As for Borking — the smearing of conservative Supreme Court nominees through blatant dissembling about their character and thinking — it falls flat today because the American people have become largely immune to the strategy. It has been unleashed with such frequency and fury during the last 20 years that even a casual observer understands that every conservative nominee cannot possibly be a racist, sexist, and unethical pervert.
--Mark Levin
1 comment:
You defined "bork" as a verb incorrectly, it doesn't necessarily imply that the person being "borked" is conservative. Anyone can be "borked". According to the New York Times, the verb "to bork" might be defined as "to destroy a judicial nominee through a concerted attack on his character, background and philosophy."
The most famous (or infamous) use of the verb to "bork" occurred in July 1991 at a conference of the National Organization for Women in New York City. Avowed feminist Florence Kennedy addressed the conference on the importance of defeating the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. She said, "We're going to 'bork' him." Thomas was subsequently confirmed after one of the nastiest confirmation fights in Supreme Court history.
Bork, himself, arguably "borked" judicial nominee Harriet Miers in an October 19, 2005 Wall Street Journal editorial where he states she lacks "the basic skills of persuasive argument and clear writing", is without a "philosophy of judging", and "demonstrates absolutely no ability to write clearly and argue incisively." [3] Those who view "borking" as an unfair attack misrepresenting a nominee's paper trail would disagree with that assessment, as Bork's disagreement with the Miers nomination stemmed from her lack of public participation in important debates about the role of the judiciary, and his assessment of her qualifications, rather than attacks on her character, judicial philosophy, or motivations.
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