Barack Obama – Doubting Thomas


In December of 2007 I wrote up this blog, Barack & Clarence’s Memoirs A Stark Contrast. A feathered liberal poster, flyerhawk, pointed out the contrast in the memoirs is because Barack wrote his at the age of 31 and Clarence wrote his at 59. So I accept this explanation, and don’t think about it anymore until Barack tells Pastor Rick he would never have nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

This got me to thinking that not only is there a stark contrast between Barack and Clarence due to age there is also a stark contrast due to accomplishments. What has Barack Obama got to show for accomplishments? Clarence Thomas has 16 years of accomplishment as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court.


Kathryn Lopez has written an excellent piece over at National Review, Doubting Thomas. I recommend reading it in its entirety. I would like to point out one excellent point that she made.

Did Obama disagree with Justice Thomas on the recent cross-burning case, Virginia v. Black? Obama’s favorite justice, Justice Ginsburg, wrote that cross-burning bans are constitutionally suspect. Justice Thomas disagreed and wrote a passionate dissent. During oral arguments he said: “There’s no other purpose to the cross, no communication, no particular message. . . . [It] was intended to cause fear and to terrorize a population.” Does Obama take issue with the impassioned Thomas dissent?


In his memoir, My Grandfather’s Son, Clarence Thomas wrote: “I knew that in Washington, what matters is not what you do but what people can be made to think you’ve done.” Barack Obama is at least experienced enough to know that.


I wholeheartedly agree with this point Clarence Thomas wrote in his memoirs. There are many who have correctly pointed to the stark contrast between how Barack Obama and John McCain answered the same questions from Pastor Rick about when are you a person and is their evil. In addition to this I think Barack did damage to himself within the African-American community by singling out Clarence Thomas as his least favorite Supreme Court Justice he would not have nominated. I believe Clarence Thomas has more support in the African American community on his position on cross-burnings than Ruth Ginzburg.


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Great topic Pil' and this was very revealing of Obama as

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:18AM EST (link)

1) a far left ideologue

2) a captive slave of the Liberal Plantation Star Parker refers to

3) jealously of a real lawyer that went on to be a real judge from a lawyer that has never tried much less won a jury or non-jury trial or appellate case, and

4) whose attack against Thomas’s intellect all these years after Thomas has been on the bench and established his legacy via opinions written will hurt him with Blacks.

It was moment in which Obama revealed his own pettiness and smallness and that of the democratic party.

bravo pil

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

 

GC HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!-55555

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:18AM EST (link)

nt

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Obama almost said Justice Thomas wasn't "experienced" enough.

Mord (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:39AM EST (link)

from HotAir he almost says Experienced….then at the last second avoids it.

————————————–

“Republicans never win polls, they win elections,” – Rudy Giuliani

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thanks gamecock & rottdawg

pilgrim (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:41AM EST (link)

I kind of wonder now if Justice Thomas had Barack Obama in mind when he made that observation about what he knew in Washington.

Barack really stepped in it when he disparaged Justice Thomas, and it may hurt him more than his position on the abortion issue. His attempt to try to get some evangelicals to vote for him simply because he’s a nice guy was not helped by the reply that he made.


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I really believe Obama thinks he's invincible.

NightTwister (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:44AM EST (link)

The media has given him a pass so many times, he doesn’t even consider any negative effects of what he says.

What he doesn’t realize is, he’s building the case against himself for us.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill

Lopez noted that slip by Barack in her article. n/t

pilgrim (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:51AM EST (link)

.


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Reading this excellent

redneck_hippie (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:53AM EST (link)

diary, I wonder whether Barack momentarily just lost it, meaning, did he simply forget to whom he was speaking? I felt like he was grasping at the chance to re-inject race in some tangential way (“see, I’m black, and I’m crtiticizing another black.” Pitiful!!!!!

Barack is so hesitant in his speech, it seems like he is reviewing his opinions, then having to cross them out and replace them with the acceptable response for the audience. This is a major problem for him. People will not fail to notice the hesitations. It bespeaks dishonesty.

On a side note, I noticed a whole lot more salt and pepper in Barack’s hair. Also, I became annoyed with his phony “thoughtful” pose, where he continuously held his head in that uncomfortable-looking tilted position. Pathetic!!!


