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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Hugh Hewitt is an idiot. Hugh Hewitt is an idiot. Hugh Hewitt is an idiot. Hugh Hewitt is an idiot. Hugh Hewitt is an idiot.

This was aired on Hewitt's radio show Monday (extended Obama segment from last week to establish that the broadcast took place on 16 June, not sometime earlier this year).
OBAMA:
That principle of Habeus Corpus, that a state can't just hold you for any reason without charging you and without giving you any kind of due process, that's the essence of who we are. You remember during the Nurenberg Trials, part of what made us different was even after these Nazis had performed atrocities (ph) that no one had ever seen before we still gave them a day in court. And that tought the entire world about who we are but also the basic principles of the rule of law. Now the Supreme Court upheld that principle yesterday. John McCain thinks the Supreme Court was wrong. I think the Supreme Court was right.

Roe vs Wade, you just mentioned. John McCain has basically said that he would appoint judges who don't see a right to privacy, and as a consequence would be likely to overturn Roe vs Wade.

You're just one justice away from that, and Justice Stevens is eight-five, eighty-six?
HEWITT:
Eighty-seven!

How can he not know he's eighty-seven? He's running for president.

Justice Stevens is eighty-eight years old.


(born 20 April 1920. Wiki, Official Supreme Court bio - pdf)

You can here it in an mp3 file here.

You can also get the entire 37 minute segment Barack Obama's energy, tax & judiciary ideas, at Hewitt's podcast page.

CODA: I heard Hewitt say that yesterday while I was driving around and flipping through the radio dial. What struck me at the time was the silliness of the charge, of Obama failing to know the precise age of Justice Stevens, especially since McCain has erred on more serious matters (e.g. Sunni vs Shia). This morning I thought I'd check on Stevens age, thinking that perhaps he'd recently turned eighty-seven, which could explain Obama's mistake. Imagine my surprise when I see that he's eighty-eight, not the "Eighty-seven!" that Hewitt shouted.

While I recalled yesterday's Hewitt show accurately, I couldn't in good conscience make a post without confirming audio, and who records his show in the event of such an occasion? Luckily, podcasts are all the rage and Hewitt's blunder was available for download as an mp3 (which I trimmed). Perhaps he shouldn't make his programs available that way, because it gives critics an opportunity to catch him being a fool.



20 comments

...and water is wet.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 12:20 PM  

So, candidates for President are supposed to know the stats of the justices at SCOTUS?

Well, Thomas has an INT of 1, CHAR of 0, and STR of 3.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 12:23 PM  

Yes but how wet? How can you not know how wet it is!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 12:24 PM  

How clearly ageist of Obama. He must think all foot-in-the-grave old people are the same age. How would he like it if McCain starting saying all black people look the same!?

*rollseyes*

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 12:28 PM  

I really like how conservatives can get this stuff wrong, even when they have time to research it. Remember that schmuck that Chris Matthews skewered for not knowing what Chamberlain had done wrong by appeasing Hitler? Well I got a comment on a post I wrote about that idiot where a conservative attempted to prove that some conservatives DO know what Chamberlain did wrong...and preceeded to get major, major facts wrong on a subject he had clearly just researched. He somehow imagined that the appeaement lasted all the way until Germany invaded France several years later, completely ignoring the invasion of Poland, Norway, and other places, as well as the fact that the Allies declared war first or that the appeasement treaty only lasted a few months and actually achieved nothing, as Hitler wasn't even ready to break the treaty before he actually did.

And again, this wasn't a guy caught off-guard. This was a guy who had time to research it and was trying to prove how knowledgeable he was. This would be funny if it wasn't so serious. These people are true morons.

By Blogger Doctor Biobrain, at 6/17/2008 12:47 PM  

what is Justice Stevens slugging percentage and on base percentage?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 12:53 PM  

I'm pretty sure Justice Stevens doesn't mind that Obama took a couple of years off him. Honestly, I didn't know how old he was--my pack of SCOTUS trading cards only goes up to Scalia. That said, I expect my president to be smarter than me, which is why, unlike Hewitt, I'm not a fan of Still President Bush.

By Blogger slag, at 6/17/2008 1:00 PM  

The worst part is that Stevens' beloved Cubs have not won a world series in his lifetime.

But THIS IS THE YEAR, BABY!!!!!

By Blogger Jason Mayland, at 6/17/2008 1:47 PM  

This is a far, far worse error than a certain current president not knowing who the head of Pakistan was at the time he first ran for office. You are all just too blinded by partisanship to admit that.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 1:59 PM  

Holy Crap! I can't believe neither Obama and Hewitt mentioned that Stevens is 88 years old! I'd expect someone who served in the White House to know this crap and someone whose aim is to get there. And not just 88 years old, but 88 years and 68 days!

How can they not know this useless information?!!!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 2:07 PM  

Stevens is young 88.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 3:49 PM  

Oh yeah? Well, how tall is he, smart guy?

By Blogger Quaker in a Basement, at 6/17/2008 4:24 PM  

Seriously... I honestly forget my own age sometimes.

By Blogger R., at 6/17/2008 4:44 PM  

88 is the new 66.

By Blogger Spacebar Supersleuth, at 6/17/2008 6:09 PM  

Hey, doesn't someone already compile RBI stats for supreme court justices? That would be where they cast the deciding vote with bases loaded, or something.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 7:05 PM  

Hewlett had a teaser line last month "You're going to get a class in Marketing (or whatever) 101, but more advanced."

Gee, that would be Marketing 201 if he'd ever made it that far in college or Sunday school.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 8:23 PM  

I asked Obama how old he thought I was and he said 32 (his answer being off by 3 years.) No way I'm voting for that guy.

By Blogger jack fate, at 6/17/2008 11:18 PM  

on the rightwing blogs, they take any misstep by obama as an opportunity to act superior over him and cite this as an example of the failure of affirmative action.

that's what they did with his "57 states" gaffe.

the level of resentment whites have expressed against this man has surprised me. do they not realize how transparent they are in their insecurities?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/17/2008 11:18 PM  

Wait, so you're just saying that Obama was wronger than originally thought! I guess all preznits can't be as smart as Bush...

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/20/2008 4:56 PM  

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