The Ruth Bader Ginsburg hagiography: “Grant her dying wish!”
Almost undoubtedly you’ve seen the Democrats’ arguments that Republicans should desist from approving a new SCOTUS justice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg because it was her dying wish that they refrain. It’s a bizarre thing for Democrats to say, but of course that doesn’t stop them.
There are various excuses they give. One is offered here, for example:
Women such as today’s sitting Republican senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Joni Ernst, Martha McSally, and others, whose careers were made possible by Ginsburg, and who now have in their power to grant her that dying wish by blocking their party’s leadership from ramming through her replacement.
So out of gratitude to RBG – without whom there would be no GOP women in the Senate (I wasn’t aware of any decision she ever rendered that impacted on that) – the GOP women should stop the crass GOP men from “ramming through” (that is, having a vote on, as is their prerogative) a replacement.
It doesn’t take much thought to understand that the author would be saying nothing of the sort if the situation was reversed. This is politics, and niceties such as respecting a person’s wishes are simply not part of the game unless it’s politically expedient. It’s politically expedient for the left to talk about Bader’s wishes, but Bader had a chance to make those wishes come true by retiring when a liberal replacement would have been assured. She chose not to do so.
In a larger sense, though, I think this approach is emblematic of the Democrats’ approach to politics these days. Emotion and heartstrings when needed and especially when out of power, appeals to identity politics, and absolute toughness and ruthlessness when in power. This particular gambit is designed to appeal to liberal women, of course, as did the entire last ten or so years of adulation of Ginsburg as some sort of liberal popstar and/or saint.
My own opinion of Ginsburg is that she was very very smart – as are nearly all the SCOTUS justices – and very very liberal. She had a long and interesting life and showed courage when young when there really was quite a bit of discrimination against women lawyers. If I’d been a liberal I would have admired her but I can practically guarantee I would have been puzzled by all the worship.
Ginsburg was a SCOTUS justice, not a queen choosing a successor. But the Democrats have calculated that pretending she was the latter appeals to their base and energizes it. And they probably are correct.
Only a heartless misogynist could possibly argue that adherence to constitutional principles, precedent, and the traditional institutions of the republic should trump the dying wish of a highly partisan justice, although, to her credit, RBG did believe in friendships that transcended politics, and she did not support the progressive case for “packing” the Supreme Court.
Did RBG respect the wishes of the unborn to be born?
No?
Ok…to hell with her…and her hagiographers.
Fill. The. Seat.
I do not believe a word of this laughable latest talking point. RGB was a very smart woman and at the very end, of a life well lived, gave a ‘hoot’ about about her replacement. When my 99 year old grandmother was at the end of her life, she saw a vision of my grandfather and asked him what took him so long. As the old saying goes, ‘No one on their deathbed says I wished I had worked more.’
One is tempted to say “faux worship”. But, I suppose that would be crass.
Still, knowing little of Ginsburg’s history before she became an automatic vote for any extra-constitutional issue that expanded government or justified such “progressive” causes as abortion on demand: I presume the Left worshiped the vote as much, or more than, the individual. .
j e, I suppose I reveal my cynicism. But, I presume that a certain level of collegiality is common among the Justices. What have they got to lose; and where else to look for such superior companions? It is part of their thing that they can disagree without being disagreeable. As for packing the court, I think that is purely a political stunt. Has any Justice ever advocated for diluting their power and prestige? Who wants to be one of 15 exalted humans, when you already one of just 9?
I can just see all the SCOTUS judges making amendments to their Will to reflect this new trend.
There is also the question if she really said that. As an example consider the supposed last words of Mohandas Gandhi which are stated as “Hey Ram”. We are suppose to believe that frail 78-year old who was fasting at that time said all this loud enough to be heard amongst all the commotion when he was assassinated. Gandhi’s former aide Kalyanam, has stated recently that, “Mahatma Gandhi never said ‘He Ram’ when he died. It was a fiction of the imagination, of those who came later.”
Being an ancient farm boy I need a recording of RBG’s dying words before I believe it.
parker; Andy:
Whether or not she actually said it will never be known. But it’s irrelevant to the narrative and to its use.
@Oldflyer
It is not “faux worship” at all. It is actual worship.
Here is a clip from Ben Shapiro where a rabbi sings RBG’s words as scripture.
If you want to see crassness take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd1UHCav3Ck&feature=youtu.be&t=1045
It’s a matter of no interest what she had to say, bar to her family. (BTW, if she had anything coherent to say of this nature, it’s a reasonable guess that these weren’t her last words).
Whether or not she actually said it will never be known.
Mike K might instruct us here. I’ve been present at the deaths of five friends and relations. I couldn’t tell you what their last words were, just that they said nothing distinct enough for anyone to remark it at the time.
I believe that Ruth Bader Ginsburg thought she was irreplaceable or she would have retired when Obama was president. She is now proving the truth of the old saying that the graveyards are full of irreplaceable people.
