tweeking what Palin says "Even a dead fish floats in mainstream"

Gosh, Tim, why are you surprised?

You should know by now that everyone in Obama's administration, and all his appointees are, like the President himself, Centrist, Moderate,  Mainstream.

That's their story and they're stickin' to it.

There are only two types of ideology in this country....the "normal," (liberals), and right-wing extremists.

I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows.  -Bart Simpson

So WaPo reporters Barnes, Shear and Bacon cite "one recent study" (Brennan Center) which completely contradicts the WaPo's own in-house analysis as reported by WaPo reporter Jerry Markon just two days before?

From the WaPo in-house study -

"Sotomayor's votes came out liberal 59 percent of the time, compared with 52 percent for other judges who, like her, were appointed by Democratic presidents. Democratic appointees overall were 13 percent more liberal than Republican appointees, according to the database analysis."

Yet the Brennan Center study states;["Sotomayor] fit comfortably in the mainstream, if on the liberal edge of it." ?!?

Why the discrepancy?

Turns out the WaPo in-house analysis "reviewed all 46 of her [Sotamayor] cases in which the 2nd Circuit issued a divided ruling, nearly 900 pages of opinions. Although Sotomayor has heard about 3,000 cases, judicial scholars say split decisions provide the most revealing window into ideology because in such cases the law and precedent are often unclear, making them similar to cases heard by the Supreme Court."  Makes sense.

On the other hand, as concerns the Brennan Center study, per author Monica Youn, (as transcribed from Youn's appearance on Hardball...heh,heh)  "We thought that we would focus on cases in which a  constitutional issue was raised, whether that would be a 1st Amendment claim, a civil rights claim, criminal cases in which a due process violation was alleged."   Youn isn't as clear as the WaPo study in why they chose those particular cases; however, it is interesting to note that in most of the cases used in the Brennan Center study, Sotamayor didn't actually give a ruling but only voiced an opinion of the ruling.  Youn gave no indication of how many of those cases were similar to cases heard by the Supreme Court.  It appears Youn's study focused more on painting Sotamayor as being in the concensus with the opinions of other members of the 2nd circuit rather than focusing, like the WaPo in-house study, on cases with a divided ruling.  Interesting.

Some other potetntially damaging findings on Sotomayour from the WaPo in-house analysis -

"Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's opinions show support for the rights of criminal defendants and suspects, skepticism of corporations, and sympathy for plaintiffs alleging discrimination." (the exception obviously being fire fighters that are not in a minority)   Hardly mainstream - at least not yet.

"Legal experts said Sotomayor's rulings fall within the mainstream of those by Democratic-appointed judges."  Oh, that mainstream.

...I guess she is.

-Dave

"Obama's health care 'reform' plan is to blow up the building in order to fix a leak in the roof." - Herman Cain

This Washington Post piece is Exhibit No. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,001 demonstrating the favorite technique of leftist political activists writing for leftist political advocacy groups like the Washington Post, to wit: dutifully swallowing a press release from a like-minded leftist political advocacy group (in this case the self-described Brennan Center for [so-called] Justice) and then regurgitating said press release and calling it "news". 

I particularly enjoyed the false allegation made by leftist political activists Robert Barnes, Michael Shear, and Perry Bacon: "The allegation [of Sotomayor's lawlessness] has also been refuted by a series of studies that show Sotomayor's decisions in 17 years as a district judge and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit fit comfortably in the mainstream, ...."

"[H]as been refuted" according to whom?  Answer: Barnes, Shear, Bacon and their like-minded leftists at the self-described Brennan Center for [so-called] Justice.

Again I see NYT and WaPO showing their true colors. PC is no way to go thru life. Media with no cahones is not my idea of patriotism. My money and good will go totally vaporous in observing these outlets' trashing facts with slander or character assassination. At times I believe some these two practice Saul Alinsky's methods. Easiest way to lose outlets such as these is to let them hang themselves......

TRH

...how about we have a recall vote on Senator/Congressperson so and so....