A Tough Out for McCain

Here's a partial transcript from McCain on The View:

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/173183.html

McCAIN: My interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is that the United States Supreme Court enforces the Constitution of the United States and does not legislate nor invent areas that are responsibilities, according to the Constitution, of the legislative branch.

HASSELBECK: So it was in how the law came up, it was in how Roe v. Wade came apart was the issue. You, you want it to be through the Constitution from the people not from the bench.

McCAIN: And I believe that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, then the states would make these decisions.

GOLDBERG: Sir.

McCAIN: Yes?

GOLDBERG: Can you just, and I don’t want to misinterpret what you’re saying. Did you say you wanted strict Constitutionalists? Because that, that-

McCAIN: No, I want people who interpret the Constitution of the United States the way our founding fathers envision-

GOLDBERG: Does that-

McCAIN: -for them to do.

GOLDBERG: Should I be worried about being a slave, about being returned to slavery because certain things happened in the Constitution that you had to change.

McCAIN: I, I understand your point.

GOLDBERG: Okay, okay.

McCAIN: I understand that point and I, I, [applause] thank you. That’s an excellent point.

GOLDBERG: Thank you sir.

McCAIN: And I thank you.

No, it's not an excellent point! It's a terrible, terrible point. And McCain can't say anything, b/c he's boxed into a corner by a raucous, enthusiastic audience response and by a need to be "politically correct."

Let's unpack this.

- McCain says that he supports judges who defer to the legislature. He indicates that Roe v. Wade was a bad court decision, and that abortion legislation should be left to the states. This is a perfectly reasonable position.
- Elizabeth Hasselbeck (conservative) offers a flattering depiction: McCain would prefer the people to decide, rather than five unelected officials.
- McCain affirms.
- Whoopi Goldberg tries to add her wisdom to the situation, asking if McCain wants "strict Constitutionalists."
- McCain tries to clarify, but largely affirms...
- ... and is cut off by Goldberg, who brings slavery into the picture, arguing that "things in the Constitution need to be changed"
- McCain concedes that this is an excellent point.

What????

It's not an excellent point at all. It derailed a perfectly legitimate line of inquiry in favor of an American Idol-style charade.

Goldberg's point is absurd. It obfuscates something that McCain can answer quite acceptably: the Court did NOT get rid of slavery. The Congress did!

The Court's last major ruling on slavery before the Civil War was Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857). The Court ruled that a slave who lived in free states for an extended period of time was still a slave. That was the issue that the Court was charged to settle.

But wait! The activist Taney court, in this case, decided to take it much further! They also ruled:

- Blacks were not citizens, and could not petition the Court. They were "of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations."
- Congress could not regulate the existence of slavery in the territories, which it had done quite effectively for the better part of the four previous decades of American history. The Missouri Compromise and its ilk were declared unconstitutional.

The slavery issue is the perfect issue to use in any debate against the wisdom and efficacy and justice of "judicial activism."

Under McCain's vision of the Supreme Court, the Court would not have been allowed to do what it did to Dred Scott, or to blacks in general. Goldberg's assertion that "she would become a slave again" is ridiculous! The Founding Fathers created a system where the highest law of the land could be amended. And it was amended to abolish slavery!

The legislature branch and the executive branch destroyed slavery. The judicial branch worked to strengthen it. In fact, one of the major impetuses for the thirteenth amendment was President Lincoln's fear that the Court would try to reimpose slavery!

Really, under McCain's vision of the balance of powers, the states would have the ability to legislate on issues related to abortion. Interference by the Court would be akin (on a smaller scale, of course) to the gross injustice propagated by the Taney Court in 1857.

McCain should be able to make the case against Goldberg... but he can't because of the idiotic studio audience for The View, and the image of attacking a popular celebrity on a political point. He comes across as looking stupid, confused, and/or befuddled. In reality, Goldberg is wrong. In a better world, she would be criticized for her flawed logic, but such is life.