Comments on: Greenhouse gas

By: elibiker

elibiker — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:08:29 +0000

This is all infinitely sad, at the same time to witness the triumphalism of the chattering class and to recall the shameful Bork hearings. Judge Bork was – by far – the best and by far most brilliant teacher I studied under at Yale Law, a man of rigorous learning, keen power of analysis, wit and style. To think, moreover, of the opportunities lost in the misfired Republican appointments over the years – Stevens, Souter, Kennedy – is to weep. Get ready (I fear) for even much worse after November.

By: Steve Skubinna

Steve Skubinna — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:09:59 +0000

Interesting remark, Gaetano. Makes me wonder if Greenhouse supports the venerable “rape victims are all asking for it” argument. Somehow I suspect not.

By: gaetano catelli, ny, ny

gaetano catelli, ny, ny — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:56:14 +0000

i recall Linda Greenhouse’s getting the last word one week on Washington Week, when she screeched, voice soaring with upward inflection indicating (supposed) irony: “the REAL problem is the demand from *America*!”

the topic under discussion had been drug cartels south of the border. one wonders if the Solomonic Ms Greenhouse would likewise declare that the “real” problem with the tobacco industry lies with the demand by teenage smokers.

By: William Briggs

William Briggs — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:51:15 +0000

She uses the words “I” and “my” so many times in her essay that we can only infer that she must be astonishingly important. It will be a wonder if the Supreme Court can carry on without her.

Actually, it is obvious that she suffers from—if we can modify Mortimer—reporteritis, a disease characterized by “pomposity and self-regard” and the habit of giving pen “to private thoughts far, far better left” unwritten. The main symptom is readily apparent: Those who report on important events come to feel that they themselves are important. It is a sad thing to see and there is no cure.

By the way, did you know she went to—trumpets please—Yale? She might have forgotten to mention her ties to that institution more than half a dozen times.

By: jg

jg — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:11:43 +0000

Linda Greenhouse to Yale Law School? Are they this stunningly silly?

Bork really gave his attackers a beating in those hearings. They did not know it. It was as if a gifted playwright had used the “serious intellectual contest” to show the difference between an adult and a gang of children.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:04:46 +0000

That is what Google is for.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:04:06 +0000

Roger,
do you mean ‘apopemtic’, a valedictory farewell?

PS Of course I had to look it up. That’s what is for.

By: John N. Frary

John N. Frary — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:59:55 +0000

I remember that show well, the only hearing I ever watched and the only one for which I obtained the full transcripts.

The NYT editorialists treated it as a serious intellectual contest, with the mighty Arlen Specter as Bork’s leading contestant.

It was not. It was intellectual infanticide with Judge Bork playing King Herod. The clue to this was the group of Yale law students who were quoted as being upset that the Judge was not being adequately challenged on grounds of sensitivity and compassion rather than the law.

As if our judges should be chosen from the ranks of veterinarians!