Wake Me When It's Over

Last week I reported on Lawrence O'Donnell's new MSNBC show "The Last Word," and I guessed what sort of an identity he would cultivate as the host of his own program. Having finally had the opportunity to watch it, I know exactly what his identity is going to be.

He's going to be MSNBC's resident bore.

Listen, I'm not one of those conservative pundits attacking liberals for being boring and wonkish, and now I'm accusing Lawrence O'Donnell of being just that, so you can take my appraisal to the bank. I had MSNBC on during the 10 PM Eastern Time hour, and O'Donnell was just . . . not . . . interesting. Bear in mind that I was watching him while on my PC. I don't normally have the TV on while online, but when I have Keith Olbermann, or maybe Chris Matthews, on while online, I sometimes find myself paying more attention to their ramblings than whatever blog I'm writing, whatever Facebook post I'm looking at, or whatever Flickr photos I'm uploading. O'Donnell doesn't distract me like that. For from being animated like Olbermann, Matthews or the wonderful Ed Schultz - or even being bitingly witty like Rachel Maddow - he's incredibly dull, a sleeping pill in a two-piece suit. Whatever appeal he had as a fill-in host has been lost as a host of his own show. Maybe, given time, O'Donnell will find his voice. But it's worth remembering that MSNBC shows that don't catch on right away (Phil Donahue, anyone?) don't get much of a chance to catch on at all.

Maybe it's that Boston intellectual thing O'Donnell has going with him. Matthews is also a Washington insider like O'Donnell, but he's a Philadelphia street kid who knows how to play hardball, hence the name of his show. O'Donnell is more cerebral, perhaps too so for television. Maybe that's why "Mister Sterling," the NBC congressional drama he produced, only lasted half a season - as a spring replacement series.

Meanwhile today is the first Monday of October, and for the first time since "Chicago" - not the revival that's been running since 1996, the original production - opened on Broadway, John Paul Stevens is not on the Supreme Court. Sadly, neither is his replacement, Justice Elena Kagan - at least not as much as someone else would be. See, Kagan has to recuse herself from nearly half of the cases coming up before the Court this term because she was instrumental in several cases reaching the Court as Solicitor General. And all that jazz. It now looks like several cases might be deadlocked in tie votes, letting lower court rulings stand.

Let me know how much of an impact Justice Kagan will have on the Court's direction. I'll be taking a nap. Most likely with the television on.

Say, on MSNBC, at around ten or so.

Justice Kagan

So it's official: Having been confirmed by the Senate, Elena Kagan now becomes the newest Supreme Court, replacing 35-year veteran John Paul Stevens.

Some people have made a big deal about how there are now six Catholics and three Jews on the Supreme Court, without a single Protestant. Religious affiliation shouldn't matter, but it does; it's only a matter of time before there's another abortion case, and that gay marriage ruling in California is coming right at the Court, possibly at the end of the coming term.

In any case, Justice Kagan should help to move the Court to the center. Some say she'll move it in a liberal, progressive direction that " the American people" (i.e., Republicans) don't want, but that's only because the conservative majority has pushed it so far to the right that any move away from reactionarism will seem "liberal."

And now that there are three women on the Court, maybe it would be a good time to stop referring to the justices as "the Supremes." It's a stupid thing to do at any rate.

Lock And Load

The Supreme Court is never more entertaining than it is when it gets a decision completely wrong. As expected, the Court overturned a thirty-year handgun ban in Chicago, insisting that the right to self-defense is constitutionally guaranteed and cannot be denied. Justice Samuel Alito - of course - was the key point man in the 5-4 decision, and though he stated that the ruling allows for some sensible bans that address local concerns involving crime and violence in places like, say, Chicago, no one is really buying that. Gun control advocate Sarah Brady is vowing to continue the fight for sensible firearms legislation, and I'm sure she'll explain her case on CNN, or perhaps on Bonnie Hunt's show.

I fear that our cities are going to become much more dangerous and that economically depressed communities are going to become war zones that make Baghdad look civilized. Right now, I suspect Justice Alito is reading this and shaking his head, muttering, "Not true, not true."

Meanwhile, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are feeling their oats in their efforts to keep the Court as far to the right as possible. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has indicated that GOP filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is possible, citing her capacity to inject politics in the Court and create rights from whole cloth not specified in the Constitution, as well as her lack of experience as a jurist. Will anyone point out the the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is legislating from the bench and his immediate predecessor (for whom he clerked) had no experience as a judge before he was first appointed to the Supreme Court as an associate justice? Probably not.

Here's an update on Robert Byrd's Senate seat: Because he died five days before the thirty-month threshold before the end of his term, it would appear that there will in fact be such an election. However, there is an ambiguity in the West Virginia law regarding special Senate elections that set that threshold. Because West Virginia already held its primary elections in May, there may not be election after all, and whomever Governor Joseph Manchin appoints will likely serve out the remainder of Byrd's term. Also, because West Virginia allows the governor to wait ten days before declaring a vacancy for a congressional seat, and because that clause might also apply to a Senate seat, that would in fact, as noted earlier on this blog, take the term beyond the 30-month threshold.

The Democrats are likely hoping that a special election is not needed, although such an election is still theoretically possible. For the record, West Virginia hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1956 (ironically, in a special election), but in the current political climate, anything can happen. After all, look at the success of Scott Brown in Massachusetts - who according to a new poll, is more popular in the Bay State than either President Obama or Senator John Kerry.

The guns of politics are ready to fire.

I think I'll stop commenting on politics for awhile, it's too much goddamned work.

Elena Kagan

So what do I think of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Obama's choice to succeed John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court? I don't know, really, for she hasn't offered many clues to what kind of justice she would be.

Elena Kagan has been touted by the President as a "trailblazer," as she was the first female dean of Harvard's law school and developed a reputation there for being open to different points of view and building consensus. She's already served Obama as Solicitor General of the United States, arguing cases for the government. Her one failure? She argued to prevent elections from being tainted with corporate money on behalf of the citizens of the Union . . . but lost to Citizens United.

Maybe her lack of a paper trail is a good thing, because it won't start any ideological battles in the Senate confirmation hearings. Ideological battles have already started outside Washington, though, with right-wing talk radio commentators blasting Kagan for refusing to let military recruiters set up shop at Harvard Law School because she opposed their policy on gays openly serving in it. Some people have suggested that she is gay because she's been known to . . . brace yourself . . . play softball! Odd, given that softball is the female version of baseball, so organized to let women play the sport.

One battle that has already started is her lack of judicial experience, a condition that didn't bother Republicans when President Nixon named Assistant Attorney General William Rehnquist to replace the esteemed John Marshall Harlan II on the Supreme Court in 1971. Nor were Republicans ready to disagree with President George Bush when he named Clarence Thomas - with only two years' experience as a judge and a horrible record as director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - to the Court in 1991.

And if the vast judicial experience of Samuel Alito leads to rulings like Citizens United, I'll pass, thanks.

Actually, many liberals are disappointed with Kagan's selection because they find her too accommodating to conservative judicial philosophy. They don't think Kagan is liberal enough; they wanted someone as far to the left as Antonin Scalia is to the right. But given united Republican opposition against such a judicial appointment in the Senate - and given the fact that the United States remains at heart a center-right nation, an anomaly in the Western world - anyone hoping for Obama to bring about the second coming of William O. Douglas was bound to be disappointed.