Ken Burns, the award-winning New Hampshire documentary filmmaker ("The Civil War" and recently "The War" to name just a few) has endorsed Dem Barack Obama -- and spoke out despite a desire to remain mum about his choice because he's become "disappointed" with the tone of the overall campaign thrust of the past two weeks by a candidate and former First Lady by the name of Hillary Clinton. "I think she's getting bad advice," said Burns in a conference call with reporters. He spent most of his talking about he was attracted to Obama and his "positive, unironic" vision for the country. Burns said that Obama was the most "authentic" of candidates and one necessary to face the many challenges the country faces -- and one who can inspire the country to tap into "the better angels of our nature." In the synchronicity department, the Clinton folks held a conference call a few mintues earlier talking about an alleged "negative" mailer put out by the Obama campaign. The irony of the two events was unmistakable.
Dem Joe Biden has an opinion on everything -- even when you don't ask him for one. Well, never bashful Joe sent out a gem of a release today blasting an endorsement -- that of right wing legal grinch Robert Bork giving his seal of approval to GOPer Mitt Romney. It connected the historical dots, especially the personal ones between Biden and Bork who likely don't share Christmas cards -- after all Biden played no small part in derailing Bork's Supreme Court nomination in 1987. Here's the release in all its rhetorical glory:
“The hallmark of Robert Bork’s judicial philosophy has been his consistent refusal to acknowledge a constitutional right to privacy. That’s why I led the fight in 1987 to keep Judge Bork off the Supreme Court. In my view, his endorsement of Gov. Romney is not something to tout; it’s a damning portent of the judicial philosophy Romney would promote as President. The last thing we need after 8 years of the Bush Administration’s policies of eavesdropping on Americans, extra-legal renditions, and refusal to define waterboarding as torture, is another 8 years of recklessness with our constitutional rights. If Gov. Romney is serious about leading the United States, I urge him to repudiate Judge Bork’s narrow view of the Constitution and acknowledge our privacy rights as individuals.
“The truth is, our next president will have the responsibility of picking at least one, but probably two, Supreme Court justices. We cannot afford to cede an inch to the radical right when it comes to appointing justices who could put the Supreme Court on a more conservative trajectory for the next decade or more. Back in ‘87 when I led the fight to keep Robert Bork off the Supreme Court, I did so because he made it clear that he did not support the constitutional right to privacy recognized in Roe v. Wade and Griswold v. Connecticut, which have long served as the legal underpinnings of a woman’s right to reproductive choice.
“And let’s not forget that Robert Bork paved the way for Richard Nixon to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox after he requested tapes of Oval Office conversations. We find ourselves in a similar situation today, having learned that an administration official in the CIA had destroyed videotapes of the CIA's use of severe interrogation techniques on detainees held in secret, extra-legal prisons. Now, the Department of Justice is actually standing in the way of a congressional investigation into this corruption. The continuing saga of cover-up and delay by this administration must be stopped.
“We don’t need another President who will further erode the balance of power so vital to our nation’s well-being. Judge Bork’s endorsement of Gov. Romney makes me wonder if he shares Bork’s view of excessive Presidential authority.”
Congrats to Dem Chris Dodd for stopping the FISA reauthorization bill with an eight-hour filibuster that stopped the legislation in its tracks. Nice to see a Dem with some procedural guts for once. Wouldn't it have been interesting if fellow Dem presidential candidates Clinton, Obama and Biden had stopped campaigning and joined Dodd on the floor instead of merely supporting him with words? In my daily link, blogger Scott Thill offers an ode of appreciation to Dodd for showing a spark of leadership.
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