Wednesday, mid-week and ready to go...
Indeed, if political figures stand for ideas, victimization is what Ms. Palin is all about. It is her brand, her myth. Ronald Reagan stood tall. John McCain was about service. Barack Obama has hope. Sarah Palin is a collector of grievances. She runs for high office by griping.
This is no small thing, mind you. The piling-up of petty complaints is an important aspect of conservative movement culture. For those who believe that American life consists of the trampling of Middle America by the "elites" -- that our culture is one big insult to the pious and the patriotic and the traditional -- Sarah Palin's long list of unfair and disrespectful treatment is one of her most attractive features. Like Oliver North, Robert Bork, and Clarence Thomas, she is known not for her ideas but as a martyr, a symbol of the culture-war crimes of the left.
9 reasons Pelosi’s healthcare surtax is disastrous.
None have anything to do with health care delivery, mind you. It's all about 'taxes are b.a.d'.
Georges Benjamin (American Public Health Association):
Dr. [Regina] Benjamin's [no relation] experience in looking at the health of her community and that of the nation in her many volunteer roles; her impressive career as a health policy developer through organizations like the Institute of Medicine; and her life long dedication to providing care for her community through her clinic all meet these principles. If public health practice is the art and commitment of ensuring the health of a population, then Dr, Benjamin is one ideal example.
Ann Gerhart (WaPo):
It is the disarming move of a confident and mature woman, a wise Latina, if you will, not that anyone should suggest that men and women move through the world and relate to one another differently, of course.
The question concerns the degree of deference that senators should show to a president's choice for the Supreme Court. More specifically, why should Republican senators weighing President Obama's nominee give him more leeway to name justices to his liking than then-Sen. Obama was willing to accord President Bush when he voted against both Bush nominees?
Jeff Sessions and the Republicans have an insurmountable problem – they have to challenge Sotomayor and do their loyal opposition due diligence to play to their base and satisfy Rush Limbaugh without looking insensitive to Latinos and women. They can’t do it, and Gene Robinson really nailed why - the old white wealthy men that the GOP has representing them on Judiciary are acting as if they are the norm and the standard to judge everyone else by.
A wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not know that a gaggle of white Republican men afraid of extinction are out to trip her up.
After all, these guys have never needed to speak inspirational words to others like them, as Sotomayor has done. They’ve had codes, handshakes and clubs to do that.
