'Empathy:' Clarence Thomas had it, too

Every single line of attack against Sotomayor from the GOP is either a flat-out lie or is so despicable as to render it criminal.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Good grief, Mark, you are really losing it. The Bush comment is just a comment about the man, Clarence Thomas. Obama made it a point that he wanted the next justice to use empathy when deciding cases. There is a big difference. Did you pick that comment from some loony left wing blog or was it handed to you by the Obama White House?

But you see.....empathy in this case was a code word for WMD finder. The "sense of humor" was code for played well with all the GOP.

Mark Silva- You are not reporting accurately when you omit the next sentence- Bush was describing Thomas on a personal level- ( empathetic, intelligent, warm) and then in the next sentences described how he believed Thomas would perform as a judge...all of this in the very next sentence.
***Bush's complete thought;
“...I have followed this man's career for some time, and he has excelled in everything that he has attempted. He is a delightful and warm, intelligent person who has great empathy and a wonderful sense of humor. He's also a fiercely independent thinker with an excellent legal mind, who believes passionately in equal opportunity for all Americans. He will approach the cases that come before the Court with a commitment to deciding them fairly, as the facts and the law require..."

Other than Republicans, another group that doesn't have the ability to feel empathy - serial killers.

Empathy - the capability to understand that you were in the wrong when your hunting partner shoots you in the face
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR7CH9zvD6s

I think it gets down to semantics. Their empathy is better than Obama's empathy. Face it, even when making an analytic decision humans can not just throw out empathy...part of making a decision in any business includes life experience which all humans have. I am sure none of the justices ever made a decision of which it didn't include empathy. It is part of human nature to do so.

So, I guess the lesson we've recently learned is that life experiences, including race and gender, are only a positive thing if you are nominated by a Bush or a Reagan.

I think it gets down to semantics. Their empathy is better than Obama's empathy. Face it, even when making an analytic decision humans can not just throw out empathy...part of making a decision in any business includes life experience which all humans have. I am sure none of the justices ever made a decision of which it didn't include empathy. It is part of human nature to do so.

Posted by: lochnessmonster | May 29, 2009 5:29 PM

Agreed- to a point..

The problem is that Obama used the empathy has is intial qualifier... this is no way to pick a short list for a SCOTUS justice.

Of course life experience shapes the lens of judgment, but apparently it's only ok to say that out loud if you're a Republican, or white.

Lochness, I think all judges allow their personal feelings to creep into their decisions, at minimum subconsciously. But I think the trick is to try to block out personal feelings/emotions, not embrace them. Cases should be decided on the facts and law, not the personal feelings of the judges. I'm not saying that is always reality, but I think it should be the goal.

Excellent. Thanks.

And we do remember how Justice Thomas was traeted by the democrats.

BIDEN: "I think that the only reason Clarence Thomas is on the Court is because he is black. I don't believe he could have won had he been white. And the reason is, I think it was a cynical ploy by President Bush."

Imagine if a Senator Sessions said that about Sotomayor?

"Imagine if a Senator Sessions said that about Sotomayor?"

One thing wrong with that analogy--aside from Sessions' neo-Confederate leanings ("be careful what you say to white folks, boy")--is the matter of qualifications.

Sotomayor has them, Thomas didn't. To use a sports analogy, it's like wanting Carlton Fisk to catch for your team instead of Paul Bako.

Neither Duke, Byrd, or a taste for Puerto Rican food has any relevance to Sotomayor's qualifications--which are good, empathy included.

The criminality here is in the unexcusable hypocricy of liberals. Thomas may have empathy but he was crucified by the Democrats in the Judicial hearing and then smeared on top of that! They will stop at no kind of despicable behavior!!! Even killing campaign volunteers and then running and hiding.

"Thomas may have empathy but he was crucified by the Democrats in the Judicial hearing and then smeared on top of that!"

Wrong. Read the book "Strange Justice," by Jane Meyer and Jill Abramson, for a clearer picture of the kinky mediocrity Thomas. It's out of print, but you can probably get it at the library or buy it used.

Also, what's with the "killing campaign volunteers" stuff? Sounds a little nutty. Well, more than a little.

JMK,

According to the democrat playbook - Thomas has a similar tough-luck childhood, both Catholic and both were Ivy League educated.

Thomas worked in Department of Education and EEOC, was an appalette court judge for the DC circuit before being nominated to the Supreme Court.

The problem with Thomas is you mind is that he isn't liberal. Biden was just mad that Bush41 nominated a black jurist who happened to be black and he was worried that the black community might see the Republicans differently than the democrats portray them to be.

History will show that the only shoes Clarence Thomas ever walked in were conservative. Can't spin your way out of this Clarence.

Its the judges coming up next picked by President Obama and his team of experts that will walk in mainstreets, Indigenous shoes, the poor people's shoes that give hope.

Yeil,

And therefore those justices will be less able to render an uinbiased opinion.

“History will show that the only shoes Clarence Thomas ever walked in were conservative. Can't spin your way out of this Clarence. Its the judges coming up next picked by President Obama and his team of experts that will walk in mainstreets, Indigenous shoes, the poor people's shoes that give hope.”
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Posted by: Yeil | May 31, 2009 7:37 AM
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1. I hope you weren’t trying to spell Yale.
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2. I see no small amount of hero-worship in this. Experts? That’s yet to be seen.
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3. I forgot. Tell me again, please, how many of Justice Thomas’ opinions have you read? Could you also tell me which ones you were referring to in particular when you stamped him as a conservative? Was that the one where he voted in favor of California’s medical marijuana laws, or indicated his willingness to vote to strike down the partial-birth abortion ban if given the right argument? Or maybe you just found the same book in the same head shop/health food store where JMK buys his books? You know - in the back, on the left, between the selections from Timothy Leary and Lawrence Tribe?
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4. Please give this working-class-hero theme a rest. People who make it to the Supreme Court take a very different path through life. They have normally joined a different tribe by the time they make it to where they might be considered for nomination. You won’t find them playing pool with steel-workers or building houses with Jimmy Carter. Furthermore, if you think the so-called “liberals” on the Supreme Court often side with the little guy, and/or that the “conservatives” invariably rule against the little guy, you are gravely mistaken.