After
all, we can depend on the fact that, for the New York Times,
whats good for the donkey is never good for the elephant.
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Black
and White in the Gray Lady
It
goes without saying that the mantra of The New York Times
Editorial Pages is "All the Leftist Propaganda Thats
Fit to Print." But sometimes the newspapers transparent
knee-jerk liberalism shocks even us.
Take,
for example, the Gray Ladys political hypocrisy when it comes
to appointment of federal judges:
Three
years ago, when Bill Clinton bypassed the confirmation process by
appointing Roger Gregory to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th
Circuit while the Senate was in recess, the Times Editorial
Board praised that Presidents decisive action, stating that
"Clinton rightly moved to address
the refusal by Congress
to consider judicial nominees with reasonable dispatch." The
newspaper went on to note that the vacancy filled by Judge Gregory
had been declared "a judicial emergency" and that "Congress
should act expeditiously
to reconsider its overall negligence
in filling vacancies on the federal bench."
What
a difference a change in administrations can make.
With
the current occupant of the White House, the Times took a
much different view this past week when President George W. Bush
used the recess appointment power to install Judge Charles Pickering,
Sr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit while the
Senate was again in recess. According to the Times
latest editorial contortion, the recess appointment of Judge Pickering
was "a finger in the eye for all those seeking
fairness in the [judicial] nomination process." Never mind
that Judge Pickering also filled a vacancy that had been declared
a judicial emergency. Never mind that Judge Pickering also waited
and waited for the Senate to consider his judicial nomination "with
reasonable dispatch." Never mind that President Bush exercised
the exact same power employed by Bill Clinton three years earlier
to the adulation of the Times.
Consistent
in its handling of virtually identical actions by two different
Presidents? Not exactly. But perhaps we have been looking for the
wrong type of consistency when it comes to the Gray Lady. After
all, we can depend on the fact that, for the New York Times,
whats good for the donkey is never good for the elephant.
[Posted
January 22, 2004]
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