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I still havn't read it yet, oops.

Mord (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:59AM EST (link)

thanks for pointing that out, I’ll read the whole thing soon.

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“Republicans never win polls, they win elections,” – Rudy Giuliani

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Sshhh...

rbdwiggins (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 10:23AM EST (link)

The database is growing at an accelerated pace, and technically, it’s not too late for the TorricelliManeuver.™

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.” – Ronald Reagan

 
 
 

And this is a great thread to jack

itrytobenice (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 2:00PM EST (link)

and recommend Justice Thomas’ book. Sis got it for me for Christmas and I recently finished it.

Excellent contrast with other bios. He obviously wrote it himself and I got to understand him and his difficulties in DC much better.

And back on thread, I’m not sure this will hurt him with browns. They seem to really dislike Thomas to a level that imitates a litmus test.

Proper grammar saves lives.

Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.


Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

 

Absolutey great but you should have also included this:

ZootSuit (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 2:28PM EST (link)

Rick Warren, pastor of the evangelical Saddleback Church, asked, “which existing Supreme Court justice would you not have nominated?”

Obama responded: “I don’t think he was an exp . . . ” — he then caught himself — “a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation.”

You just have to laugh at Obama on this one. Just gotta laugh!

***** Unrepentant African-American nationalist, Unapologetic African-American conservative!

thanks ZootSuit. Lopez did have that line.

pilgrim (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 3:02PM EST (link)

I was being careful not to cut and paste too much of the Kathryn Lopez NRO piece into my diary. I agree that was a ‘deer in the headlights’ funny moment when Barack did that.


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55555 - exactly right - he sounds like a bad liar

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 3:47PM EST (link)

not enough lessons from Der Shleikmeister.

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

 
 
 

A Great Man

BigGator5 (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 5:14PM EST (link)

Barack Obama can’t hold a candle to Clarence Thomas.

Obama could also take a lesson or two from Clarence Thomas. The jurist is more of a listener and if Obama listen more, he would have less of a chance of putting his foot in his mouth.

Educated (About The Issues Facing Us Today), Dedicated (To Making A Difference), And Highly Motivated (To Getting Things Done)
@biggator5

Thomas is a Giant. Obama is a pipsqueak-nt

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 6:34PM EST (link)

nt

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

 
 

Stories

RJD (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 7:44PM EST (link)

The contrast between those memoirs is the same as the contrast between Obama and McCain. Obama has no stories to tell.
McCain can talk about his time as POW; or his years in the Senate; or about adopting a child.

McCain doesn’t just have experience, he has life experience, as well as, professional.

Obama, apparently, has no professional experiences he can fall back on or can call from memory to guide him. His life experiences are limited.

Watching some of the portions of the Saddleback interviews, I’ve concluded that Obama is nothing more than a college professor. His stint in the U.S. Senate is a joke; and as we are witnessing, the few years he spent in the Illinois State House did nothing to hone whatever political skills he thinks he possesses.

Careful GC. You're likely to be defending

mbecker908 (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 8:17PM EST (link)

against a class action suit brought on behalf of pipsqueaks everywhere.

Midnight Train to Georgia was one of my favs

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 9:52PM EST (link)

but was that just Pips? no squeaks…

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

He doesn't have any real "core" beliefs to guide him.

larueladue (Diary) Monday, August 18th at 12:42PM EST (link)

Hence his hesitation in non-scripted speeches. He doesn’t know what he really wants to say (because of the lack of core beliefs) so he is constantly trying to tailor his responses to his perceived audience… which then comes off as hesitant, dishonest, not genuine, etc. (which, of course, it is).

He tries to be all to everyone, and ends up being nothing to anyone.

