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John Cornyn is the gift that keeps on giving. In one day, he's managed to generate two delicious, juicy, sound bites of stupid. Beginning with his appearance on Fox News, where he tossed the First Amendment in the trash for the sound bite:

This is not about freedom of religion. I do think it's unwise to build a mosque in the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives as the result of a terrorist attack.

My, how subtle. Carefully framed so that Muslim = terrorist to stoke up the fear. But beyond that, what happened to conservatives' deep and abiding respect for the Constitution?

I'll call this one what it is: A flip-flop. They were for the Constitution before they were against it, and they were for freedom of religion before they were against it, too -- at least, for Muslims. Christians, evidently, are a class unto themselves.

But wait! There's more.

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Cornyn is desperately trying to put lipstick on a pig with his lukewarm Tea Party endorsements. This one made me laugh out loud.

Look, I think, you know, these races are going to be decided based on how people feel about the economy, how they feel about spending and debt. In Nevada, for example, 14.2 percent unemployment, 70 percent of the home mortgages are under water. If you like the way things are going in Nevada, I suppose that people will vote for Harry Reid. If they don't, then I think they have a good alternative in Sharron Angle.

Because outright crazy is good for the economy? Just to reiterate, Sharron Angle thinks Social Security should be privatized like Chile's, and she bases her idea on the fear foundation that Social Security is going broke, which it's not. Her MO is to do nothing, vote No on everything, and tell us all we're a bunch of deadbeats for wanting to work for a living wage. She advocates armed insurrection, thinks abortion should be outlawed even in the case of rape or incest, and fantasizes about coked-up stimulus monkeys.

Yup, just what Nevada needs.

And then, just as a final parting gift, this little gem.

But we're going to try to get as many Republicans because we think that will force President Obama to the middle, for example, when President Clinton had a Republican Congress. And we think that would be a good thing for the country, forcing things back toward the middle instead of the extreme policies that we've seen coming out of Washington.

Forced to the middle? Really? I'm almost afraid to imagine what Cornyn's idea of the middle is.

Seeing Cornyn dance around his own party's hard turn right, divisive tactics, and takeover by the John Birch society is entertaining, but it also should unwind the constant drumbeat that Republicans are going to sweep in and win large majorities in November. The deep divides and constant shark-jumping does not inspire confidence in their policies, their candidates, or their message.

I would advise them not to count their votes before they're cast, even if they do use voting machines.

On Tuesday, Senate Democrats beat back Jeff Sessions’ filibuster of Obama’s first judicial nominee – Judge David Hamilton – by a reassuring margin of 70-29. Sessions lost ten of his fellow Republicans, including conservatives like Hatch, Cornyn, and Thune, and Hamilton will be confirmed Thursday afternoon to the Seventh Circuit.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the GOP is winning the battle for the federal courts.

Just a few short years ago, right-wing Senators denounced filibusters of President Bush’s nominees in the strongest possible language and threatened to employ the “nuclear option.” Sessions went even further – he claimed Democrats were violating the Constitution by blocking any Bush nominee (no matter how extreme). But some time after November 4, 2008, his interpretation of the Constitution must have changed dramatically.

Now a Democrat is in the White House, and – hypocrisy be damned! – Sessions is vehemently pro-filibuster and pro-obstruction. And the worst part is that he’s been successful. Judge Hamilton was nominated in March to general acclaim. He received the highest possible rating from the ABA, both his home-state Senators strongly endorsed him (including senior Senate Republican Dick Lugar), and even the head of the Indianapolis Federalist Society backed him. It doesn’t get much better than that.

But the nomination was dragged out for months by the GOP. As a result, Hamilton will become just the seventh Obama nominee to be confirmed to the federal bench. By contrast, nearly 30 such Bush nominees had been confirmed at the same point. We’re talking lifetime appointments to the highest courts in our land. President Obama obviously has his hands full, but he can’t afford to neglect this crucial aspect of his legacy.

But so far, Obama has been playing into the hands of the GOP obstructionists. He’s nominated fewer than half as many people as Bush had at this point. That has got to change, and quickly. The Obama administration has a window of just 4-5 months to return some semblance of balance to the federal bench before the mid-term elections. The choice is simple: act now to fill the judicial pipeline with highly qualified progressive nominees, or let Sessions and Bush win.

VoteVets:

Republican Senator John Cornyn has lashed out at war veterans in response to our TV ad in Texas urging him to support the new Webb-Hagel GI Bill.

According to Roll Call (password protected), the Cornyn campaign "dismissed the charges of VoteVets.org as unfounded":

"The anti-war crowd is determined to use our men and women in uniform for their political advantage, even if our national security is jeopardized in the process," Cornyn campaign spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said.

What a bunch of jokers. Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel (who devised the new GI Bill), Rick Noriega (Cornyn's opponent), and VoteVets.org (whose veterans created the ad) have--not surprisingly--all served in a war. Yet *we're* the "anti-war crowd" according to the Cornyn campaign. However, John Cornyn--who was vehemently against serving in a war himself--is, I think, the real "anti-war" guy here, having avoided service during Vietnam.

VoteVets wasn't going to take this sitting down, and contacted Cornyn's office. And sadly, it's just more of the same.

