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NRO's Judicial Attack Dog Calls Elena Kagan A Prostitute

May 09, 2010 4:51 pm ET

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For Immediate Release
May 9, 2010

Contact: Chris Harris
202-756-4120

Burns: "Imagine the rightwing firestorm that would erupt if a prominent progressive insisted Sarah Palin was selling her body. This should be no different."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Media Matters President Eric Burns released the following statement after Ethics and Public Policy Center president Ed Whelan implied possible Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is a prostitute:

"Ed Whelan's appalling attack on Elena Kagan degrades the political discourse and women everywhere.

"It is disgusting, yet not surprising, that the conservatives' favorite judicial attack dog would stoop so low as to imply a woman is a prostitute merely because she didn't to allow her personal views to stand in the way of our military's recruiters.

"Imagine the rightwing firestorm that would erupt if a prominent progressive insisted Sarah Palin was selling her body.  This should be no different.

"Conservatives should stand up to Whelan, demand he apologize, and refuse to parrot his imminent attacks against whoever the president nominates to the bench."

Background:

Ed Whelan, a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, is at the forefront of the fight against President Obama's judicial nominees.  Writing at National Review Online on May 7, 2010, Whelan attacked Kagan for allowing military recruiters at Harvard Law despite her opposition to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Whelan wrote:

But, as George Bernard Shaw would have said to Kagan for selling out her supposedly deeply held principles, "We've already established what you are, ma'am. Now we're just haggling over the price." 

Fearing the backlash he deserves, Whelan updated his post today to claim his use of the Shaw quote "obviously doesn't carry (and in my case certainly wasn't intended to carry) the particular stigma that a narrowly literal understanding would convey." 

That's too little, too late.

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    • Author by cugagcmu805031 (May 09, 2010 5:51 pm ET)
      9 1
      The t*rd meant every word. I have been following the rw opposition to a candidate that has not been named for quite some time on the Right Wing Watch web site. The shallowness of the attacks on a yet unnamed nominee to the SCOTUS cannot be missed by any sane person. What is even more shameful is that groups like Focus on the Family and other "christian" organizations have stooped so low as to embarrass themselves by openly displaying their stupidity and un-Christian values. The key question here is, how do you know you don't like someone if you don't know who it is, and you have spent little/no time studying his/her opinions on important issues?

      Many on the right remind me of my niece whose father (my brother) asked me to bake him an old fashion bread pudding. I asked her if she would eat any of it. She said no, turned up her nose and said she didn't like it. I asked whether she'd ever had bread pudding, and she said no. I then asked her how would she know she didn't like a certain type of food if she'd never had it. She just smiled and looked at me. My niece is younger than those on the right, but their reaction to the unnamed SC nominee is the same.

      Unsupported bias, ginned up controversy, acting without thinking, using their supporters as cash cows, opposition based not on merit but on prejudice, immaturity, all can be clearly seen in these attempts to discredit an unnamed SC nominee, only because President Obama is entrusted by the Constitution to make the choice. It's funny how the party that screams loudest about following the Constitution only wants it followed when it is in power. They fail to see that the Constitution grants them no power to select a SC justice. They can rant and rave and run their mouths as much as they want while making complete fools of themselves but the Founding Fathers established the guidelines in the Constitution, and they are powerless to do anything about it.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by right hook (May 09, 2010 7:07 pm ET)
          1
        Powerless? The last time I looked, the Senate has responsibility to confirm a president's choice to the SC. They have a forum in which they can question the president's selection and reject the confirmation. I guess it was ok when the liberals (and conservatives!) who raised questions about the qualifications of Bush's nominee, Harriet Miers. If I remember correctly, the liberals raised all sorts of ruckus when Bush nominated Miers. And leave it to Olbermann to connect Miers to the 9/11 attacks like she any direct connection to the incident. She supposedly handed Bush 'the memo' that Bin Laden was to strike the US. OOOh, that was a good reason for her not to be considered for the SC. That was some stellar 'news' reporting there.... Sure sounds like he spent little or no time studying her opinions on important issues. Maybe if Clinton, Bush, Sr., or Reagan killed bin laden when they had the chance, 'news reporters' like Olbermann wouldn't make ridiculous comments or connections that have absolutely no relevance to one's qualifications. Point is, the president has the responsibility to make the choice, that's it. Then it's the Senate's responsibility to confirm or reject the nominee. So, you are wrong, they do have power to do something about it. You may want to read the constitution, again.

        "It's funny how the party that screams loudest about following the Constitution only wants it followed when it is in power."

        That statement is referring to Democrats, right??? Sure sounds like it, to me. Give me a break, that can easily be said for both sides.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Handsome Pete (May 09, 2010 11:08 pm ET)
      4 1
      We know what you are, Mr. Whelan. We're just looking for the nearest place to flush you.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by HardJustice (May 10, 2010 11:14 am ET)
      2 1
      No putting the Genie back in the bottle Mr. Whalen. If you didn't mean to imply Kagan was a whore, than what did you mean?

      "Ed Whalen is a pedophile, imbezzler, adulterer, kleptomaniac, and a traitor."

      Now, when someone calls me out on the previous statement, I will simply tell them that they have misunderstood my meaning and taken the sentence out of context. Limbaugh uses this tactic constantly.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by m5f (May 10, 2010 1:08 pm ET)
      1  
      Mr. Whelan is too intelligent (if, in my view, mostly wrongheaded) not to understand the implications of a choice phrase! The fourth woman to serve on the Supreme Court - ever and he doesn't see how such a turn of phrase might be ill advised? Normally, I am not particularly in the "politically correct" camp of my party but I do believe in calling out folks who aren't willing to stand by what they meant - both directly and by innuendo.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by doggeddem (May 10, 2010 11:25 pm ET)
      1  
      Either his use of the quote was based on ignorance of its meaning, or he was deliberately trying to insult Ms. Kagan in a completely vile way. In either case he has proven himself unqualified to be anyone's "judge." He really should lock himself inside his glass house and put away his rocks.
      Report Abuse

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