Federal Judge: GOP Made Me Less Conservative

[RandFan]

I can so relate.

source Posner expressed admiration for President Ronald Reagan and the economist Milton Friedman, two pillars of conservatism. But over the past 10 years, Posner said, "there's been a real deterioration in conservative thinking. And that has to lead people to re-examine and modify their thinking."

"I've become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy," he said.

Posner, who was appointed to the appeals court by Reagan, speculated that the leaks about the deliberations over the national health care law — which are apparently designed to discredit Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion upholding the law — would backfire. "I think these right-wingers who are blasting Roberts are making a very serious mistake," he said.

"Because if you put [yourself] in his position ... what's he supposed to think? That he finds his allies to be a bunch of crackpots? Does that help the conservative movement? I mean, what would you do if you were Roberts? All the sudden you find out that the people you thought were your friends have turned against you, they despise you, they mistreat you, they leak to the press. What do you do? Do you become more conservative? Or do you say, 'What am I doing with this crowd of lunatics?' Right? Maybe you have to re-examine your position."
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[Magyar]

Pretty much the reason I have been voting democratic since Reagan.

 

[rwguinn]

I can so relate.

It's not that the GOP made him less conservative--like me, he still likely holds conservative views similar to the ones he held during the Reagan era, it's just that the guanofrentic fringes (ETA) have take control of the GOP, which has (/edit]
made those views appear to be liberal, by comparison.

 

[mikedenk]

Is there any shred of evidence as to the identity of the leaker(s)?

Why is opposition to Roberts' decision the work of "crackpots" and "lunatics"? The decision certainly wasn't a slam-dunk - if the leaks are to be believed, Roberts actually changed his own mind at least once.

I would hope that the Chief Justice of the SCOTUS wouldn't let his future decisions be driven by personal politics. Posner does discredit to himself by suggesting this is an appropriate way for judges to conduct themselves. That being said, the Republicans may very well be looking at their next Souter... it must be a real punch in the gut to appoint 7 of the last 11 justices and still come out on the losing end of these big decisions.

 

[Jeff Corey]

When I heard that the other day, I remarked to my wife that it was great to see Roberts had grown a set, proving that the founders were right when they made the appointment a relatively permanent one.
Too bad it didn't happen a bit earlier, say, 12 years ago. But that leads to a strange paradox of alternate history, since Bush II didn't nominate him as Chief Justice until almost 7 years ago.
I wonder what The Great Decider thinks of his decision now. "Never trust a Damn Yankee Ivy College graduater.
Oh, yeah..."

 

[RandFan]

Posner does discredit to himself by suggesting this is an appropriate way for judges to conduct themselves.

I don't understand your point. Posner is a respected conservative judge. You seem rather dismissive of his opinion. I don't think he discredits himself at all. I remember the moment I realized that like my affiliation with religion my affiliation with conservative ideology was rather dodgy. If SCOTUS is driven ideologically and that ideology isn't principle so much as it is blind adherence to convention then there is nothing wrong to open one's eyes and see the insanity. That's not an indictment of conservationism BTW. I very much want and very much think it very important to have a viable party in opposition to the Democrats. And to be sure they have their lunatics also. They've just not gone completely off the rails yet.

 

[Pantaz]

I can so relate.

Yep.

It's not that the GOP made him less conservative--like me, he still likely holds conservative views similar to the ones he held during the Reagan era, it's just that the guanofrentic fringes (ETA) have take control of the GOP, which has (/edit] made those views appear to be liberal, by comparison.

That's a good description for my own status.

 

[AlBell]

I don't understand your point. Posner is a respected conservative judge. You seem rather dismissive of his opinion. I don't think he discredits himself at all. I remember the moment I realized that like my affiliation with religion my affiliation with conservative ideology was rather dodgy. If SCOTUS is driven ideologically and that ideology isn't principle so much as it is blind adherence to convention then there is nothing wrong to open one's eyes and see the insanity. That's not an indictment of conservationism BTW. I very much want and very much think it very important to have a viable party in opposition to the Democrats. And to be sure they have their lunatics also. They've just not gone completely off the rails yet.

