Moderation and Money
Shannen Coffin has a good article up in NRO about the upcoming fight over Justice O'Connor's replacement on the Supreme Court. Here is a snippet that caught my eye:
Don't look now, but the sky is falling. At least that's what the liberal interest groups that have mobilized this week in preparation for the battle over Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement to the Supreme Court would have you believe. Within minutes of the announcement of O'Connor's retirement, the dinosaurs of the Left took to the airwaves to attempt to frame the debate. Planned Parenthood cried that "women's health and safety [are] on the line." People for the American Way shrieked that our "very national identity hangs in the balance." Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, declared "a state of emergency for women's rights." Nan Aron, of left wing Alliance for Justice, spelled out what was to come: "a fight that will shape our lives for decades."
A threshold understanding that will be useful to all of us who will inevitably be disgusted by the vitriolic attacks that are sure to greet any nominee to the Court by a Republican President is that all of these groups -- Planned Parenthood, People for the American Way, NOW, Alliance for Justice -- are professional organizations whose sole product is, in fact, vitriol. They sell vitriol and anger and fear and anxiety about how "women's health... is on the line" (it isn't, women have never been healthier), our "national identity hangs in the balance" (it doesn't, or at least not because one Republican-nominated Justice will be replaced by another nominated by a Republican President and confirmed by a Republican-majority Senate), how there is a "state of emergency for women's rights" (there isn't), how this fight will "shape our lives for decades" (it won't). They sell a sense of self-importance and "involvement" to their customers, the well-heeled liberals who long for the 1960s barricades.
The people who work in these organizations cannot afford to be moderate and reasonable, not because there is so much at stake politically, but because they have so much at stake in terms of their personal financial health -- they literally cannot afford to be moderate. These organizations view this Supreme Court fight like other companies view the chance to get a patent on a new wonder drug -- it's an opportunity to rake in the dough that will only exist for a short window of opportunity. They have to engage in a Bork-like or Clarence Thomas-like fight, because if they don't, they won't be able to pay the mortgage on their homes in Bethesda or Chevy Chase or McLean or Georgetown or Alexandria. (Democratic Senators are in the same predicament; because their base demands a fight, they have to give them one, or else the stream of contributions to their essentially permanent campaigns will dry up.)
So, buckle up. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
Don't look now, but the sky is falling. At least that's what the liberal interest groups that have mobilized this week in preparation for the battle over Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement to the Supreme Court would have you believe. Within minutes of the announcement of O'Connor's retirement, the dinosaurs of the Left took to the airwaves to attempt to frame the debate. Planned Parenthood cried that "women's health and safety [are] on the line." People for the American Way shrieked that our "very national identity hangs in the balance." Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, declared "a state of emergency for women's rights." Nan Aron, of left wing Alliance for Justice, spelled out what was to come: "a fight that will shape our lives for decades."
A threshold understanding that will be useful to all of us who will inevitably be disgusted by the vitriolic attacks that are sure to greet any nominee to the Court by a Republican President is that all of these groups -- Planned Parenthood, People for the American Way, NOW, Alliance for Justice -- are professional organizations whose sole product is, in fact, vitriol. They sell vitriol and anger and fear and anxiety about how "women's health... is on the line" (it isn't, women have never been healthier), our "national identity hangs in the balance" (it doesn't, or at least not because one Republican-nominated Justice will be replaced by another nominated by a Republican President and confirmed by a Republican-majority Senate), how there is a "state of emergency for women's rights" (there isn't), how this fight will "shape our lives for decades" (it won't). They sell a sense of self-importance and "involvement" to their customers, the well-heeled liberals who long for the 1960s barricades.
The people who work in these organizations cannot afford to be moderate and reasonable, not because there is so much at stake politically, but because they have so much at stake in terms of their personal financial health -- they literally cannot afford to be moderate. These organizations view this Supreme Court fight like other companies view the chance to get a patent on a new wonder drug -- it's an opportunity to rake in the dough that will only exist for a short window of opportunity. They have to engage in a Bork-like or Clarence Thomas-like fight, because if they don't, they won't be able to pay the mortgage on their homes in Bethesda or Chevy Chase or McLean or Georgetown or Alexandria. (Democratic Senators are in the same predicament; because their base demands a fight, they have to give them one, or else the stream of contributions to their essentially permanent campaigns will dry up.)
So, buckle up. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
posted by PDB at 7:06 AM
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