Brown Bag Lunches

I'm glad to see that Ken Mehlman was speaking with right wing bloggers today. I’m all for that type of interaction with bloggers-although Don Stewart, an aide to Sen. John Cornyn (who looks to be knee deep in Abramoff and Ralph Reed scum) recently took offense to Harry Reid speaking at YealyKos, (so I guess it’s OK as long as righties do it) but today Michelle blogged:

"…the RNC is providing bloggers with an Internet connection and brown bag lunch. Nothing more and nothing expected in return."

What might they expect in return? Let's see, her next post is about attacking Ted Kennedy for printing a children's book. Then just after that she bashes Kennedy and the Dems saying: "they are part of the KKKhood."

Brown bag lunches sure buy a lot. Michelle, I hope you got the tuna.

Cornyn On The Court?

via Captiol Buzz

John Cornyn's name has recently surfaced as a potential Supreme Court nominee, according to several Capitol Hill staffers. As a Senator, Cornyn could get through the Senate confirmation process and spare the Senate the kind of prolonged filibuster fight that could occur in the event that Bush nominates a more controversial nominee.

(Remember this video !) Download | play -WMP

But Cornyn, who served on the Texas Supreme Court, has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks as a result of his inflammatory floor speech from last month where he suggested that the recent spate of courtroom violence was due to judicial activism.

via AmericaBlog:

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN: "I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence.

These guys are "way, way, way" beyond the crossing point. Are they so worried about Tom Delay that it's now open season on judges to cover his tracks? I'm waiting for the "JudgeWatchBlog" to start; manned by Hal Turner. Vegas odds on what judge is going to get it, and how activist they are. Probably along the lines of David Horowitz's Front Page rag. At this point it doesn't matter what party or religion, and who made the appointment. I'm sure the.." I was taken out of context" statement will soon be issued. I'm not holding my breath.

More from Talking Points Memo:

So the recent murders of judges and their families are blow-back from widespread judicial activism?

Suddenly the folks in robes are like the girl who dresses too provocatively to the fraternity dance.

And who knew Cornyn and crew wanted to embrace Brian Nichols, the accused rapist who murdered Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and three others last month, as one of their own?

Congressman Conyers rips Senator Cornyn for justifying violence against judges.

(Update) Digby joins in.

Mathew Yglesias joins in.

AmericaBlog has more. It's getting uglier and uglier.

Update-The Left Coaster and Daily Kos and Eschaton and Oliver Willis and Ezra Klein and Talk Left

from the Texas Observer 6/7/2002

I read a couple of weeks ago that John Cornyn had pledged to keep the issue of race out of his upcoming U.S. Senate campaign against African-American Democratic nominee Ron Kirk. That was a relief, because the John Cornyn I knew in high school was a big supporter of George Wallace and seemed oblivious to the dangers of Wallace’s racial demagoguery...read on

Here's an interesting snipet: ...the government has become increasingly dictatorial and oppressive while the state and local governments have become more weak,"

Having server problems so read the article, and let me know what you think while the techies fix it...

as Cornyn justifies Violence Against Judges.

How does anybody try to defend murderers of judges? I'm trying to find his Psychology degree. Oh wait..I see he has the Ronco degree. When you graduate, you get the Showtime Rotissere and BBQ oven for just three easy payments of 39.95. That Ron Popeil is one whacky guy.

via The Carpetbagger Report

A day after suggesting judges who are the victim of violence may have somehow brought their fate upon themselves, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) followed up yesterday with remarks that were intended to clarify his meaning. It wasn’t particularly helpful.

“My point was, and is, simply this: We should all be concerned that the judiciary is losing respect that it needs to serve the interests of the American people well. We should all want judges who interpret the law fairly — not impose their own personal views on the Nation. We should all want to fix our broken judicial confirmation process. And we should all be disturbed by overheated rhetoric about the judiciary from both sides of the aisle. I regret that my remarks have been taken out of context to create a wrong impression about my position, and possibly be construed to contribute to the problem rather than to a solution.

“Our judiciary must not be politicized. Rhetoric about the judiciary and about judicial nominees must be toned down. Our broken judicial confirmation process must be fixed once and for all.”

There’s a lot of nonsense here, but the bottom line is that Cornyn hasn’t apologized for offering a rationalization for anti-judge violence. Instead, he’s standing by his controversial remarks and accusing his critics of taking his remarks out of context....read on

Of course as we predicted that the usual "taken out of context" statement would be made. I shouldn't call it a prediction really. What else was he going to say. Oh...there's this " “judicial confirmation process must be fixed once and for all.” Something is rotten in la-la land when Dick Cheney responds "There's a reason why judges get lifetime appointments." Of course nothing from the major right wing bloggers. They are too busy worrying about those damn pulitzer prize winning AP photographs to care about judges.

The Cornyn Theory
(hat tip) DC Media Girl

A conservative activist who criticizes what he calls the leftist domination of college campuses was struck with a pie Wednesday night at Butler University.

David Horowitz, president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, had just started a lecture at Butler when he was hit...

Can anyone get us the video? There is a real trend beginning. Lying conservatives are getting pied. Why is this happening? Using the Cornyn Theory : College students are so frustrated with these liars that " it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence."