Newsweek Hates Criticism of the Judiciary---When It's the GOP Doing the Criticizing, That Is

Andrew McCarthy hits another homer:

In reporting that political “vitriol” about the courts is “higher than ever,” I wonder if Rosenberg and her colleagues can point to anything said by Rep. Tom DeLay and the other conservatives they mention that comes remotely close in terms of “fervent judge-bashing” to the willful vitriol spewed by the senior senator from Massachusetts. And a number of judges were threatened or killed in the late 80s and early 90s. Should we, on Newsweek’s logic, inquire into whether there is some causal connection between those vile acts and Senator Kennedy’s bombast?

Conservatives are not besmirching judges, like Kennedy did to Bork. What conservatives and others who care about democratic self-determination are raising is the serious issue of whether the courts are changing the fundamental nature of our republic. People of good will need not agree that this is the case. But they all ought to be offended by the notion that the issue cannot even be discussed without raining down slanders which imply that criticizing judicial performance is akin to Wahhabi-style holy war.

And somehow I don't recall Newsweek and the rest of the media being this concerned about the damaging effects of public criticism on judicial independence after the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore.