Fear of Clowns: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): maybe murdered judges asked for it

"Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable."
- H. L. Mencken
gozz@gozz.com

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): maybe murdered judges asked for it

While making my previous post on alleged "judicial activism", I had not yet read of Sen. Cornyn's outrageous musing that maybe a crazed suspect on trial for rape charges in Atlanta overpowered a deputy and murdered Judge Rowland Barnes, a court reporter and court deputy because he was pissed about Roe v Wade or something. I wonder if Cornyn was aware he was apologizing for murder on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's murder,

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.

I wonder if Cornyn speculates that Rev. King may have caused-the-effect of his own assassination.

Just about everybody has something to say.

Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, and the Houston Chronical too.

Senators ought to be able to tend to their mouths better than Cornyn did yesterday. I mean, DeLay is saying God will smite judges and now Cornyn is suggesting the courtroom murders we've seem are some sort of karmic payback. What more evidence do we need that insanity has gripped the TX GOP en masse? Thank goodness Cheney is rising above by at least noting there's a reason judges have lifetime tenures.

// posted by Erik @ 4/05/2005 01:47:00 AM
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Comments:

Not everyone on the religious right thinks that two wrongs make a right.

Beth, at 4/05/2005 8:20 AM

Would that be your reaction, Beth, if Cornyn had actually murdered a judge?

This is a US Senator we're talkling about.

Erik, at 4/05/2005 10:47 AM

Of course that would be my reaction. That a US Senator is justifying violence against anyone is unconscionable. It sends a very wrong message.

Beth, at 4/05/2005 12:05 PM

Erik, I just realized you may have misinterpreted my first comment. I was not meaning that I think all the judges are wrong, but that the people who are doing them harm perceive that they are wrong, and in turn doing something that is wrong in response.

Beth, at 4/05/2005 12:18 PM

My point was, and is: "Why is your first reaction to jump to the defense of those who don't go shooting their mouth off that judges maybe are to blame for their own murders?"

The point is what Cornyn said, not what others didn't say: some already crazed person now has a U.S. Senator seeing a rational "connection" in his thoughts of murdering a judge.

Erik, at 4/05/2005 12:40 PM

I guess I have not presented myself very well. I don't think that the Senator should never have said what he said, but not everyone who disagrees with some judges decisions thinks like he does.

Beth, at 4/05/2005 12:51 PM

That's right, but it's also impertinent. I mean, look at all the environmentalists who don't advocate industrial espionage, look at all the pro-lifers who don't bomb abortion clinics!

I'm not sure I can explain it any better than that. Maybe read Matthew Yglasias' comments.

Erik, at 4/05/2005 1:17 PM

Kudos to Cheney for mentioning the lifetime tenures, Damn him to hell for not making a firm statement denouncing violence/vengence against judges. Many of the judges in the "they'll get they'rs catagory were Republican appt. The political wing of the America's own taliban, the GOP is attempting nothing less than the dismantling of our republic's entire system of government. This country has a tripod foundation, the legislature, the executive branch and the judicial branch, ALL of whom bear some responsability for the laws that govern us. The judiciary is not just enforcment. They have a responsability to judge whether a law is constitutional, this is not just one wo/man deciding this, there are layers of appeals before a law can be discredited. This check/balance in our government insures that objective wo/men who don't have to please a constituency can protect us from irresponsible emotion driven legislation that runs contrary to the Constitution. If any leg in the tripod that provides the foundation for our nation is removed - this republic WILL collapse. And yet that seems to be what high government officials are trying to do.

DuWayne Brayton, at 4/05/2005 2:23 PM

I hear ya, Treban. There is indeed something akin to a Christian Taliban in America.

Myself, I don't think every Republican is obligated to loudly put down each bit of lunacy that comes out of the extreme right. If they did, that's all they'd be doing.

Cheney is really extreme in some ways, and the fact he is criticizing those attacking the judicial branch speaks to the extreme extremity of those who do attack it. I mean, Cheney is even buddies with Scalia, who the Christian right-wing rather likes.

And even there, Scalia ruled that flag burning was constitutionally protected behavior.

Bottom line: most of these people attacking the courts are stupid, psychopathic, militantly religious zealots or some sort of combination like that.

Erik, at 4/05/2005 7:43 PM

Treban & Erik, I wonder where the responsibility of the media is in all of this. I realize they are not one of the three legs of the Constitutional tripod, but they are an independent kind of watch dog who has no constituents (except perhaps the Almighty Dollar).

Why would they feel the need to take this idiotic comment made and report on it knowing that it could appear to give validity to the actions of some crazy people?

Beth, at 4/05/2005 8:27 PM

It appears that the left has also been accused of discrediting the judiciary.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050406/dcw045.html?.v=5

Beth, at 4/06/2005 10:17 PM

I'm sorry, but as I write this I am still laughing about the link, "Press Release: Landmark Demands Kennedy Stop Assault on Judiciary".

Landmark is Mark Levin's phony "legal foundation" and Mark Levin is, of course, the extreme right-wing radio host who I write about and is even dismissed by Ann Coulter fans.

Erik, at 4/07/2005 4:12 AM

Why do liberals hate it when we label them as "liberal" but they have no problem throwing the term "right wing extremist" out? It's really getting annoying.

Beth, at 4/07/2005 5:43 AM

Beth -

There is no "liberal" party just as there is no "conservative" party. Republicans are generally liberal on gun control and Democrats are generally conservative/authoritarian on environmental issues.

But there is an organized, disciplined, and well funded "right-wing" in America. And they have chosen the Republican party as it's host. And it's been pissing off a lot of Republicans.

These pissed off Republicans are not hard to find on the Internet or bookstores, but it's difficult to detect them in mass media as the right-wing parasite dominates media.

Erik, at 4/07/2005 10:07 PM

What about my question on the role of the media?

Beth, at 4/09/2005 10:28 PM