Female Republican Senators owe their elections to RBG? That’s news to everyone. And I feel sure that Justice Scalia would have preferred that his replacement not be an Obama nominee, but that’s not why Garland’s nomination did not advance.
RBGs last words? “42.”
Some may think that RBGs last words “42” was a prediction of the number of judges for the Supreme Court. Or it might refer to something more significant and eternal. 🙂
Art Deco; parker:
What I read is that they are not claiming they were her last words, but rather her last wish, uttered either a few days or a couple of weeks before she died.
but rather her last wish,
Her last wish concerns when the Senate votes on her replacement. I can’t imagine what my last wish will be when I shuffle off, but it likely won’t be something done by politicians. It tells you something about what her grand-daughter and Nina Totenberg find apposite that they’d promote this story.
Neo, who care?
I’m pretty sure that 42 is The Answer to the Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Sounds right to me.
parker:
I was responding to Art Deco’s discussion of the nature of dying words.
It just seems like the Vogons have come a callin’ in 2020. If Joe Biden starts reading his poetry that will truly be a bad sign.
So many who talk about how Ginsburg pioneered the way forward for women!
Former Justice Dandra Day O’Conner? Who’s she?
I’ve got a biography of Ginsburg’s predecessor, Justice Byron “Whizzer” White, and it left me with a fair amount of respect for him. I should reread it.
What I truly deeply do not understand is why so many of the rich and powerful in government are unwilling (unable?) to retire gracefully. Ginsburg is not the only one, just the most egregiously pitiful.
As for her “last wish”, i have posted elsewhere:
I have watched death by pancreatic cancer, up close and personal. I do not believe that Ginsburg made any kind of grand statement in the last days of her life.
The last few days of her life, she probably was not conscious at all. The last few weeks, she probably was not thinking of anything other than her family. If a vile and shameless family member tried to prompt her to make a grand statement, she probably did not understand what was being done.
It’s not enough that you are appointed for life? You want control from beyond the grave?
junior:
Only liberal judges who are female count.
What is more personal and private that the death of a family member, a grandmother for instance? Supposedly RBG’s last wish (es) come to us from a grand daughter. Who knows, she may have more wishes to share.
Well to the left and 2nd wave feminists “the personal is political.” Everything is grist for the mill, nothing is sacred. They have no shame.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_personal_is_political
If she didn’t want Obama’s successor to name her replacement, she should have retired. Like at 80, 7 years ago, with a Dem president and Dem senate in 2013.
She didn’t.
She didn’t care enough to retire? We shouldn’t care about her last wishes “so much”. When she fails to do what’s in her power, others shouldn’t feel at all guilty about not following the wishes she didn’t care so much about in her actions.
Actions speak louder than words. And I recall hearing, THEN, about how it would be “smart” for RGB to retire to allow Obama to pick her replacement.
Now it’s too late for that 2013 wish.
RIP
Last wish? Sequestration and/or recycling her carbon atoms at Planned Parenthood, at the clinic of the unknown child. Let us bray.
“In a larger sense, though, I think this approach is emblematic of the Democrats’ approach to politics these days. Emotion and heartstrings when needed and especially when out of power, appeals to identity politics, and absolute toughness and ruthlessness when in power.” neo
That is perhaps the left’s most basic tactic, otherwise known as “the dialectic of the left”;
Look to the source of that ‘wish’… her leftist granddaughter…
Since leftists never lie we can rest assured that RBG actually said it, right?
It’s all right to wish wishes if RBG wished that wish and her followers agreed. But I think the philosopher Jagger said it best:
________________________________
And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration
If we don’t we’re gonna blow a fifty-amp fuse”
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
You get what you need
–The Rolling Stones, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv9sDn_2XkI
I lived fo a long time in Latin America. One of the quirks of the language that surprised me was the translation for a political “Inauguration” when an elected official assumes office. In Spanish, this is called “La toma de posesión” (The taking of possession.)
The differences in point of view is stark. The phrase in Spanish implies ownership. The term in English allows for the idea of stewardship. The left seems to view political office through the Latino lens. They see power as theirs by right. And, as we have seen in Latin America, such views are dangerous.
This is weak, even for Leftists.
Geoffrey – in re your quotation on the Dialectic of the Left –
https://64.media.tumblr.com/8af5471ea884302c4875ee16253a8e30/tumblr_mp62hhAo1Y1rl43cyo1_1280.png
“Whether or not she actually said it will never be known. But it’s irrelevant to the narrative and to its use.” – Neo
I am reminded of the stories occasionally posted by people, alleging that their darling (4, 6, 9, 12 year old) said something profound about politics, generally along the lines that (surprise!!) their parents are pushing.
I have looked, but cannot find a reference to the Make-A-Wish Foundaion in the Constitution.
And, as we have seen in Latin America, such views are dangerous.
The political order in Latin America has grown a great deal more liberal-democratic since 1978, that in this country notably less liberal-democratic. The Republican Party has done little to resist political decay; the Democratic Party has actively promoting it.