The Carpet Bagger Report Gets a Nod on CNN

Vermont's own "blog locally, inform globally" blog, The Carpetbagger Report, made it into the blog roundup today on CNN - practically the only left of far right blog to do so.

If you haven't discovered them yet, you're missing out. They're a class act.

Here's an example on the issue of Tom DeLay:

Theodore Olson, who was the solicitor general in the Bush administration for over three years, can hardly be described as a liberal lawyer. It was Olson who represented Bush in the infamous Bush v. Gore case at the Supreme Court; it was Olson who wrote anonymous articles for the American Spectator as part of the Arkansas Project, suggesting that he Clintons were guilty of various felonies; and it was Olson who secretly coached Paula Jones’ lawyers before their own appearance at the Supreme Court.
So, when Ted Olson writes an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal denouncing Tom DeLay’s ideas on undermining the federal judiciary, you know it’s not part of some liberal smear-job.

Calls to investigate judges who have made unpopular decisions are particularly misguided, and if actually pursued, would undermine the independence that is vital to the integrity of judicial systems. If a judge’s decisions are corrupt or tainted, there are lawful recourses (prosecution or impeachment); but congressional interrogations of life-tenured judges, presumably under oath, as to why a particular decision was rendered, would constitute interference with — and intimidation of — the judicial process. And there is no logical stopping point once this power is exercised.

Which member of Congress, each with his or her own constituency, would ask what questions of which judges about what decisions? Imagine the kinds of questions asked routinely in confirmation or oversight hearings. How can those questions be answered about a pending or decided case? And what if a judge refused to testify and defend his reasoning about a particular decision? Would an impeachment or prosecution for contempt of Congress follow? Either would be unthinkable. Federal judges are highly unlikely to submit to such a demeaning process and, if push came to shove, the public would undoubtedly support the judges.