Republicans and Filibustering Hypocrisy

Dahlia Lithwick, a liberal columnists at Slate has a longish article there entitled, "How many ways can Senate Republicans Show Breathless Hypocrisy".

Part of the article is on the issue of filibustering in the Senate. Part of the article is on the issue of claiming that the nominee hasn't been forthcoming on answers.

The second issue is impossible to address because I would need to do a legitimate statistical analysis of questions before nominees by party by type of nominee, etc.

The first issue is, at least at first take, easier to understand. The Lithwick hypothesis is that some Republicans accused Democrats of unethically (or unconstitutionally) filibustering judicial nominees and now Republicans threaten to filibuster judicial nominees.

This would be a reasonable hypothesis but for the fact that: Lithwick does not identify a single Republican who made that claim (she cites a newspaper article in the LATimes which says that both sides are changing their filibustering tactics). Similarly, she doesn't say the Republicans have filibustered anyone (they haven't) and she doesn't identify a single Senator who says he (or she) will filibuster.

I'm presuming that Lithwick is not so lazy or stupid as to be incapable of these citations. Thus I'm going to conclude she just likes the word 'hypocrisy' and the phrase 'breathless hypocrisy" (and they she herself is blinded by ideology).

The Imus Apology; The Obama Apology

Then Senator Obama wanted Don Imus (radio and TV commentator) fired for a comment that members of a women's basket team were "nappy headed hos". This was several days after Imus had apologized. Imus was eventually fired and after about a year he was rehired (Imus and Obama on the left).

A few days ago on the Jay Leno show, President Obama compared his own bowling ability to a "special olympics" level. Obama apologized. Nobody that I can find is calling for Obama's resignation or any punishment at all. The special olympics committee seems to have accepted Obama's apology.

Is Obama a hypocrite for not resigning when he called for Imus's firing over a similar insulting comment.

Well, one defense that Obama could make was that in his comment, Obma was making fun of Obama. Imus was making fun of other people. Its not a strong defense but probably is enough to avoid the hypocrite label.

Still there is a double standard here and what's more interesting is that none of the big media people pointed out Obama call for firing Imus during the 'special olympics' apology. In addition, given the way Obama is briefed and the way he prepares for interviews, there is a strong chance the 'special olympics' comment was pre-scripted.


A Politico report on Obama's special olympic comment is here.

An ABC report (from 2007) on the Obama call for firing Imus is here.

Below is the timeline for the 2007 events courtesy of blackjusticeblog:

4/4/07 Imus says "nappy headed hos."
4/6/07 Imus apologizes.
4/7/07 Sharpton calls for Imus to be fired.
4/11/07 The Boston Globe writes a piece about Obama's silence on the issue thus far. Sharpton, who has not endorsed any Presidential candidate, is interviewed.
4/11/07 Obama is interviewed by ABC and is the first presidential candidate to demand Imus' firing.
4/11/07 Obama appears on Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room. He condemns Imus without mentioning rap (subsequently he condemned both Imus and rap music).
4/11/07 Imus is fired from MSNBC.
4/12/07 Imus is fired from CBS.

Service Employees International Union is anti Union

As reported in an article in today's Washington Post, the SEIU (their logo is in the image) is engaged in a labor dispute with the Union representing its own workers. This Union hasfiled charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

As explained in the article,

"...The Service Employees International Union... has notified the union that represents about 220 of its national field staff and organizers that 75 of them are being laid off. In return, the workers' union, which goes by the somewhat postmodern name of the Union of Union Representatives, has filed unfair labor practices charges against SEIU with the National Labor Relations Board. The staff union's leaders say that SEIU is engaging in the same kind of practices that some businesses use -- laying off workers without proper notice, contracting out work to temp firms, banning union activities and reclassifying workers to reduce union numbers.

"It's completely hypocritical," said staff union President Malcolm Harris...

SEIU officials say the layoffs are part of a long-running plan to reallocate resources...."

I'm not familiar enough with the actual policy of the SEIU and the actual facts of the layoffs, contracting out, etc. to say whether this is a case of hypocrisy. But it is amusing.

Hypocrisy Contest

Over at Deceiver Madness they have a tournament, modeled on the NCAA Division I Basketball tournament.

People can go to the site and vote for winners of Hypocrisy runoffs.

The image to the left was done after the first round of winners.

I'm not going to comment on their definition of hypocrisy because they don't define it. They simply state that there is hypocrisy. Personally, I don't think the fact bear them out.

However, I like the idea of a contest done in this playoff format.

Big Nate:
Cartoon Hypocrite

The artist didn't use the word "hypocrite" here but its clear that he is making fun of Nate (dark spike hair guy) for criticizing people for doing what he himself is doing. This theme has been running for a couple of days now.