Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia usually shies away from media attention, but now that he has a book coming out, and interviews might help sell his new product, Scalia is opening up a bit. He chatted with “60 Minutes” and the discussion turned to “Bush v. Gore.”
Scalia’s message? Critics of the ruling should just “get over it.”
He said the notion that the decision was politically motivated is “nonsense,” and proceeded to blame Al Gore for filing suit in the first place. “It was Al Gore who made it a judicial question…. We didn’t go looking for trouble. It was he who said, ‘I want this to be decided by the courts,'” Scalia said.
Actually, as I recall, Gore didn’t have much of a choice — Florida was led by his opponent’s brother and a Secretary of State who was the co-chair of his opponent’s campaign, both of whom had decided to cut short the vote-counting process. Gore didn’t want to make it a “judicial question”; he needed to try to bring some integrity to the Florida system.
Regardless, I’m struck by this notion that Democrats should just “get over it.”
It’s become a fairly common refrain, hasn’t it? The right does something offensive, the left gets mad when there are no consequences, time elapses, and the right, annoyed by lingering resentment, tells the left to “get over it.”
That’s easier said than done.
It’s possible that I’m just petty. I have a hard time forgiving and forgetting. But every time I hear conservatives argue that we should “get over it,” I’m reminded of why I continue to harbor grudges.
Republicans threw the political world into turmoil in 1998 by launching an impeachment crusade against Bill Clinton. It was an absurd and painful exercise. Those of us who are still annoyed by the fight are supposed to “get over it.”
In 2000, Republicans orchestrated a massive fraud in Florida, and, with the help of the Supreme Court, delivered the presidency to the candidate who came in second. Those of us who harbor resentment are told we should “get over it.”
Bush failed to take the terrorist threat seriously before 9/11? “Get over it.” Bush launched a disastrous war? “Get over it.” Bush is rewarding Swiftboat liars who helped smear a war hero with a vicious lie? “Get over it.”
It’s not enough for the GOP and its allies to engage in offensive conduct; they also insist, after a short while, that we stop being bothered by it.
This reminds me a great deal of a scene in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” John Cleese’s Sir Lancelot storms a castle, sword in hand, murdering most of a wedding party based on the mistaken belief that a maiden was in desperate need of a rescue. The castle owner, anxious to curry favor with Lancelot, encourages the survivors of the attack to let bygones be bygones. As the castle owner tells his guests, “Let’s not bicker and argue about who killed whom….”
We’ve heard the same message from the right for quite a while. Let’s not bicker and argue about who unnecessarily impeached whom, or who stole which election, or who was responsible for which foreign policy catastrophe, or who viciously smeared whom to win an election. The important thing is that we all “get over it” and look forward. After all, it’s wrong to hold a grudge, right?
Maybe it’s just me, but I find it very difficult to let bygones be bygones.