Now you just need to realize your affiliation with lefty-libism is similarly a religious view.

 

[Cain]

I don't think he discredits himself at all. I remember the moment I realized that like my affiliation with religion my affiliation with conservative ideology was rather dodgy.

But on this forum (for years) you said were "objective" and "neutral." Repeatedly. And you could prove it by saying you liked that Democrat Bill Clinton.

 

[RandFan]

Now you just need to realize your affiliation with lefty-libism is similarly a religious view.

I have no such illusions. I've no loyalty to liberalism. You are like the theist accusing the atheist of simply choosing another religion. Wrong.

 

[Beerina]

I give Clinton credit for re-appointing Greenspan. Note we've strayed from that with this guy who's printing money hand-over-fist. How-we-doin? He's playing one hell of a dangerous game.

There's some bizarre stuff in the Republicans between a more libertarian wing, with Reagan, Greenspan, and others (not the bizarre one) and some kind of bizarre religious wing, which may be even larger, which seems not really to care about conservative economics and is more than happy to let loose with the spending.

In many cases, they seem to throw up their hands and say, ah well, might as well increase government, but let's do it our way. This is both Bushes (Bush Sr., of whom, never forget, coined "voodoo economics" to describe Reagan. Reagan did well. Bush, Sr., strayed from it, and it cost him a second term), Bob Dole, and guys like, sadly, Romney.

"We're gonna ever-leftward ratchet, and we can't stop it, so oh well. Might as well do some of it our way and at least win every 2 of 3 presidential elections and let the left overreach and turn over Congress to us every other election."

WTF kind of calculus is that?

Bush, Jr., strayed from it, too, but tried to improve on his daddy's model. Let the Democrats have their spending and social issues in exchange for your war, but drag it on so people don't forget about it for your second election. He doubled the war and dragged it on as a "Bully!" issue, and even then just barely didn't make it.

 

[RandFan]

I give Clinton credit for re-appointing Greenspan. Note we've strayed from that with this guy who's printing money hand-over-fist. How-we-doin? He's playing one hell of a dangerous game.

There's some bizarre stuff in the Republicans between a more libertarian wing, with Reagan, Greenspan, and others (not the bizarre one) and some kind of bizarre religious wing, which may be even larger, which seems not really to care about conservative economics and is more than happy to let loose with the spending.

In many cases, they seem to throw up their hands and say, ah well, might as well increase government, but let's do it our way. This is both Bushes (Bush Sr., of whom, never forget, coined "voodoo economics" to describe Reagan. Reagan did well. Bush, Sr., strayed from it, and it cost him a second term), Bob Dole, and guys like, sadly, Romney.

"We're gonna ever-leftward ratchet, and we can't stop it, so oh well. Might as well do some of it our way and at least win every 2 of 3 presidential elections and let the left overreach and turn over Congress to us every other election."

WTF kind of calculus is that?

Bush, Jr., strayed from it, too, but tried to improve on his daddy's model. Let the Democrats have their spending and social issues in exchange for your war, but drag it on so people don't forget about it for your second election. He doubled the war and dragged it on as a "Bully!" issue, and even then just barely didn't make it.

Good post. I say that not to mean I completely agree but there are some very good points and I do, to some extent agree.

 

[Cain]

I give Clinton credit for re-appointing Greenspan.

That move would have paid dividends... had I been a position to reap dividends.

Reagan did well.

True. He only helped triple the debt.

Bush, Jr., strayed from it, too, but tried to improve on his daddy's model.

He modeled himself more on Reagan (and managed to win a second term). It's like Cheney said, "deficits don't matter."

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Randfan: are you NOW "objective" and "neutral" and "moderate" and "skeptical" and a good critical thinker? Because you were saying all that eight years ago...