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• Newt Gingrich: Sotomayor ‘racist,’ should withdraw nomination
  Rush Limbaugh isn't the only one calling Sonia Sotomayor a racist. Newt Gingrich is, too — and he's demanding that Obama's pick to the Supreme Court to withdraw her nomination.

  On Twitter, Gingrich pointed to a line in Sotomayor's 2001 speech to a Hispanic group in Berkeley that has drawn fire from some conservatives.

  "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," Sotomayor said in that speech, describing how life experience can inform judicial opinions.

  On Wednesday, Gingrich tweeted: "Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a latina woman.' new racism is no better than old racism"

  Moments later, he followed up with the message: "White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw."

  (tags: sonia_sotomayor newt_gingrich)
• California Proposition 8: Justice Moreno's Partial Dissent
  When the majority of the Justices are interpreting the state constitution in order to evaluate statutory provisions, they can appeal not just to their own majority view but to the authority of the Constitution. But when the majority of the Justices disagrees with the views of voters who are trying to amend that very same Constitution, such an appeal no longer works. All the Justices can say is that they are protecting the rights of the minority, but the whole point of the dispute is that there's disagreement about what those rights should be.

  That's why I think the majority's view was correct here

  (tags: California_Proposition_8 gaymarriage)
• The California Supreme Court on Attorney General Jerry Brown's Arguments Against Prop. 8
  Indeed, the drafters of the 1849 Constitution, in their message submitting the proposed Constitution to the people of California, expressly described the people's right to alter or reform the Constitution as an “inalienable right.” In like manner, when the people's authority to propose and adopt constitutional amendments by initiative was added to the California Constitution in 1911, the constitutional provision spoke of the initiative “not as a right granted the people, but as a power reserved by them.”
  (tags: California_Proposition_8 gaymarriage)
• California Prop 8 discussion: What if the Voters Overturn Other Constitutional Rights Decisions?
  In any event, what makes those provisions wrong is not that they are legally "revisions" rather than "amendments" and thus illegal. What makes them wrong is that they are morally wrong and thus immoral. But ultimately that judgment about what is morally wrong, as I mentioned, is under the California Constitution left to the sovereign people, and not the sovereign's servants in the state supreme court.
  (tags: California_Proposition_8 gaymarriage)
• What Next for Same-Sex Marriage in California? – Professor Volokh
  This decision is based solely on the California Constitution. Within the federal system, the California Supreme Court's view of the meaning of the California Constitution is final, and the U.S. Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to revisit it. So there can be no federal review of the question whether Prop. 8 violates the California Constitution.

  2. Supporters of same-sex marriage rights can of course argue to the U.S. Supreme Court that the U.S. Constitution mandates recognition of same-sex marriage, in all states and under federal law. But it seems unlikely that the Court would accept such an argument at this point, and in any case this case is not a good vehicle for that, since the decision below was all about the California Constitution. (I'm not sure that federal constitutional arguments were even made by the challengers, but in any case they weren't considered by the Court.)

  (tags: gaymarriage gay_politics California_Proposition_8)
• Alliance Defense Fund to defend Prop. 8, federal DOMA -Previous Federal Suit
  A federal court entered an order granting Alliance Defense Fund attorneys a motion to intervene Thursday on behalf of ProtectMarriage.com in a lawsuit waged by two men against the United States and the state of California to eliminate California’s state constitutional amendment protecting marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. ADF attorneys filed a motion to intervene last month to defend the intended definition of marriage in a suit alleging that the passage of both Proposition 8 and DOMA violates the U.S. Constitution.
  (tags: California_Proposition_8 gaymarriage)
• Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look – US VAT
  With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax.

  Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax — called a value-added tax, or VAT — has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.

  (tags: barack_obama Value_Added_Tax VAT)
• China warns Federal Reserve over 'printing money' – Inflation Warning
  Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, said: "Senior officials of the Chinese government grilled me about whether or not we are going to monetise the actions of our legislature."

  "I must have been asked about that a hundred times in China. I was asked at every single meeting about our purchases of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States," he told the Wall Street Journal.

  (tags: China inflation)

So, Dick Cheney backs off his comments about General Colin Powell and the Republican Party. But, Powell has never been a particularly good GOP party man and everyone knows it. This aspect of his career has nothing to do with his moderate social views on abortion or whatever.

If General Powell was so interested in promoting the big tent in the Republican Party why hasn’t he recruited a whole bunch of moderate Republicans and used his celebrity status to raise tons of money for them so they could win Congressional or Senate seats? How about mentoring some African-American Republican candidates?

No, General Powell is a great American but a good Republican Party activist he has not been.

The GOP is happy to have Colin Powell as a member but how about some reciprocation General?

From Ben Smith:

The video, “Pelosi Galore,” was attacked from the left as sexist, and some Republicans also found it in poor taste.

RNC spokesman Trevor Francis confirned the committee had removed the video but declined to explain why.

Gutless.

How quickly can you say out of the mainstream?

With Judge Sonia Sotomayor already facing questions over her 60 percent reversal rate, the Supreme Court could dump another problem into her lap next month if, as many legal analysts predict, the court overturns one of her rulings upholding a race-based employment decision.

Three of the five majority opinions written by Judge Sotomayor for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and reviewed by the Supreme Court were reversed, providing a potent line of attack raised by opponents Tuesday after President Obama announced he will nominate the 54-year-old Hispanic woman to the high court.

“Her high reversal rate alone should be enough for us to pause and take a good look at her record. Frankly, it is the Senates duty to do so,” said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America.

Judge Sotomayor will likely be confirmed by the U.S. Senate but make no mistake – She is a left-wing activist judge who will “MAKE LAW” from the bench.

Elections have consequences and the GOP will have the opportunity to use this appointment to campaign for more GOP Senators that would temper any further Obama appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.