Washington Post
Fool Me Twice
By Michael Kinsley
Sunday, January 16, 2005; Page B07
Will President Bush actually have the guts to nominate Clarence Thomas for chief justice when that opportunity arises, which will probably be soon? You know he's just aching to do it. Because of their shared judicial philosophy, of course. But also because of that arrogant willfulness Bush has that a more generous person than myself might even call integrity. Heck, why be president if you can't rub your critics' noses in it?
And will the Democrats have the guts to oppose Justice Thomas's elevation to chief, resisting all the cries of, "Oh, for mercy's sake, you people -- not that again"? Those cries are starting preemptively, in an effort to cow the opposition party out of opposing a Thomas nomination. I wish I could be as confident of the Democrats' guts as I am of the president's....
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Thomas's performance at (his confirmation) hearing, the things we know now that we didn't know then, even the things we knew then but were bullied or rushed into ignoring, are not just fair game. They are disqualifying. If he wasn't unworthy of the Supreme Court when his confirmation hearings began, he certainly was by the time they were over. The fact that he was confirmed as an associate justice anyway is no reason to give him a free pass to chief justice. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me....
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....Saying the preposterous under oath has served Clarence Thomas well so far. If he is given the opportunity to be preposterous again, and the Senate Democrats let him get away with it -- again -- they will get the chief justice they deserve, and they'll deserve the justice that they get.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10931-2005Jan14.html