Empathy is just alright if your name is Samuel Alito

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Represent Us! from feedproxy.google.com

The Democrats, who were sent to office with a clear mandate last year, seem to forget who they should be representing – the majority that voted for them. Listening to talk radio I am starting to hear a lot of disgruntled Democratic constituents call in and voice their concern over the turn the health care debate has taken. Their message is simple – if they don’t get what they were promised on the campaign trail then they won’t vote again. That means all the work the Obama campaign did last year to get younger people involved in politics could be lost after only one election.And this sentiment is limited to only the individuals. We are now seeing stronger pillars of the base air the same thing. Here’s the incoming president of the AFL-CIO saying that no public option would mean no support from the Democratic powerhouse that is the union.I believe President Obama is making a grave error, one that George Bush made. He is putting to much faith in his political operatives. These people are the most powerful in Washington. They can get their own agenda pushed through by misguiding the President on public sentiment. This same thing also happens in Congress. When we saw 2/3 of the public opposing the Iraq war, Republicans continued to say that the “people want us there”. They ignore public opinion, and I believe a lot of that comes from staffers pushing what they want. Its time for our elected officials to be reminded that they serve the people that elect them, not the staffer down the hall. If Democrats are going to waiver to health care industry pressure and right wing extremists, then the Democrats will quickly be reminded what its like to be the minority party. Sadly a minority Democratic party has much less power than a minority Republican party – something that becomes more evident every day.

Sep

Five articles you should be... from pinkomag.com

LeBron James and gay politics; a few resources to make sense of healthcare reform; more Fox News antics; remaking Paris and more.

Jun

Empathy is just alright if ... from crooksandliars.com

(Thanks, Jed)Glenn Greenwald wrote about this yesterday and I finally got to post about it today.Justice Sam Alito on empathy and judgingWith regard to that last point -- how completely different is the reaction to Sam Alito and Sonia Sotomayor -- just consider this exchange that took place at the beginning of Alito's confirmation hearing (h/t sysprog): U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court U.S. SENATOR TOM COBURN (R-OK): Can you comment just about Sam Alito, and what he cares about, and let us see a little bit of your heart and what's important to you in life? ALITO: Senator, I tried to in my opening statement, I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point....Anyone who is objecting now to Sotomayor's alleged "empathy" problem but who supported Sam Alito and never objected to this sort of thing ought to have their motives questioned (and the same is true for someone who claims that a person who overcame great odds to graduate at the top of their class at Princeton, graduate Yale Law School, and then spent time as a prosecutor, corporate lawyer, district court judge and appellate court judge must have been chosen due to "identity politics").But the attacks thus far -- not just from the Right but from the sterling Respectable Intellectual Center -- say far, far more about the critics than they do about her. How can her "empathy" views possibly be distinguished from what Sam Alito -- at Tom Coburn's urging -- said when he was confirmed?...read onGlenn has the entire transcript up from the Coburn questioning and should be read. The idea that our own personal experiences do not shape the way we view life is absurd and Alito used it to try and sell himself to Congress, but for Sonia Sotomayor, that's a disqualifying event. Digby writes:Yesterday I dashed off this glib little bon mot, which deserves a much more serious...

May

McCain Backer Widely Popula... from www.progressohio.org

The state's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, who was a vocal supporter of Sen. John McCain in the 2008 election, introduced Obama."This is not about partisan politics," said Crist. "This is about rising above that." The president called for Democrats and Republicans to work together, telling the crowd: "When the town is burning, you don't check party labels. Everybody needs to grab a hose." Watch It:

Feb