JamieWeinstein.com

...he was just an irresponsible candidate.

My latest article at North Star gives some suggestions to President Obama on who he should tap to replace John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. Here is excerpt:

"I would be remiss if I did not suggest a couple more mainstream lawyers who I think would make excellent Supreme Court justices, most especially because of their self-proclaimed toughness. In the past nomination cycle, I suggested Jim “The Hammer” Shapiro for the Supreme Court. I continue to think that a man who not only proudly "sues drunks,” but in fact “hunts them down and ring[s] out every dollar” would make an excellent Supreme Court Justice."

"But since my last recommendation of The Hammer, I have come across another attorney with dazzling credentials that I think President Obama should consider. His name is Marco Palumbo, but he goes by the name the California Switchblade. Though one might think a lawyer who has named himself the California Switchblade would practice law in California, the Switchblade actually practices in Oklahoma. Go figure. Perhaps the president could gain some political points in Middle America by picking a justice from Oklahoma."

As you can see, these are top notch suggestions. To read the whole article, click here.

The media can be so predictable.

Last week, I predicted that when Charlie Crist inevitably declares he will run as an independent for Senate in Florida, the media would push a common narrative of the race. I wrote,

“If Crist makes this decision [to run as an independent], conservatives should look forward to a common media narrative of the race to emerge. Pundits and political analysts will suggest that the Republican Party has moved so far to the right that a popular Republican governor suddenly discovered he was no longer Republican enough to fit within the party tent. Spurned by the party he served, MSNBC hosts will surely opine, Crist was forced to abandon his party and run as an independent because he was not ideologically pure enough.”

Well, it turns out we don’t even have to wait until Charlie declares his intention to run as an independent. Yesterday, Hardball host Chris Matthews, on MSNBC of course, wasted no time in starting to promote this entirely false narrative.

“It seems to me we're getting into something here that I do think is particularly nasty,” Matthews opined yesterday. “Chuck [Todd] says there's precedence, and there may well be, but here you see a party basically pruning itself. Going around and saying, ‘Well we really don't like Arlen Specter. You go find something else to do. Go be a Democrat.’ We see this with Charlie Crist perhaps being given the boot.”

This is insane.

Matthews had more to say so watch the short clip at newsbusters.org

And to understand why this narrative is bunk, read my column.

"Taking back America," once used by the Left, now defined as hate speech --- The Washington Examiner 4/20/2010

Crist can try the independent route (and probably will), but Rubio will still win The North Star National 4/16/2010

Considering that John Paul Stevens will soon be turning 90, it should come as no surprise that he has determined it is time to retire. But the fact of the matter is his retirement will not likely effect the ideological make up of the court. As a Justice who consistently sides with the Court's liberals in divided cases, President Obama will almost certainly appoint a new Justice who will side similarly. While the nominee tapped by the President to replace Stevens will likely lower the average age of the Court's liberals, there will almost certainly be no noticeable ideological shift.

By all accounts, Stevens is a good and decent man and all of us can thank him for his service, even if we disagreed with his judicial philosophy. But if Stevens can set the standard for retirement age in America, he will be an even more historic figure than just a Supreme Court Justice. He will be known as the man who saved America from its looming entitlement crisis. Now that would be something.