 
 
 
 

LINKS ALERT: Defenses of Thomas by Levin et al

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Tuesday, August 19th at 7:42PM EST (link)

Go to Levin Audio for Monday:

http://marklevinshow.com/index1.php

for interview with Holzer, author of

http://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Opinions-Clarence-Thomas-1991-2006/dp/0786430036

and left column

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmRhNmNlZTg5NzZjMmVkOTBlNDE4YWRiYzI1MGZlNzE=

Prager radio

http://townhall.com/TalkRadio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=3&ContentGuid=8ef3d9ff-d535-42ab-9fe9-3d5c4f1987a8

Finally Rush: empty suit Obama unfit to shine Thomas’ shoes

Obama Trashes Justice Thomas Using Demeaning Talking Points

August 18, 2008

Listen To It! WMP | RealPlayer

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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: This is the one that has a lot of people simply outraged. This is from Rick Warren’s Civil Forum on the Presidency on Saturday night. The question, “Senator Obama, which existing Supreme Court justice would you not have nominated?”

OBAMA: I would not have nominated, uhhh, Clarence Thomas. (applause) Uh, I don’t think that he’s — uhhh… uhhh… I — I — I — I — I — I — I — I — uh — I don’t think that he was an exper[ienced] — uh, I — I don’t think that he was a — a strong enough jurist or legal thinker, uh, at the time, uh, for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the Constitution.

RUSH: Did you?

OBAMA: I would not nominate Justice Scalia, although I don’t think there’s any doubt about his intellectual brilliance, uh, because he and I just disagree.

RUSH: All right, now, two things about this. First, did you hear him catch himself talking about Clarence Thomas’s lack of “exper– uh, uhhh, uhhhh, uhhhhhh — strong enough jurist.” See, he knows he’s got no experience. He knows he can’t win the experience game. And then, talking about inserting race into the campaign, here’s a black guy, Barack Obama, saying that THE black guy on the Supreme Court is an idiot! “But Scalia, you know, he’s smart white guy, but I still don’t agree with him.” By the way, Barack Obama is 47. Clarence Thomas was on the Supreme Court, nominated to the Supreme Court in what, ’91? It’s a long time ago. It’s either 16 or 18 years ago. So Obama’s, what? What’s 47 minus 18? Twenty-nine. What did he know about Clarence Thomas’ qualifications? He knew diddly-squat.

What he knew was what he remembers hearing in college classrooms and from his political buddies about Clarence Thomas, and they sing from the same tune. Everybody has forgotten that Harry Reid said the almost identical thing about Clarence Thomas — Cookie could probably dredge that up from our archives. Harry Reid said, “I just don’t agree with his opinions.” He just insulted Thomas’ intelligence. He almost called him “illiterate,” is what Harry Reid said — and it’s that way of every powerful conservative. The left has this cliched, index card answers for every individual they are asked about on the conservative side they don’t like, and Obama has been taught that.

I refuse to believe that Obama has actually personally thought about it. I don’t think he thinks enough about these judges ’cause he doesn’t have enough time, he’s always thinking about himself. His world resolves around him, and it probably already has. So let’s examine this. He wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t a good legal thinker. He basically wasn’t qualified. Okay. Kathryn Jean Lopez has written a great piece, a little piece here at National Review: “What exactly is Barack Obama’s problem with Clarence Thomas? … Was it that Barack Obama didn’t like Justice Thomas’ vote on the recent child-rapist case, Kennedy v. Louisiana? No, that couldn’t be it. Barack Obama agreed with Thomas on that decision.

“Justice Ginsburg, meanwhile — a liberal favorite on the Court, whom John McCain listed as one of his least favorite justices during the same forum — opposed giving child rapists the death penalty. So what’s so wrong about Thomas and so right about, say, Ginsberg, Senator Obama? Explain the logic. He can’t, of course, and still win an election — which is why he agreed with Thomas,” and there are many other cases that she cites here where Obama agrees with decisions Thomas has made, disagrees with decisions Ginsburg has made and yet here came the rote criticism from the memory bank in Obama’s brain, not from anything he specifically and originally thinks.

The Wall Street Journal today with a great editorial on this about Obama’s not just criticizing; what Obama sought to do was “demean” Justice Thomas. “Obama took a lower road, replying first that ‘that’s a good one,’ and then adding that ‘I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don’t think…’” You heard the quote. “So let’s see. By the time he was nominated, Clarence Thomas had worked in the Missouri Attorney General’s office, served as an Assistant Secretary of Education, run the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sat for a year on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s second most prominent court. Since his ‘elevation’ to the High Court in 1991, he has also shown himself to be a principled and scholarly jurist.

