Frank Ricci Must Be Destroyed to Save Sotomayor?

The politics of personal destruction gets nastier.

You'd think having to take the City of New Haven, Conn., all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, after being denied a promotion that you otherwise qualified for -- except that you were the wrong skin color -- and then winning would be enough of a price to pay for one man.

But the Left isn't satisfied because the woman most responsible for this man's troubles, 2nd Dist. Circuit Judge Sonio Sotomayor, is a nominee for the Supreme Court. Despite the fact that she's got a pitiful record of more losses than wins with the high court, and has made questionable comments that create doubt that she is qualified, the Progressive Left wants her nomination to succeed. Of course.

So the word is going out to find any dirt possible on one Connecticut firefighter named Frank Ricci. It's the political version of "search and destroy."

WASHINGTON — Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of Sotomayor's most controversial ruling.

On the eve of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearing, her advocates have been urging journalists to scrutinize what one called the "troubled and litigious work history" of firefighter Frank Ricci.

This is opposition research: a constant shadow on Capitol Hill.

"The whole business of getting Supreme Court nominees through the process has become bloodsport," said Gary Rose, a government and politics professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

On Friday, citing in an e-mail "Frank Ricci's troubled and litigious work history," the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way drew reporters' attention to Ricci's past. Other advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue similar story lines.

[SNIP]

No People for the American Way officials could be reached Friday to speak on the record about the press campaign.

"To go after so sympathetic a plaintiff as Frank Ricci . . . is a new low in the politics of personal destruction," said Roger Pilon, the director of the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies. "If they were smart, they'd keep a low profile."

Apparently the American Way is now to destroy the reputations of people who stand in the way of the Left's effort to shred the Constitution and common sense.

The Dirty Politics of Closing Car Dealerships

Our theme today is the erosion of individual rights.

Score another blow against the First Amendment and the right to freely express your political views.

From Mark Tapscott, over at The Washington Examiner:

Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Repubicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty.

The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?

It gets worse.

Also fueling the controversy is the fact the RLJ-McCarty-Landers chain of Arkansas and Missouri dealerships aren't being closed, but many of their local competitors are being eliminated. Go here for a detailed look at this situation. McClarty is the former Clinton senior aide. The "J" is Robert Johnson, founder of the Black Entertainment Television, a heavy Democratic contributor.

A lawyer representing a group of Chrysler dealers who are on the hit list deposed senior Chrysler executives and later told Reuters that he believes the closings have been forced on the company by the White House.

"It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers. It really wasn't Chrysler's decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President's automotive task force," said attorney Leonard Bellavia.

RedState.com's Josh Painter has a useful roundup of what has been found so far by a growing number of bloggers digging into what could be a very big story indeed. Also, see my column on this issue and how it fits into the larger context dubbed by the Examiner's Michael Barone as "gangster government."

As part of Chrysler's bankruptcy agreement with the White House, the company plans to close roughly a quarter of its 3,200 dealerships. ... Many dealers contend the criteria being used to determine which dealerships survive is not clear and that many of those that are being closed in fact are profitable businesses, despite the current recession.

Folks, we are into unchartered waters here. This is like taking the dirty politics and gang-like mechanizations of Chicago to the nation as a whole.

Not only has our Dear Leader Obama managed to "federalize" two of the Big Three automakers, he's bankrupting political enemies by having his henchmen dictate who gets to stay in business and who doesn't.

This is way beyond the phrase "beneath contempt."

This is criminal. It may even smack of treason, since what they are doing shreds the Constitution in so many, many ways.

Please, America, wake up!