GOP AND THE RACE CARD

I know that Senator Rick Santorum has been called the mad dog, why I do not know, but after reading his Op-Ed Piece in the Washington Post yesterday I am starting to think a new nickname may be in order. Idiot comes to mind, or maybe "race card player", although I doubt Santorum would go for either suggestions. Still, when you consider what he wrote, it is apparent that Santorum has no problem dropping the race card.

In his piece, Santorum compared two judicial nominees who had not yet been approved by congress. Now, just like in those "Highlights" Magazines from when I was a kid, lets compare the paragraphs written about the nominees and find the differences. The first nominee mentioned, is Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen. Santorum writes: "It has been almost four years since President Bush nominated Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Since then the Senate has held two hearings, conducted many days of floor debate, analyzed Owen's judicial opinions down to the last comma and attempted four times to invoke cloture so that debate could finally be concluded and the Senate could take an up-or-down vote on her nomination.

Not only has Owen withstood this intensive examination, she has shown time and again that the American Bar Association got it right when it unanimously awarded her its highest possible rating. She was also reelected with 84 percent of the vote in 2000 and had the endorsement of every newspaper in Texas. Owen has earned the support of a clear majority of senators."

Alright, that seems fine, now lets look at how Santorum referred to another nominee, Justice Janice Rogers Brown.

"This July will mark almost two years since the president nominated Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Brown started life as the daughter of a sharecropper in the segregated South and through hard work and determination became the first African American woman to serve on California's highest court. In 2002 she was called upon by her colleagues to write the majority opinion more often than any other member of the California Supreme Court. She was retained with 76 percent of the vote in her last election. In short, Brown has shown herself to be unquestionably trustworthy, highly intelligent and well within the mainstream, and she has earned the enthusiastic support of a majority of the U.S. Senate."

Now, can you spot the difference? If you said that Santorum's bit about Owen seemed to make her case based on her credentials alone, but his piece on Owen played the race card, then you win. Of course, you probably do not feel like much of a winner as you probably feel some level of disgust towards Santorum. That is a common reaction when dealing with the "Mad Dog".

The Bush Administration has nominated numerous minorities to different positions, including Alberto Gonzales and Condoleezza Rice, however I think a persons gender or skin color is far less important than their political record. Opposition towards Alberto Gonzales did not come about because he was , rather it came about because he played a key roll in when it came to the torturing of "enemy combatants."

The Gadflyer notes that on several occasions in which a minority was nominated by the Bush White House, other GOP leaders have made public comments which the candidates. Senator Trent Lott said that Migue Estrada's nomination was held up "because he's ".

Senator Orrin Hatch said in regards to Judge Owen that the nomination was being opposed "because she is a woman in public life who is to have personal views that some maintain should be unacceptable for a woman in public life to have." Hatch added that this sexism "represents a new glad ceiling for woman jurists, and they have come too far to duffer now having their feet bound up just as they approach the tables of our high courts." ? Graceful Senator Hatch, very graceful.

The is that the GOP knows that the people they have put forward would never be approved by the Democrats, and rather then go head to head with the Donkey on the issues, they would rather place the race card, or gender card, in the hopes of gaining sympathy for their nominations. However, when you read comments such as the ones made by Senators Hatch, Lott, or Santorum, you come to realize that the only time they care about race or gender is when it would help their party. The GOP is more concerned with their Right Wing Policy and Conservative Agenda than they will ever care about equality.

Ryan Oddey
Ryan@TAFMess.com