Antonin Scalia & Friends' One and Only Upside / THE FIFTH COLUMNIST by P.M. Carpenter

[Demeter]

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/carpenter/110

...Hence, in that sense, and from a purely political point of view, it could be argued that the malevolent Antonin Scalia and his injudicious brethren may have done Democrats a favor yesterday, by removing the fundamental issue of gun-ownership rights as a political one -- another issue that probably cost Gore his home state in 2000.


...And Obama got the better of it. In the unambiguously vaguest of statements he managed to appeal to red and blue and all hues in between by hailing the Supreme Court for siding with his opinion "that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms"; but, on the other hand, "I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures" -- some of which, unfortunately, and on yet another hand, the Supremes struck down yesterday...And by default, if nothing else, Obama can re-adopt a favorable position in the red states and now a defensible one in the blues: Hey, what can he do? It's the law of the land.

It's just one more potential right-wing weapon removed from McCain's political arsenal. Yet Obama himself, smartly, has been removing those weapons one by one all along -- easing himself strategically into general-election positions on fiscal policy and national security that are making the right's head ache.

As Maureen Dowd noted the other day, the right is experiencing immense frustration -- "Rove and Co. are nervous because they see that Obama ... is not going to be a chump, like some past Democratic candidates...."Rove" -- plus all the little Roves -- "is trying to spin his myths, as he used to do with such devastating effect, but it won’t work this time." ...It won't work because Obama has been one step ahead of them, each and every time and on each and every issue. And this particular time -- yesterday, that is -- Antonin Scalia & Friends may very well have aided, abetted and armed the enemy. Which is the only good thing one can say about the Supreme Court's decision. It made it even less likely that we'll ever have a President John McCain to appoint even more Antonin Scalias to the bench.

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[depakid]

1. It is a wondrous irony

That satisfaction of one of their longtime goals (and their stuanchest champion) should help to bring about their electoral defeat.