Assassins
Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who’s at the center of Sotomayor’s most controversial ruling.
On the eve of Sotomayor’s Senate confirmation hearing, her advocates have been urging journalists to scrutinize what one called the “troubled and litigious work history” of firefighter Frank Ricci.
This is opposition research: a constant shadow on Capitol Hill.
“The whole business of getting Supreme Court nominees through the process has become bloodsport,” said Gary Rose, a government and politics professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.
On Friday, citing in an e-mail “Frank Ricci’s troubled and litigious work history,” the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way drew reporters’ attention to Ricci’s past. Other advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue similar story lines.
McClatchy is sort of playing this both ways. They do write about the information that the pressure group wanted out. What is unusual is that they also lead the story with the fact that this pressure group – with a completely inappropriate name, incidentally – is the source of the information and is responsible for inciting vicious character assassination.
I’m getting very, very tired of the left’s scortched earth tactics at this point. I pray that this one finally backfires on them badly enough that it causes them to back off – if only a little.
This particular pressure group gets a lot of money from – wait for it – media companies themselves.
Who is wagging what right now?
By chuck, July 11, 2009 @ 6:58 pm
I think it is an exaggeration to say that they get a lot of money from the media, at least based on the article you linked to.
By Bleepless, July 11, 2009 @ 7:16 pm
If the moral qualities of a party to a court case had anything to do with the legal issues involved, no appeal or appellate court decision would even mention such issues.
By Mwalimu Daudi, July 11, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
Chuck, why is the supposedly non-partisan media handing out money to left-wing hate groups in the first place? The amount is irrelevant.
By Gaius, July 11, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
PPB – Over the top here at BCB. Please do not post comments like this.
By Boy Named Sous, July 11, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
Joe the Plumber
Sarah Palin
Frank Ricci
Notice a pattern?
They set the precedent with Bork. The hit a speed bump with Thomas. But now, it’s becoming the standard approach for the Left in America: Don’t waste time trying to prove an opponent wrong, go straight after their personal life, their families, their reputations. Don’t defeat them, destroy them. Don’t just end careers, ruin lives.
When are we going to fight back? HOW do we fight back? Because if we don’t, it’s just going to get worse.
By Plumpplumber(balding), July 11, 2009 @ 11:06 pm
Okay, how do we stop the clear policy of personal destruction? Civilized society depends on certain norms being observed. What can be done to stop this barbaric behavior? Can we reason with them? How can we exact a price that makes such personal attacks counterproductive?
By Plumpplumber(balding), July 11, 2009 @ 11:11 pm
One other question – at what point do we on the center right finally decide that we can’t deal with the leftist MSM?
By martian, July 13, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Boy Named Sous, it’s going to be very difficult to fight back as the Bush Administration found over the last 8 years. As long as the MSM is nothing more than the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party it is nearly impossible to counter the tactics of the left. No matter what you say, it either doesn’t get reported at all or it gets slanted negatively to put you in a bad light. The MSM is the nutroots’ main weapon in destroying anyone whi dissents.