The Dred Scott decision was bad, mmmkay?

[elperromagico]

And Pretzeldent Bush would never appoint Roger Taney to the Supreme Court. Not a chance.

Pretzeldent Bush won't forget Poland. And he won't appoint Roger Taney to the Supreme Court. He's workin' hard.

[Nancy Waterman]

1. That was bizarre about Dred Scott

I couldn't tell what he said or what he meant.

[elperromagico]

2. Bush remembered a brief sliver of his Government class. n/t

[skygazer]

4. Very brief

Since he wrongly said that slavery was not spelled out in the Constitution and that the Dred Scott decision was an opinion based on property rights.

Slavery was spelled out in the Constitution and each slave was counted as the equivalent of 2/3 of a person (I think I wrote 1/3 somewhere else but I believe it was 2/3). At any rate, it's in there. He still fails history.

[Bucky]

7. 3/5ths actually. Such a tragedy. Such a stain on our Constitution

I love that Constitution more than any other human acheivement. But the slavery thing will sit there and fester in our history books forever. Even at the height of the Enlightenment, we still had miles to go before we could live up to our ideals.

[skygazer]

10. Thanks

I'm so pumped, I can't think straight.

[lil-petunia]

17. the actual text in the constitution is

3 three fifths of all other Persons

[bloom]

6. It was probably the only court case he could think of ....N/T

[pa28]

8. He re-read his "Big book of American History" last week.

He was proud of remembering something so he thought he would show off a little bit.

[Carolinian]

3. In 1857 the US Supreme Court dealt abolitionists a blow with the Dred

Scott decision. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom, saying that he had become free by living in a free territory. The court ruled that African Americans were not citizens under the Constitution. Therefore, they did not have the right to file suit in federal court. The Court also ruled that the Missouri Compromise's restriction on slavery was unconstitutional. This ruling meant that Congress had no right to ban slavery in any federal territory.

(Just a little review from my son's 7th grade history book.) Bush mentioned Dred Scott but I couldn't understand why. Maybe it'll make sense when I read the transcript.

[Viking12]

5. Bush claimed Dred Scott was an "emotional" decision

When it's held up as an exemplar of the problem of "strict constrcutionism" by legal scholars.

[flaminbats]

13. He did?

My impression was * felt that case was an example of taking emotion out of justice. But most Americans want justice to be moral and compassionate, not cold and racist.

Bush not only flip-flops on basic political promises, but on defining core principles as well. What happened to being a compassionate conservative?

[Bucky]

9. Despite it all... props to the monkey.

Great, so the president is anti-slavery. That's like sooo important in the 21st century. I'm sure in Rove's fantasy world that constitutes an outreach to African American voters. In real life that just indicates how far back you have to go in history before you find a progressive cause that Bush believes in.

That, or he considers slavery a backdoor method to institute an affordable housing program.

[Thrill]

11. Wonder what Ed Gordon, Al Sharpton, and

guys like that are going to say about that comment

[soggy]

12. it's soo good to finally have a prez that's AGAINST slavery!

i think alabama might be in play now...

what resolute, strong leadership we have resonating from our president.

also, he thinks the holocaust was "just plain wrong"...

don't give up, special kids, you could be president one day too!

[nebula]

14. Let me get thsi straight

So Bush would make sure the next judge he appoints to the Supreme Court is opposed to slavery. Great. We're supposed to be impressed by that? What century is Bush living in?

Utterly bizarre man.

[Sparkly]

15. But this was his argument FOR strict constructionists

the very argument used in Dred Scott -- "It doesn't say in the Constitution that we have to consider slaves citizens."

I don't get it.

[newyawker99]

Hi nebula!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[newyawker99]

16. Hi nebula!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tanyev]

18. Isn't the Dred Scott case

part of Missouri history? I'm thinking he read about it on a fact sheet about Missouri they had prepared and he decided to throw it in there to make himself look knowledgeable, but in reality it shows that he has no grasp of the meaning of the case.