What? You mean you bought the lie that Palin was a doctrinaire movement conservative, instead of the libertarian-leaning conservative her record suggested? Jeez, folks, the only people pushing that one were Daily Kos, the Obama campaign, and to be redundant, the MSM.
Let me see. The procedure in Alaska is some group picks two people, and the governor picks one to fill the vacancy. And this proves that she caved? Maybe the more "conservative" one has some other issues. Get some more information before you make Sarah Palin persona-non-grata. Jeez, talk about reacting without all of the facts!
I agree with Mike. She was likely presented with two undesirable candidates, and picked the lesser of two evils. This is a non-story. Unfortunately it will be spun against her, as we see already.
I thought conservatives were supposed to follow the rules or change them in an open manner.
She should NOT have refused to nominate. If it was that big a problem she should have resigned.
Jeeze peeps. Been so long since you've seen personal responsibility you can't recognize it?
-XC
The self-professed conservatives who are ready to throw Palin under the bus for this are terribly misguided. She governs with her brain, not with her Bible. And that's a good thing.
Don't worry, the mainstream feminists and leftists will still shriek incessantly and wrongly about how she hates women and wants us all to die in childbirth and/or be punished with a baby instead of getting a safe healthy abortion, and millions of voters will still believe them and vote for the pro-abortion Marxist instead.
Between two pro-abortion judge candidates, one of which is also an environmental activist, it's not clear that Sarah really made a worse choice.
Sarah would do well to push for some revision in that selection process.
Her support for parental consent & notification is far more important for pro-life people.
I agree with Seneca the Younger and Will. Just means that Sarah isn't the caricature the media and the democrats made her out to be.
The other option, Smith, was also liberal and likely pro-abortion. He was also an environmental eco-nut.
Christen was the least bad candidate.
Disappointing, but since this is all I've read about it, I'll reserve judgment.
One swallow does not a summer make.
Subvet - Is that an unladen South African Swallow or a European Swallow?
@Mack:
Dude, get a grip. Out of a choice of two, she picked the one that's not an econutter. You really think that one would have been pro-life? If so, call Guinness, because we've found a species rarer than unicorns.
Now, back in the real world, the actual worst you can possibly say about Sarah! is that she put the good of the state economy above her personal beliefs. Which I for one can live with. And even that's only if the nutter would have been more pro-life, which I would consider vanishingly unlikely indeed.
There are many grounds on which Sarah Palin may be defendable, but this is not one of them.
You would think that with the Brownback blowback, someone in her damage control department would have advised her not to open this Pandoran box.
FORMER. PLANNED. PARENTHOOD. BOARD. MEMBER.
STATE. SUPREME. COURT.
Remind me again how local cases get referred to the Supreme Court?
So, all the rabid anti-Palin partisans were lying when they called her a Christianist extremist?
There are some things worth battling over. For Palin, I think this was one of them.
While I recognize neither choice was ideal, Mrs. Palin, if she was considering a run for President in 2012, should have made an issue out of this. She did not, which supports my belief that she is more Libertarian than anything else. This will not sit well with the Pro Life crowd.
For Palin, I think this was one of them.
And what exactly was she supposed to do? Disband the independent panel and just appoint whoever she wanted?
I'm not dead. The babies are dead. Babies trump the politics of convenience every time.
Paul,
Yes. Some things are worth going to the mattresses over. Abortion is one of them.
Jim M - we happen to believe in a God who comes back from the dead and leaves His cave. ;)
Besides which, Ayn Rand can write what she wants in 1960; how then o explain Ronaldus Maximus as President from 1981-1988? Or the 1994 Congressional sweep-up? Neither lasted, but that wasn't all that long ago. Such times may come again - and especially as people get an honest and open look at Little O's Box o' Marxism in action.
Hi, nice to meet you. I'm a unicorn. No, sorry, I'm apparently rarer than a unicorn. Pro-ecology and pro-life. They aren't necessarily different, you know. We're not actually fantasy creatures and there's more of us about than you realise. It is possible to have more than one idea in your head at the same time!
Paul, yeah, that does sound a bit Charles-the-First-ey, doesn't it?
archbold, nope. Abortion, much as I hate it, is not worth a constitutional crisis. If you think your pet issue is worth coronating a new "Queen Of The Frozen North", there are plenty of monarchist sites for you to choose from; a personal fave of mine is unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com. But we're small d democrats here. (I think.)
