A better opening statement than I expected from Sen. Klobuchar in today’s confirmation hearing. Eighty percent of Klobuchar’s remarks were not about Klobuchar!

Here is the other 20% of her statement.

Welcome, Judge Sotomayor.

It’s a pleasure to see you again today, and I enjoyed the meeting we had in my office a few weeks ago. We had a good conversation – although you did confess to me that when you once visited Minnesota in June, you felt the need to bring a winter parka. I’ll try not to hold that against you this week!

When President Obama first announced your nomination, I loved the story about how your mom had saved up money to buy you and your brother the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood. It reminded me of when my parents bought a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas in the seventies that always occupied a hallowed place in our hallway. For me, those encyclopedias were a window on the world and a gateway to learning, as they clearly were for you.

After that – and this is an experience we have in common – you became a local prosecutor.

For instance, at the same time my accomplished colleague Senator Whitehouse, who was the son of a renowned diplomat, grew up in Laos and Cambodia during the time of the Vietnam War – I was working as a carhop at the A&W Root Beer stand in the suburbs in Minnesota.

Along those lines, Judge Sotomayor, you are only the third woman in history to come before this Committee as a Supreme Court nominee. And as you can see there are currently only two women, my distinguished colleague Senator Feinstein and myself, on this Committee.

No matter how many years may pass, you never forget some of the very difficult cases. For you, Judge, we know this includes the case of a serial burglar-turned-killer (the “Tarzan Murderer”).

For me, there will always be the case of Tyesha Edwards, an 11-year-old girl with an unforgettable smile who was at home doing her homework at the kitchen table when she was struck and killed by a stray bullet from a gang shooting out on the street.

As a prosecutor, you don’t just have to know the law . . . you have to know people.

Obviously there should be a bunch of ellipses in there, and just to be fair and balanced, here’s an AutoTune of Michele Bachmann (among others).

Also Sotomayor related: Feingold’s and Al Franken’s opening statements.

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New to my reading list is Politifact. I don’t usually care much for this kind of site as in my experience they usually jump through hoops to avoid being seen as too harsh to ‘pugs. Politifact seems to have no trouble calling a skank a skank.

coulterlies

Here’s some more timely debunking.

Nice site.

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Obama announced his new Surgeon General today, Dr. Regina Benjamin, and she sounds like a real winner. A MacArthur genius grant winner, in fact.

I’ll let you know as soon as I have a link to a Republican Senator saying he can’t support Dr. Benjamin because her first name sounds too much like vagina.

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Remember cult deprogrammings? The bottom line was reprogramming the victims to again become Christians.

Christians no longer have a lock on that kind of sick behavior.

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The Des Moines Register I grew up with was truly a great newspaper.

Don’t believe anyone who tells you it still is because it isn’t.

And that’s sad. Another once great newspaper destroyed by debt. Had the Register not been sold at a ruinously high price to Gannett, it would still be turning a hefty profit.

The arrogance of capital is in thinking that money = smarts.

Not even close.

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Cheney’s assassination ring:

Scott Horton

13 doctors say WMD mole did NOT commit suicide

Juan Cole

emptywheel

And lest we forget, John Yoo.

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Ass-mindedness.

More.

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If you’re fucked up when the cops pull you over, the cops can — apparently — break your fucking neck.

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Quick, name a medical device used by many famous musicians.

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Clusterfuck Nation on Goldman Sachs.

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There’s nothing like listening to Supreme Court nomination hearings to get my Democrat up. Expect commentary to be crustier than usual the rest of this week.