aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Monday, October 31, 2005

Rosa Parks, prop

I’ve got to agree with John, who makes the point that just a few months ago one in four Republican Senators refused to sign a resolution against lynching.

In that context the decision to let Rosa Parks lie in state in the US Capitol building looks “more GOP publicity stunt than a truly heart-felt gesture to honor one of the heroes of the civil rights movement.”

Of Judge Alito’s visit to pay respects he wonders, “I’d like to know if Judge Alito was coming to Washington anyway to pay homage to Rosa Parks, whether or not he was going to be the Supreme Court nominee.”

Billmon and Atrios both make the point that one Alito dissent “would immunize an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate, was the result of conscious racial bias.”

Billmon calls Frist’s tag along “gilding the lilly of hypocrisy.”