Sen. Whitehouse on Justice Souter's Retirement

[L. Coyote]

Run time: 03:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOK5n4y32eA   Posted on YouTube: May 01, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 02, 2009 By DU Member: L. Coyote Views on DU: 701

 
Immediately following President Obama's announcement that Supreme Court Justice David Souter had decided to step down, Sheldon Whitehouse talked with MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell about the news.

[elleng]

1. Rude of her to interrupt.

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[MindMatter]

2. EMPATHY is an important codeword

The big difference between liberals and conservatives is their ability to empathize. Conservatives have trouble caring about issues that don't impact them directly in a personal way. Nancy Reagan didn't give a shit about stem cell research until Ronnie had Alzheimer's. Cheney couldn't live in a society with gays until his daughter came out. And on and on.

We shouldn't back off this "empathy" thing. It is real, and we ought to discuss it regularly as a matter of fact. If a person wants to hold conservative views and argue that is where society should be going, fair enough. That is freedom of speech that we cherish. But let's call conservative positions what they are. They are the views of self-centered, narcissistic, anti-social people.

Empathy, indeed. Say it loud and proud.