Not Politically Motivated

April 25, 2008 4:10 PM

Bush V. Gore: Scalia, "It's old news, get over it."
posted by Xurando (65 comments total)

For once, I'm inclined to agree with Scalia.
posted by dersins at 4:13 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

It would have been easier to get over if Bush hadn't turned out to be a disaster.
posted by found missing at 4:22 PM on April 25, 2008 [5 favorites]

.
posted by puke & cry at 4:23 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

Paging Dr. OutrageFilter...
posted by Slothrup at 4:23 PM on April 25, 2008

You know the real quote was "It's old news, get over it. Faggot."
posted by basicchannel at 4:23 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

I want to get all upset and snarky and hateful, but (damnit) he's right. It's been 8 years ago, there's really no point in arguing anymore. It's not like we can just erase George W. Bush being president.
posted by Cyclopsis Raptor at 4:24 PM on April 25, 2008

We do need to get over it... But we also need to stop letting these fuckers beat us because we're too chicken shit to make a stand. There certainly are times when it seems like lefties prefer to lose, so long as they can keep the moral high ground to bitch about it later.
posted by psmealey at 4:27 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

I don't see this discussion going anywhere very productive, when the article is so obviously (and, to its credit, unapologetically) axe-grinding.
posted by Kadin2048 at 4:27 PM on April 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Nobody - Left or Right - should have a free pass to 1) commit devious, immoral, and often illegal acts, 2) get away without consequences, and 3) expect their opposition to just "forgive and forget." The Republican Party has been doing this since the mid-90's, much like the Democrats did before that. As far as I'm concerned, if you vote for someone who you have decent reason to believe will engage in immoral/illegal activities, you are a co-conspirator and the law should treat you as such.

I give only one exception, and that is on the basis of the "lesser of two evils." Even that has its limits.
posted by mystyk at 4:27 PM on April 25, 2008

Hm. An electoral fiat by a conservative court that favored an incompetent president who lost the popular election, and, had all the votes been counted, may have lost in Florida? Well, thank goodness it's a judge appointed by a Democrat telling us to get over it, and, even better, one who had no hand in the vote that overturned the essential democratic process, replacing it with cronyism, partisan bullying, and decisions made through the back door, without the unpleasantness or messiness of relying on the will of the people.

Oh, wait. Antonin Scalia? Fuck him.
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:29 PM on April 25, 2008 [14 favorites]

meh.
posted by empath at 4:35 PM on April 25, 2008

And thus, the American Dream died, not with a bang, but with a "meh."
posted by stenseng at 4:40 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

Scalia probably would have told blacks to "get over" Plessy v. Ferguson, too.
posted by msalt at 4:49 PM on April 25, 2008 [4 favorites]

You know, there's a difference between "not wasting too much time obsessing over a corrupt, blatantly political decision that threw the country into a hole it won't get out of for many years" and "getting over it and accepting the fact that our democracy is a sham." Some people here seem to be leaning towards the latter, which is obviously what Scalia and his fellow minions of Satan want.
posted by languagehat at 4:57 PM on April 25, 2008 [16 favorites]

And thus, the American Dream died, not with a bang, but with a "meh."

It's true. After the Supreme Court effected the coin toss in this absolutely neck and neck contest, America gave up on the electoral process. Why, many Americans are not aware that there is an election scheduled for this very year!

However in a sign of how badly the American Dream has suffered, one of the parties can't even find a white guy to run. Believe it or not, they're fielding a black and a woman. That's what a sham the process has become.

It's sad now looking around. Even the media can't be bothered to cover the presidential race. For the ever disaffected youth, the American Dream is deader than ever. It's like no one even cares any more.
posted by tkolar at 4:57 PM on April 25, 2008 [10 favorites]

The Constitution is a couple of hundred years older news than Bush v. Gore, Justice Scalia-- I suppose this is your way of telling us to get over it as well, just as you have obviously done.
posted by jamjam at 5:06 PM on April 25, 2008

"not wasting too much time obsessing over a corrupt, blatantly political decision that threw the country into a hole it won't get out of for many years"

Really? The Supreme Court disenfranchises maybe 10,000 voters in Florida and they get the blame for Bush's entire presidency? Even after we, the American electorate, clearly chose to keep him in 2004?

