As consolation prizes go, Louis Butler can't complain. After being twice rejected by Wisconsin voters for a place on the state Supreme Court, the former judge has instead been nominated by President Obama to a lifetime seat on the federal district court. If he is confirmed, Wisconsin voters will have years to contend with the decisions of a judge they made clear they would rather live without.All those conservatives who thought it might be better for John McCain to get beat and come back with a better candidate in 2012 should keep this in mind for future elections. There's no virtue in losing, especially when you're losing to a radical like Obama. The nation will get stuck with judges like Butler...and for that matter Sonia Sotomayor... for a long, long time.
Judge Butler served on the state Supreme Court for four years, enough time to have his judicial temperament grow in infamy. Having first run unsuccessfully in 2000, he was appointed by Democratic Governor Jim Doyle to the seat vacated by Justice Diane Sykes in 2004. But after serving four years, voters had seen enough of his brand of judicial philosophy, making him the first sitting justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in four decades to lose a retention election last year.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
This is Why Elections Matter
Because presidents get to appoint federal judges to lifetime positions:
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5 comments:
Elections DO matter. So shame on all the conservatives who sat out the last presidential election. That was just a stupid temper tantrum with consequences we are just beginning to deal feel.
Correction: ...we are just beginning to feel.
Sen McCain would not have offered up better judges because he could never have gotten them confirmed. Perhaps a slightly lesser left leaning, but left all the same.
And the more damaging thing would be that these were 'Republican' nominees.
I'm with Robert on this one. I used to be in Nightingale's camp, but I think perhaps this country needs to see up close and personal the effects of their choices. Conservatives rallying around conservatism is preaching to the choir. It's everybody else out there who needs to understand why Obama and Company are a disaster.
And now they're finding out.
Ann & Robert, I respect your point of view, but your advice is a huge gamble.
It's like the parent who has told his (prodigal) son over and over again how to be successful, but he won't listen. So the parent leaves him to his own devices, hoping he'll come to his senses. In the Bible, the son did come to his senses. But our history is rife with nations that never recovered their blunders.
This is our country we're talking about. A country that has been a beacon of freedom to the world. Sure, folks are "finding out" what a mistake they made in the last election, but what if there's no turning back? What if in throwing that temper tantrum in Nov 2008, our country was sent down a road from which it will not recover? That's a gamble I wouldn't want to take.
McCain is a huge disappointment, but Obama is dangerous. That is a huge difference.
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