CNN.com - Senate panel approves disputed judges - Apr 21, 2005:
Not that the above link really has much to do with anything, but I picked up this line from the end of the article:
Conservatives during the last Congress accused Democrats of being anti-minority for blocking Brown, who is black; anti-women for blocking Owen, and anti-Catholic for blocking Pryor.
The only reason I bring this up, is the simple and solitary reason that this just ticks me off. Democrats clearly -- and let me say, clearly -- had no reason for blocking a minority, woman, or Catholic, unless they found the person to not fit with their ideals; which is what they should be looking at. Any accusation of racism, sexism, and... what, secularism? is ridiculous, primarily because the core base of the Democrats is... hang on... minorities and women. Occasionally a few Catholics go Democratic, sure, but even then, Democrats would rather let a bad one through than piss off the few Catholics who they do have. So, the charge is false.
I would, in fact, reverse the charge.
Look, I've known a number of "minorities" in my lifetime, but I'm not one. I've known a number of women in my lifetime, but again, I'm not one. I'm not even Catholic. So, I've got no basis to be claiming bias. But it's my opinion that any racism, sexism, and whatever-ism you've got stems from noticing a difference where little exists. Yeah, black people have black skin. So? They got a brain? They fun to hang with? After that, it's all good. Same goes for women, Catholics, and everyone else.
I also know a number of people who are black, and who are clearly assholes. I mean, royal, gigantic assholes. There's a lot of women I know who are assholes as well, and several Catholics I know who need a good swift kick in the ass because... you guessed it... they're assholes.
That's got nothing to do with their skin, sex or religion: they just happen to be jerks. The day I figured out that everyone can be an asshole, I knew I wasn't going to let little things like physicality or personal beliefs get in the way of telling people that they're assholes.
The Democrats might have voted these guys down for reasons not related to their abilities. But let's face it: chances are likely they were voted down because they're assholes, or were brought forward by assholes. And how much more egalitarian can you get than that?
Posted by Ted Stevko at April 21, 2005 09:21 PM