Monday, October 31, 2005
Question
WTF. If Harriet Miers was 'old' at 60, why is Alito 'young' at 55? Several descriptions of him say he's young and could have 20 or 30 years on the bench. The same describers who noted Miers' age and how short a time she might have. Come on. It's almost 2006, time to have cut ageism and sexism reflexes. Incidentally, since women live longer than men, she is actually younger at 60 than he is at 55. But he's Princeton undergrad and Yale law school, married, etc. etc. I guess conventional looks, social life, education, etc. still sway many people, bloggers included - for whom I generally hold high regard.

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Permalink | | posted by jau at 10:43 AM


5 more:
Anonymous Anonymous — at 12:41 PM, October 31, 2005:
>> It's almost 2006, time to have cut ageism and sexism reflexes

Your post represents progressive social policy, anathema to conservatism, at least as practiced in America today, no?
 

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Anonymous Anonymous — at 12:42 PM, October 31, 2005:
Sorry...said policy when really meant "point of view"...
 

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Blogger jau — at 2:36 PM, October 31, 2005:
I'm not sure where you're coming from with your question except that you've made baseless assumptions about me. Don't you think it's ill-advised to label a person because of some ideas and points of view? Do all people who call themselves Christian or even Roman Catholic think evolution is wrong and/or that non-Christians are sinners, by definition? Of course not. Did all white southerners think all black people were heinous? Of course not. Categories are unwise for many reasons, not least because they limit the ability to hear and even learn from other points of view. Besides, I think most intelligent people don't think along categorical lines anyway. I certainly don't.
 

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Blogger a guy in pajamas — at 12:51 AM, November 01, 2005:
1. Cutting agism and sexism are neither progressive nor conservative values. They are mainstream American values shared by both sides.

2. Yeah, the age thing is silly. Still, the difference in average lifespans was only about two years last time I checked (which was a few years ago ...), so Miers isn't actually younger at 60 than Alito at 55 ...
 

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Anonymous Anonymous — at 1:40 AM, November 02, 2005:
Actually, aup, it was less assumption about you and more a question as to whether you weren't wishing for something "the base" wasn't going to provide...on this one I don't fault GWB so much, I suspect his intention was in the right place - he seems to look for opportunities to find others specifically NOT like him to take on positions of responsibility in often groundbreaking ways. I suspect his main mistake was putting a non-judge up. Whatever mistrust "the base" had of her likelihood to overrule Roe v. Wade, it was easy to put the heat on for qualifications alone.

It's the influence of "the base" that scares me most. My main concern about GWB is his willingness to ride it; initially to get elected and reelected, and at this point to try to improve flagging poll numbers. It started to look for a while like they might not get what they want. Then suddenly they got pissed and took back control. Ugh.

PJs, would you equate "mainstream" with "silent middle". And by silent I might mean all of us sitting here typing, even though it's technically in a publicly visible venue. And by middle I suppose I mean occasionally feeling more conserative or liberal on some issue in particular and not in the same place on all issues. Neither radical right or nutty left. I do NOT mean those who always seem to be ending up in office, or having the ear of those who do. Something to aspire to; not sure things like avoiding the ageism and sexism matters as much to them as it might to us.

Don't always think I'm right. Just sharing what I think.
 

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