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Richard Posner, a judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has long been considering a leading conservative legal thinker. However, in an interview with NPR yesterday, Posner said
“There’s been a real deterioration in conservative thinking. And that has to lead people to re-examine and modify their thinking.”I’ve become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy.”
Although Posner has never been considered a party-line conservative, he was a Reagan nominee considered ideologically solid enough to be a possible Supreme Court candidate in the Bush administration——albeit not enough to actually be nominated. Posner also has a huge amount of influence on American legal thought as one of the most widely cited judges and legal scholars in the country. It’s not that Posner’s comments will sway votes, after all he’s not exactly a celebrity. But the people paying attention to him will shape the direction of the law for decades to come. And if a leading conservative thinker has lost respect for the GOP, that’s worth noticing.
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RepubAnon on July 07, 2012 12:22 PM:
As many have observed, it isn't Judge Posner's views that have shifted - it's that the Overton Window has panned right. These days, the term conservative means what was once the lunatic fringe of the far right.
1980s New Deal Democrat = Today's Socialist/Communist
1980s Rockefeller Republican = Today's Liberal Democrat
1980s Core Republican = Middle-of-the-road Democrat
1980s Conservative Republican = Today's RINO
1980s Wacko-right fringe (Birchers, etc.) = Centrist Republicans...
JackD on July 07, 2012 12:26 PM:
I'll be impressed when Posner apologizes for his unprincipled defense of Bush v. Gore.
bleh on July 07, 2012 12:46 PM:
Clearly the Chicago O-mob has got to him. Or they're poisoning his tea. Or he's becoming senile. Or all three.
Whatever, he is failing conservatism, and he must be excommunicated. Expect Rush or some other loon slightly further back in the wingnut clown parade to stick a knife in his back fairly soon.
Cranky Observer on July 07, 2012 12:55 PM:
Forgive me if I am not entirely sympathetic to a person who deliberately ignites a forest fire intending to burn out the hippies who have colonized “his” territory and is surprised when the flames turn around and consume his friends’ town and his own house. Seems to me that Posner achieved 90% of what he set out to do as a young legal mind (thanks Bill Clinton!) and his backers have reaped the results; seems a bit wet to cry over the side effects at this point [1].
How’s the deregulation of the provision-of-electricity industry working out for the BosWash area at the moment? Good thing we were able to raise the salary of the CEO of PEPco from the traditional $400k to $20 million; we sure did get better service and lower prices as a result.
Cranky
[1] Particularly since regardless of what Posner may have believed those side effects were desired by his large-scale backers and may, indeed, have been the point of the exercise.
ngyAcco 6th, (4th get new challenge)
c u n d gulag on July 07, 2012 1:04 PM:
Goofy?
Goofy, isn't harmful.
"Goofy" was goofy.
Rather than goofy, how about 'tellin' it like it is?'
A combination of insane, stupid, and evil, which is what they are.
And they're killing this country, and want to do it quicker.
They are many things they are - goofy ain't one of them.
Still, it's nice to hear someone else finally woke-up and smelled the excrement.
PTate in MN on July 07, 2012 1:31 PM:
Agree with RepubAnon's assessment that the Overton Window has panned right.
Furthermore, I believe that we can explain why the Overton Window has shifted; vast sums of money have been systematically invested in identifying, selecting, training and placing stooges (eg, Michelle Bachman, Scott Walker, Chip Cravaack, Paul Ryan, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito), controlling media (Fox, WSJ, misc "pundits") funding "think tanks and groups (American Enterprise Institute, Cato, Tea Party) and political operatives (Karl Rove, Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich, Roger Ailes.) By working together and by manipulating a large and ill-informed electorate, they can effectively distort reality and amplify their influence.
And we can name the multi-billionaires who are doing the funding: the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, Bob "Swiftboat" Perry, Richard Mellon Scaife, Sheldon Adelson, others. A couple billion here and there buys a lot of "support."
Conservatives like Posner, Frum, Bartlett, Sullivan, and so on, are waking up one by one to the reality that the Republican Party no longer represents them, but that is not because the Republican Party is trending right. It is more appropriate to think about the Republican party as having been taken over by a small set of crazy bazillionaires and rededicated to protecting their interests.
Diane Rodriguez on July 07, 2012 1:37 PM:
Beginning with the appointment of Clarence Thomas, Conservative legal scholarship was left at the door of the Supreme Court next to the umbrellas and their sanity.
Describing the Republican party as "Goofy" is like describing a tsunami as a gentle wave. Believing that Posner's comment has some significant import is grasping at non existent straws and panders to the "let's all get along" meme. Similar to praising Robert's ACA decision when it was completely self serving. His primary purpose was to bolster his own legacy. Roberts is a true believer, he’s just more subtle about than Scalia.
michael nola on July 07, 2012 6:19 PM:
As bat shit crazy as the today's Repub party is(W would now be too liberal for them), it is this craziness which is never backed down from that has controlled the political discussion in this country no matter how often it is proven to be incorrect. Liberal sare always put on the defensive, and, even if most of the country disagress with them, for instance on continuing the Bush tax cuts, they win the day without controlling any of the branches of government. When was the last time the Dems forced the Repubs to back down without holding any of the Congress or WH?
It is precisely their little tent philosophy, strictly adhered to that day in and day out wins the day.
TCinLA on July 07, 2012 7:00 PM:
Posner has awakened late to the knowledge that a right winger is not a "conservative," the same way the German conservatives awakened too late to the knowledge that Hitler was not one of them no matter he said he was. One hopes Posner "seeing the light" is not too late but I suspect it is.
Marnie on July 08, 2012 7:14 AM:
As the Tea Party and NRA pull the Republican Party to extremes, it means little unless what Posner means by becoming less conservative means becoming more liberal or at least neutral or centrist.
I suspect it just means, since he names the Republican Party as his standard, that hopefully, he will become more an independent jurist and less a party apparatchik.
Basically, he just admitted he is an activist politically motivated judge, not a neutral jurist who administers the law impartially.
Justice is not his standard.
Rabbler on July 08, 2012 8:22 AM:
This is a serious error by Blogger Jacobs. It is either one of perception or intent. Perhaps he views Justice Robert's turning into a progressive as a tipping point.
John M on July 08, 2012 10:26 AM:
What's notable--and mystifying--are all the putatively intelligent "conservative thinkers" who have NOT lost respect for the GOP.
Bill Costley on July 09, 2012 7:03 AM:
Is all this subtle - or just timid?