Come to think of it there's a fairly high chance we chose to elect him in 2000 as well. We'll just never know thanks to the Supreme Court's interference.
posted by tkolar at 5:09 PM on April 25, 2008

... Nope. Not over it. Never will be. Don't really see why I should be.
posted by kyrademon at 5:13 PM on April 25, 2008 [10 favorites]

I just read The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin. Really good book about the Supreme Court since the Reagan Era. And the embarrassing political motivations of some of the justices. Learned a lot. Worth reading.

This quote was in it, by the way, so I'm thinking it's not the first time Scalia has thrown around that phrase.
posted by not that girl at 5:14 PM on April 25, 2008

He said the notion that the decision was politically motivated is “nonsense,” and proceeded to blame Al Gore for filing suit in the first place. “It was Al Gore who made it a judicial question…. We didn’t go looking for trouble. It was he who said, ‘I want this to be decided by the courts,’” Scalia said.

How bizzare, Bush sued Gore. That's why it's called "Bush v. Gore" and not "Gore v. Bush".

You'd think a supreme court justice would know the difference, but I guess not.
posted by delmoi at 5:21 PM on April 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'd be less inclined to agree with him if your countrymen hadn't proceeded to validate the decision 4 years later...
posted by Pinback at 5:27 PM on April 25, 2008

Dear Americans.

Please impeach your president.

Thank you,
The Rest of the World.
posted by Jerub at 6:02 PM on April 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

How bizzare, Bush sued Gore. That's why it's called "Bush v. Gore" and not "Gore v. Bush".

You'd think a supreme court justice would know the difference, but I guess not.

Wrong.

Bush was appealing Gore's lawsuit. Gore initiated the lawsuit. Convention in U.S. courts is for the appellant (in the case of the Supreme Court, the "petitioner") to have his name first in the title of a case. Hence, Bush v. Gore, because Bush requested the S.Ct. to review Gore's lawsuit.

Not taking sides.
posted by jabberjaw at 6:06 PM on April 25, 2008 [5 favorites]

Lots of blame to go around—the idiots who designed the butterfly ballot, the dolts who couldn't figure out how to use it, the blowhards who voted for Nader. But I think the Supreme Court actually did the country a favor in ending the absurdity when it did. And the notion that Gore somehow deserved the presidency because he won the popular vote is an utter non-starter. Unless and until the Constitution is changed, winning the popular vote doesn't mean diddly.
posted by stargell at 6:12 PM on April 25, 2008

"Old news"?Hardly. It's history ... a very dark, dirty piece of world changing American history. "Get over it"? Scalia sounds like a pimply faced skate boarder.
posted by chance at 6:37 PM on April 25, 2008

Astro Zombie:

An electoral fiat by a conservative court that favored an incompetent president who lost the popular election

Irrelevant.

and, had all the votes been counted, may have lost in Florida?

I remember reading/hearing that the newspapers counted the votes themselves afterwards and Gore still lost.

Bush is still incompetent and the decision was ridiculous law. But Bush won the election, aside from the disenfranchisement and/or harrassment of minority voters. On behalf of Florida, and for what it's worth, I apologize for Katherine Harris.
posted by vsync at 6:49 PM on April 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Why, many Americans are not aware that there is an election scheduled for this very year! ...

It's sad now looking around. Even the media can't be bothered to cover the presidential race. For the ever disaffected youth, the American Dream is deader than ever. It's like no one even cares any more.


My apologies if your comments are meant as sarcasm. My irony filter is off tonight. But you can't possibly be serious. Primaries are pulling in record numbers of voters, and voter registration is way up. Americans are paying more attention to this presidential race than any presidential race in a generation. Even the media can't be bothered to cover it? What the hell media are you referring to? You'd be hard-pressed to find a media organization NOT covering this election.
posted by TBoneMcCool at 6:49 PM on April 25, 2008

And the notion that Gore somehow deserved the presidency because he won the popular vote is an utter non-starter.

It is, and I wish people in the media and regular joes would stop bringing that up. It's a minor technicality without any consequence. The problem was that it came down to Florida, where there were so many blatant appearances of impropriety and conflict of interest it's laughable that we consider ourself superior to any third world country in our hemisphere. The president's fucking brother was governor of the state the the Republican Party Chair (Katherine Harris) was also effectively, as Sec'y of State, in charge of certifying the election. Seriously. What. The. Fuck.

All the Supreme did was to ratify all this madness.

Look, it's a remote possibility that the whole thing was done by the book, but with all the cronies in charge up and down the food chain, and that none of them would recuse themselves from the process in favor of more impartial players with less personally at stake, it looked dirty as hell.

From a distance, it was pretty clear that every successive recount was bringing Gore closer and closer to Bush in terms of the popular vote in Florida, then it went to the Supremes and poof! it was all over.

Yeah, we need to get over it, but it's still pretty insulting to hear that line of shit from Fat Tony.
posted by psmealey at 6:56 PM on April 25, 2008 [4 favorites]

"I love the Kennedy assassination, but people... they say to me, "That was a long time ago, Bill, get over it. It was a long time ago!" "Oh yeah, well, then, don't come up talkin' about Jesus to me, if shelf life is your concern."
-Bill Hicks
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:56 PM on April 25, 2008 [24 favorites]

It’s become a fairly common refrain, hasn’t it? The right does something offensive, the left gets mad when there are no consequences, time elapses, and the right, annoyed by lingering resentment, tells the left to “get over it.”

Bears repeating. Bitch about it sooner, you're "playing the blame game." Bitch about it later, you're living in the past and should just get over it already.

Anyways, can we still blame it all on Nader? 'Cause that never gets old.
posted by brundlefly at 7:05 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

He says "get over it" in nearly every Q&A session and public appearance he's held for the past 7 years. It's his catchphrase. It doesn't become news just because it's on 60 Minutes.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:11 PM on April 25, 2008

Lots of blame to go around—the idiots who designed the butterfly ballot, the dolts who couldn't figure out how to use it, the blowhards who voted for Nader.

Ohh, don't forget the hundreds of thousands on non-felon idiots who got their names removed from the voting rolls with no recourse before the elections due to a 'computer glitch' by a third party contractor hired by Katherine Harris.

But I think the Supreme Court actually did the country a favor in ending the absurdity when it did.

It would have "ended" if the Supreme Court had just let the Florida Supreme court decision stand, which was to have a recount. There was no reason not to ensure all the ballots were counted.
posted by delmoi at 7:24 PM on April 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

What part of "The United States is the Only Free Nation on Earth" do you people not understand?
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:28 PM on April 25, 2008

What part of "The United States is the Only Free Nation on Earth" do you people not understand?

oaf is posting in this thread now?
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:29 PM on April 25, 2008

Scalia is right: wevs. The whole 2000 election should be a lesson to anyone who's inclined to feel nationalist sentiments. Rich white people run your government, as er they shall until the fall of Washington. Don't get despondent about it, things will get better eventually. It only took Rome what, a couple thousand years to fall? And it's still there with over a billion constituents, only now it's called a religion.

But yeah, I seem to recall that Gore won the popular vote by a significant margin. When a nation chooses throw the public sentiment aside and go ahead and let Florida decide who will be president, it gets what it deserves.

tkolar writes "For the ever disaffected youth, the American Dream is deader than ever. It's like no one even cares any more."

Hey, this year's Burning Man* theme is "American Dream" without any irony (Serious! They have banned burning flags this year, proving that they are now less wild and expressive than the US Government). So it's indeed dead, but it's in heaven now with zombie Jesus and my cat.
posted by mullingitover at 7:31 PM on April 25, 2008

There was no reason not to ensure all the ballots were counted

ya sure about that?
posted by tachikaze at 7:32 PM on April 25, 2008

Roe v. Wade: Scalia, it's old news, get over it.
posted by Makoto at 7:40 PM on April 25, 2008 [7 favorites]

Well, yeah Scalia would want people to get over it. I mean if I made a decision that fucked up an entire country for most of a decade I'd want people not to talk about it either.

It was a controversial historic decision, I don't think people are not going to talk about it for a long long time, even if they can't do anything about it. When his obit is written it will have a line in it referencing hat decision.
posted by edgeways at 7:49 PM on April 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

So, I guess Scalia will be voting that any sentence over eight years is cruel and unusual, right? Because, y'know no matter what the consequences or degree of guilt, it's old news. Odd, isn't it, that he's all in favor of OTHER people's misdeeds affecting THEIR lives beyond eight years?
posted by tyllwin at 8:04 PM on April 25, 2008

Aside from the fact that it's an incredibly unprofessional and rude (not to mention ironic) thing to say, Scalia's stock line about Bush v. Gore disgusts me most because it's *precisely* the kind of thing Ari Fleischer, Tony Snow, or George Bush would say. It's got the exact same blend of piggish truculence and supercilious contempt.
posted by facetious at 8:06 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

i turned 18 about 20 days after the Bush vs. Gore decision. Almost the entirety of my adult life has been lived with GW as my country's president.

its been a hard 7 years and couple of months for me. i don't blame GW, or Scalia, or anyone for my personal troubles. but geesh! if you knew what it was like to need a root canal deal and not have dental insurance! or to bike to work every day and worry about getting creamed by a semi knowing you don't have healthcare.

or to know that the money that could care for your health for the rest of your life (money taken from your salary) explodes in the few milliseconds in which a bomb is dropped in some foreign country.

though i'm better for it personally, our america or whatever isn't.

so, from the depths of my heart- fuck you GW, Scalia, and everyone else involved. if there is a history of this miserable country it won't remember you well.
posted by localhuman at 8:24 PM on April 25, 2008 [6 favorites]

Hmmm. Nope. Sorry. They stole an entire country, with your help. Don't think there's a Statute of Limitations on that, Tony.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 8:26 PM on April 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Actually vsync, the newspaper study, as I remember it, said that if all the votes were counted Gore won. If the recount was done the way Gore requested it though, Gore lost.
posted by rfs at 8:30 PM on April 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

don't get mad, get even
posted by pyramid termite at 8:33 PM on April 25, 2008

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:45 PM on April 25, 2008 [4 favorites]

• Bush v. Gore: Scalia, "It's old news, get over it."
• On the Constitution: Bush, "It’s just a goddamned piece of paper."
• On Diebold's voting machines: Diebold CEO O'Dell, "We're committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to [Bush] next year."
• ...meh, whatever, this is just too much effort
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:50 PM on April 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

To reiterate, because I can't bring myself to do much of anything that Antonin Scalia tells me to do: The Media Consortium Florida Ballot Project had Gore up by 171 had there been a full state recount, and Bush up by 225 had Gore's request gone through.
posted by Weebot at 8:53 PM on April 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

My civil rights and liberties class has us reading various Supreme Court opinions. It gets pretty boring at times, and I have to struggle through some of them. But not when it's a Scalia dissent. I like to picture him in the corner of the room flailing angrily and throwing things at the other justices whenever something doesn't go his way. Occasionally he tells everyone to get off his lawn. It makes reading the cases infinitely more fun.

...That being said, I'm not inclined to take anything Scalia says seriously. This is no exception.
posted by lilac girl at 9:16 PM on April 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

"Get over it..." ?!

Um, how about no.
posted by louche mustachio at 9:33 PM on April 25, 2008

That was a good two minutes hate. What's up for tomorrow?
posted by Leon-arto at 10:09 PM on April 25, 2008

oaf is posting in this thread now?

If you're going to try to insult me, get it right. Jeez.
posted by oaf at 10:21 PM on April 25, 2008

What's up for tomorrow?

It's the weekend and spring has nearly sprung. We'll throwing some USDA Grade A American flags on the barbecue whilst chanting passages from the Qur'an. Be there or be square.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:05 PM on April 25, 2008

The funny part about all of this is the belief that Gore-Lieberman have been any different than Bush-Cheney.

Why does tree hugging, fuzzy wuzzy Al get a pass for picking a warmonger like Lieberman as his VP?
posted by three blind mice at 12:26 AM on April 26, 2008

Vaffanculo, asshole.
posted by MikeKD at 4:11 AM on April 26, 2008

then why doesn't Scalia -- and his millions of antiabortion fans -- get over Roe v Wade?
posted by matteo at 4:30 AM on April 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Scalia might as well just admit he's a fascist and working for the fucking clampdown;

The guy is a serious clown, in a serious clown suit
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:38 AM on April 26, 2008

Oh, and I am still not "over it" vis a vis Bush v Gore, because Bush is still there, asshole
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:39 AM on April 26, 2008

Scalia is a classless thug who wangled his way onto the Supreme Court by consistently favoring the rich, and he behaves arrogantly whenever he's in public. Get over it.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:56 AM on April 26, 2008

Why does tree hugging, fuzzy wuzzy Al get a pass for picking a warmonger like Lieberman as his VP?
posted by three blind mice

Because it was a choice to counter-balance his perceived extreme liberalism (with an avowed Clinton critic and conservative democrat), add a historic tinge to his ticket (ooo, the first jewish VP, OOOO! that's almost as exotic as having the son of the last GOP president run!). He also was a good fundraiser, which is the deciding factor in many many ticket choices (that, and helping to bring in votes from another demographic/region of the country).

Gore was basically responding to the Press corps, which was resentful of the Clinton admin.
He was scrutinized to a much higher level than Bush, and made to defend himself against lies created by the press corps themselves (internet creation boast) because THEY SUCK AT THEIR JOB. Their interest lies in having a 50/50 race, all the time. a nailbiter, a horserace, something to sensationalize. Kind of like how they're doing with Clinton/Obama now. A cold read of the facts would end the race, but then there'd be a dearth of election coverage/ratings until late summer.

Most importantly, because the Vice President's main job is to do whatever the fuck the president tells him to. And if the Prez doesn't want him to do anything but officiate at events he cannot be bothered to attend, that's exactly what the Veep does, wishing for the death of the president all the while.

Part of me wants to think you don't really believe there'd've been no difference between Bush v. Gore, because I have a kernel of hope that Americans aren't retarded. It's not the larger part of me, but it's there.
posted by Busithoth at 5:43 AM on April 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

We didn't know Joe quite the way we do now, back then; but I never liked him and thought he was a dubious to awful pick -- I think a lot of it was distancing from Clinton, since Holy Fucking Joe Lieberman was among the first democrats to go on record criticizing Slick Willy for his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. (In an incredibly self-righteous and arrogant speech that should have clued us in about what a wanker Lieberman is.)

(Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Lieberman eventually gets caught in a morals situation of his own; no one is that smugly self-righteous without something to hide.)
posted by fourcheesemac at 6:10 AM on April 26, 2008

But I think the Supreme Court actually did the country a favor in ending the absurdity when it did.

Yeah, actually counting votes is such a nuisance, and distracts us all from really important activities like running up our credit cards and supporting Big Oil, Big Agriculture, and Big Weaponry. The Supreme Court would do us a favor by just announcing the results of all elections in advance.
posted by languagehat at 7:01 AM on April 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

No, that's Diebold's job.
posted by matteo at 7:23 AM on April 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

I caught a joke about Nazis the other week on SNL. I wonder if the Bush Administration will be a joke to slag off the US for decades to come.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:21 PM on April 26, 2008

Boston Legal takes apart the Supreme Court
posted by homunculus at 1:34 AM on April 27, 2008

Scalia is a classless thug who wangled his way onto the Supreme Court by consistently favoring the rich, and he behaves arrogantly whenever he's in public.

No argument with the latter, but in the run-up to his confirmation, I seem to recall both liberals and conservatives calling him one of the most intelligent nominees they had ever seen. There was no question about his ideological bent, but almost everyone agreed that he'd be a fantastic Justice given his intellectual rigor and purity. Kind of like a Bork without the Nixon baggage.

It is odd that a man of such intellectual repute presents himself as such a goon in public.
posted by psmealey at 5:29 AM on April 27, 2008