One of the things that I’m simultaneously impressed and repelled by is the right’s ability to invent bizarre new smears where ordinary people would see no potential at all. How do they do it? The latest example comes from John McCormack at the Weekly Standard, whose headline blares:
Obama Now Selling Judgeships for Health Care Votes?
Where does this come from? It turns out that Obama has nominated University of Utah law professor Scott Matheson to a judgeship on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Matheson is the brother of a congressman, Jim Matheson, who will be voting on healthcare reform in a couple of weeks. “The timing of this nomination looks suspicious,” McCormack says darkly. The acerbic Jon Chait, after noting Scott’s stellar qualifications, comments:
McCormack, before proceeding to speculate that the nomination is intended to pay off his brother, does concede, “Matheson appears to have the credentials to be a judge.” Come on, let’s not be so naive here. Sure, he’s a Stanford alum, Rhodes scholar, Yale Law School graduate, Harvard profesor, U.S. Attorney, and law school dean. Maybe that makes him “qualified” by the rock-bottom standards of this administration, even if he’s no Harriet Miers.
The real problem here, I think, is that McCormack isn’t really cut out for this kind of thing. This is Glenn Beck material, as he demonstrates so eloquently in his response to the news about Matheson: “Can I tell you something. How many times does someone from Utah need to be the linchpin that almost destroys the Republic?”
Now that’s the ticket! Forget about healthcare and pivot immediately into some grand conspiracy theory about the role of Utah in the destruction of the Republic. Beck is even a Mormon, but he doesn’t let that stop him. That’s what we all admire about the guy.
Anyway, terrific stuff. Enjoy it while you can, because tomorrow it will be something new.
