Religion
After the [DC Council] vote, enraged African American ministers stormed the hallway outside the council chambers and vowed that they will work to oust the members who supported the bill.... They caused such an uproar that security officers and D.C. police were called in to clear the hallway...."All hell is going to break lose," Barry said. "We may have a civil war. The black community is just adamant against this."
At least some of this rage is racial--blacks who feel that (white) gay activists exploit civil rights for the sake of their personal satisfaction.
And speaking of Catholics and politics: It just occurred to me that Joe Biden is the first Catholic Vice President. Surely his faith was a factor in favor as the VP selection. But will the temptation to appoint a (likely Catholic) Latina to replace Justice Souter meet the challenge of having six Catholics on the high court?
This is not to endorse ethnic/racial/religious/sex quotas. But the Court has become a highly politicized body, subject to many of the representational assumptions of elected bodies, universities, and corporations. How do we unscramble this egg? The bootless Republican strategy has been to appoint appeals court judges.
My only good political predictions have been of Supreme Court picks, so let my prudence expose itself as luck: Given Obama's opportunities and expresssion on behalf of "empathy," I might have predicted Governor Granholm of Michigan, because she is a pro-abortion Catholic. Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano (Methodist) may have survived the swine flu scare to secure the nomination. Solicitor Elena Kagan for down the road, though the "fierce urgency of now" may get her the nomination this time.
Granholm has a more interesting story, but I know nothing of Michigan politics. Any ethics problems (other than having appeared on "The Dating Game")? But in the end he may go with one of his Chicago friends . No need to rush this, as he did with some Cabinet nominations.
UPDATE: The astute Jan Crawford Greenburg coauthors this piece on pros and cons of the most frequently mentioned possibilities. Example of a con: the black female Chief Justice of Georgia is a "Longtime friend of Justice Clarence Thomas."
From what I know about the african American community this is a big deal. How is the left going to appease both groups. This is a very conservative group in how they view issues that have an obvious implication to religion. I suspect that the media will not report it widely and it will be brushed over.
The GOP could make serious inroads in Black America, but the thing is, they'd have to take a stand on an issue they're desperate to avoid. Trouble is too, many a Republican on Capitol Hill subscribes to the idea that the mainstreaming of that particular community is but a matter of time, and that any who stand against it, will be tarred by history with the same brush that tarred the Dixiecrats.
Coulter remarked on this trend, of Republicans fleeing as fast as they can from issues they could win on. They don't know what the devil they're doing. Obama and the Democrats are lobbing soft balls up to the GOP, and nobody seems able to take those soft balls and park 'em somewhere up in the cheap seats.