Word: bork
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...have political events lifted spirits. The 1986 Senate elections were disastrous for the Moral Majority's preferred candidates. Last month's defeat of Robert Bork, an ideal Supreme Court nominee from the movement's standpoint, further suggested a loss of clout. As for issues like abortion and school prayer, Moral Majority spent millions "without achieving one piece of legislation," observes Evangelical Theologian Carl F.H. Henry. Fundamentalists this year also lost three significant court cases dealing with curriculum grievances against public schools...
...nearly three years in the Senate have been uneventful; the soft-spoken Simon is universally well liked by his colleagues, but even while on the Judiciary Committee during the Robert Bork hearings, he did little to claim public notice. He is very much a loner, acting as his own chief speechwriter and counsel. His presidential race began almost by accident. He endorsed Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers, and then belatedly jumped into the fray in May after Bumpers joined the ranks of Democratic sideliners...
...that ability to duck an awkward question by talking about something else, the talent to pat-a- cake thoughts into little mouthfuls suitable for stopwatch programming. Of all the Senators and Congressmen on exhibit in recent televised hearings, Teddy Kennedy has the most undentable carapace. Many who watched the Bork hearings concluded that Kennedy and Utah's sycophantic Orrin Hatch vied in giving the worst performances. Yet Kennedy dominated the evening news coverage by crafting his wild charges into the little sound bites so dear to news producers...
Those who watched the Iran and Bork hearings were reminded of how inadequate a capsule summary can be if you've seen the movie. Less familiar committee members -- Inouye, Hamilton, Mitchell, Specter, Simpson -- appealed just because their humanity hadn't vanished behind a professional veneer. They were earnest, perhaps a little verbose, sometimes eloquent, decidedly human, and a welcome change from the usual Washington sound-bite sophisticate...
When the President nominated him two weeks ago, Ginsburg assured his audience that he was looking forward to the confirmation process. Given the gauntlet that Bork had just run, the statement seemed gracious but a little naive. Given what is now known about Ginsburg, it was foolhardy. In the wake of his withdrawal, few were talking publicly about the long-range implications of the embarrassment. A lame-duck President who has been buffeted by scandal, a stock-market crash and the bruising defeat of his first court nominee could ill afford this latest fiasco...