“Meanwhile … Obama isn’t yet four years out of the Illinois state Senate, has never held a hearing of note of his US Senate subcommittee, and had an unremarkable record as both a ‘community organizer’ and law school lecturer. Justice Thomas judicial credentials compare favorably to Mr. Obama’s Presidential resume by any measure. And when it comes to rising from difficult circumstances, Justice Thomas’s rural Georgian upbringing makes Mr. Obama’s story look like easy street,” as I mentioned at the top of the program. So he just sat down, he decided he was going to “demean” Clarence Thomas with this answer.

But as the Journal says here: “Even more troubling is what the Illinois Democrat’s answer betrays about his political habits of mind. Asked a question he didn’t expect at a rare unscripted event [he] didn’t merely say he disagreed with Justice Thomas. Instead, he instinctively reverted to the leftwing cliche that the Court’s black conservative isn’t up to the job while his white conservative colleagues are.” Not to mention that before joining the court, Clarence Thomas goes to Holy Cross and then to Yale, in addition to all of these other qualifications — and then there’s Obama. He was a state senator, along with how many used car salesmen who have been state Senators. I mean, it’s nothing of particular distinction when compared to Clarence Thomas’ record. He’s a very junior US senator.

He didn’t have a very illustrious teaching career at Chicago. The New York Times reported all the heavy hitter faculty folks never heard the guy utter an interesting word or write anything, either, when he was teaching law at the University of Chicago. I’m telling you, he’s an empty suit, but he doesn’t know it. He actually thinks he’s The Messiah. Nancy Pelosi is out there saying he is a gift from God. “We have never had a leader like this that God has given us.” So these people are all caught up in the myth and The Messiah thing. But then, when they start thinking about it pretty seriously, they know they’ve got a big, big problem; because they’ve nominated a guy who can’t win, who will not be able to survive — intact, with the rave reviews — upcoming presidential debates. I’ve always thought this was going to be an election that was a referendum, up or down, on Obama, and I am more convinced of that than ever today.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s the Harry Reid bite, just to illustrate that what comes out of Obama’s mouth is s dogma. It’s just the standard operating procedure. It’s from the handbook. Clarence Thomas’ name comes up, this is what Democrats say. This is from the December 5th, 2004 episode of Meet the Press. This is Harry Reid from December 5th of 2004 on Meet the Press. This is what Dingy Harry said.

REID: I — I think that he has been a[n] embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written. I don’t — I just — I just don’t think that he’s done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.

RUSH: I bet he hasn’t read any of his opinions. But it is just insulting, it’s demeaning, and this is simply because he’s a black Republican. He’s black. They’ve never said anything about Scalia’s intelligence other than it’s extraordinary, or John Roberts’ intelligence (it’s extraordinary) or Alito’s. They’re just wrong on the Constitution, don’t you know? But Thomas, he just dumb ’cause he’s a black Republican, or conservative, or what they think is a black conservative. So their answers are rote. I’m telling you, this is a microcosm for most of what Obama says. It’s what he’s been taught by the blame-America-first crowd that he’s hung around with all of his life.

END TRANSCRIPT

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

I love Mark....He filled in for Larry Elder here in So Cal today

speciallist (Diary) Tuesday, August 19th at 7:51PM EST (link)

He is funny and he is right on…

thank you thank you gamecock

pilgrim (Diary) Tuesday, August 19th at 8:08PM EST (link)

I hope I am correct in my thinking that Obama demeaning Justice Thomas is the biggest gaffe he made at Pastor Warren’s forum. I know that some will argue that his ‘above my paygrade’ remark on the issue of abortion is the bigger gaffe, and I do not agree. Obama was never going to get any votes from folks who are pro-life. His only hope was to try to steal some votes from folks who think Obama is a nice guy. Going out of his way to demean and trash Justice Thomas has just made some people reconsider the ‘nice guy’ image they had formed in their head about Obama. Doug Kmiec is an example of this.
LINK


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GREAT POINT PIL' - As Alice Cooper sang

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Tuesday, August 19th at 9:11PM EST (link)

No more Mister Nice Guy

Could be the final straw in the Savior’s manger. He showed the dirty side of the left.

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson