Obama Pundit

by Obama Pundit
Newsweek’s Robert Samuelson breaks it down:
The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment; but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America.
…The press should not be hostile; but [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
The day that Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 7,949.09 and the S&P500 was at 805.22.  These two indices are used, often blindly, to gauge the “health” of the US business environment.  On March 9th, 2009 these indices both reached [...]

by Obama Pundit
President Obama weighed in today on the controversey over Sonia Sotomayor’s racial remarks:
President Barack Obama on Friday personally sought to deflect criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who finds herself under intensifying scrutiny for saying in 2001 that a female Hispanic judge would often reach a better decision than a white male [...]

by Christopher Huston
I’m not going to tussle with the fact that many in the media are cheerleading for an Obama economic recovery.  They should cheer any recovery under any President–if it is actually happening.  I certainly recall that in 1991-1992, the media willfully ignored the strong recovery that was underway under the first President Bush [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
William, regardless of who was at fault, Didden or his lawyer, once the statute of limitations expired Didden’s cause of action was lost according to Sotomayor.  At some point during this whole affair, he had two legal theories available to him:
1. That the taking was wrongful due to pretext, in the sense [...]

by Obama Pundit
A lot is being bandied back and forth over this comment by Obama’s SCOTUS nominee:
I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.
This has prompted Newt Gingrich and others to [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector, the parties in Didden submitted their briefing materials to the Second Circuit before Kelo was handed down; but, the Court (Sotomayor) - properly, in my estimation - waited until months after Kelo to issue the Didden decision.  Thus, the attorneys for Didden didn’t have the benefit of knowing what governing standard would be applied to their challenge [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
William, I agree that the analysis presented was short, it is not clear to me what more you would have her say on the property rights issue.
Your reading of Justice Stevens’ majority opinion is correct regarding the ‘mere pretext’ standard, but I think it is largely irrelevant.  The question wasn’t whether or [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector, with regard to the statute of limitations predicate, I will assume, without checking, that Sotomayor got that portion of the opinion, and, thus, the actual result, correct.  However, because she weighed into the constitutional issue with more than mere dicta, she provided a legally-binding, alternative holding of the Court…on a very dicey issue [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
William, the McDonald’s analogy was broken out as a second point as it was not intended to address the role of Appellate Courts or how appellate proceedings work, but rather the language used in your summary of Didden.  For example:
Wasser told Didden that he would approve the project only if Didden paid [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector, I want to address/clarify the points you raised below.
At the appellate level, and for purposes of review, the facts of a particular case have generally been stipulated to, and are a matter of record.  True, some hidden, smoking-gun fact(s) may undermine the criticism of a controversial decision.  But, the judge who authors an appellate decision will include in her opinion facts [...]

by Obama Pundit
How ironic. 
Was a time when Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer drew the ire of the Left when he cautioned that Americans should ‘watch what they say’ after the 9/11 attacks.
Naturally, this was evidence of the Bush Administration’s intent to destroy everyone’s civil rights, starting with freedom of speech.  Next would come the fascist [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
Two quick points:
I apologize to those for whom this is obvious, but some readers may not be familiar with the roles that judges play at different levels in the United States.  As a Federal Appellate Court Judge, Sotomayor doesn’t really have authority to ignore any United States Supreme Court decision, including Kelo.  [...]

by C. William Chattin
So, here is what we know about PBHO’s pick of Sonia Sotomayor to replace departing Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court:

Her curriculum vitae is first rate, and her qualifications stellar:  valedictorian from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx; graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. from Princeton University; earned a J.D. from Yale [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
OP, my only objection to your comment was the misnaming of the fallacy as a straw-man.  The assertion that someone (even an unnamed someone) actually holds the weakened position is a critical requirement for a straw-man argument.  It is not enough that an argument be weak to be a straw-man; behind every [...]

by Obama Pundit
Hector, Obama certainly doesn’t ascribe the straw man argument in regards to health care to any particular person or party, but he nonetheless uses one when he says:
So, one option is just to do nothing.
That is certainly an easy pile of straw to knock down.  Yes, one option is to do nothing.  Another [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
A technical point just to get my feet wet on this site…
I don’t think I would categorize Obama’s health care argument (limited to the Drudge article) as a straw-man fallacy as he never says that anyone else holds this position and only hypothetically ascribes it to “we” – though it is close. [...]

by C. William Chattin
Byron York had a very interesting piece up over the weekend on how Gitmo has, or may have (depending on your p.o.v.), served as a rallying cry for jihadists.  I suggest everyone read the entire piece, but I’ll summarize the major points below.
Of all the arguments advanced for closing the $200 million [...]

by Obama Pundit
David, isn’t the problem here that Obama maintains a rhetorical opposition to the Bush/Cheney policy while, in fact, producing results that differ very little in actual substance?  I think, based on your post, that you’d agree.
But maybe it just points to the problem with this debate:  It’s basically over.  The reason Obama won’t [...]

by David V. Johnson
Freedom of choice can be a dangerous thing.  That’s why our splendid republic tends to restrict our options to equally anodyne alternatives: Coke or Pepsi? Kris or Adam?  Democrats or Republicans?
Last Thursday, we were treated to another empty selection: Obama or Cheney?  The media portrayed their near-simultaneous speeches on national security as [...]