Palin was delivered a "brown sandwich" and in politics, unfortunately, sometimes you have to bite on one.
That said: Palin needs to make it a priority to change the Alaska Constitution, because it has clearly been hacked by partisan Leftists. The only recommendations an independent panel should be making are whether a candidate is competent to interpret the written law. If the panel is not doing it, then it's no better than the Iranian Guardian Council and needs its charter rewritten.
Matt:
Can you be more specific. What precisely would you have done if you were in Sarah Palin's shoes? Should she have called out the Alaska National Guard and forced the board to make an appointment that was more in line with her preferred choice?
Sometimes the pro-life movement isn't happy unless we're eating our own. Frustration with Brownback was understandable. Anger with Palin because she refuses to circumvent the Alaska constitution is just pettiness for the sake of being petty.
Have it out. Try to change the system. Murkowski started but then wimped. Look, if the Courts rule against her then they rule against her.
But this would have been a fine time to challenge the sytem.
I'm not talking about her bringing out the National Guard. Just challenge it.
When Murkowski did it, I haven't read anywhere about a "Constitutional crisis."
I won't say I'm happy to hear this, of course, but I am happy that this will hopefully hurt Palin's chances at the Republican nomination. She is not qualified to be President. Period.
~cmpt
She is not qualified to be President. Period.
As opposed to the current occupant of the White House, who has done such a bang up job so far.
Please.
Paul Zummo,
Why are purposely trying be annoying?
~cmpt
I live in Alaska, and Judge Smith ruled very unfairly in a case I was involved in - choosing to automatically side with an abusive state agency - instead of doing what was fair and just. He refused to even let our attorney present evidence. It was cruel - but he took the easy path of least resistance - hoping instead to safeguard his career. I want conservative judges as much as anyone - but I for one am glad that he was not chosen. I contacted the Governors Office about this, and I'm likely not the only one. People get reputations. Perhaps she is taking more things into account than the public realizes - like ethics. I'd prefer an honest person with different opinions any day - than someone I knew was unjust - and would cave easily to pressure.
I'm not trying to be annoying, I am trying to respond to ppl who are misrepresenting Palin's actions, and to people like you who just ape the mainstream's attitude's about Paline's credentials. But I guess if not simply agree with what you say is "annoying," then you ought to be prepared to be annoyed a lot in life.
Although I do apologize to Matt for excessive snark. I may disagree with him substantively on this point, I don't have any problems with his passion. Sorry, Matt.
Paul Zummo,
No, no, no... By "annoying," I mean foolish things like putting words in my mouth, such as when you insinuate that because I said Palin in not qualified, that I have therefore endorsed the qualifications of Barack Obama. That is what I mean when I say "annoying," and you know it. It is precisely that faux ignorance which you are presently feigning which is so annoying. You know that you are putting words in my mouth, and you know that is why I said you are annoying, and yet you persist. Don't play stupid: people might fall for it.
~cmpt
I sincerely don't understand why you have such a crush on this woman, or why this is a shock to anyone. It is P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S.
If you are going to idealise someone to the point of nausea, at least pick a Catholic next time.
Hahaha, here's to that, Deusdonat! Here's to true pro-life Catholics, not weird, amazingly incompetent Alaskan Protestants.
~cmpt
CMPT - to be clear, I don't find Sarah Palin to be amazingly incompetent. I think she has a decent track record as mayor of Wassila and Governor of Alaska. I just don't find anything exemplary about her. And yes, she is slightly weird (but then again, so am I). And yes, the Protestant thing is a non-starter for me.
If you are going to idealise someone to the point of nausea, at least pick a Catholic next time.
Speaking of putting words into people's mouths, here is Deusdonat implying that I have a "crush" on this woman, or that my defense of her is because I "idealise" her in some way.
Whatever, people.
Paul - I was referring to Matthew, the creator of this blog. I don't know who you are, nor did I read what you wrote previously. So, rest assured I have had no contact with your mouth or any other bodily orofice.
Paul:
Good, my wife would appreciate that. ;)
Sanford, Jindal or Gingrich for 2012. Let's pray for Mrs. Palin's conversion.
Anonymous - AMEN!!! On so many levels there...
Sanford, Jindal or Gingrich for 2012
I'll second Deusdonat on that one, and give a hearty Amen!
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