Leahy on Sotomayor: 'Stop the racial politics'
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor should be judged on the merits of her 17-year judicial record and the week of confirmation hearings that just ended rather than on suspicions about her racial allegiances.
“You had one leader of the Republican Party call her the equivalent to the head of the Klu Klux Klan,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy said on CNN’s State of the Union. “Another leader of the Republican Party called her a bigot,” Leahy added, later explaining that he was making reference to comments by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
After Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Ranking Republican on the committee, referred to Sotomayor’s past involvement in the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, Leahy again suggested that some Republicans were being unfairly critical of Sotomayor.
“I hope we don’t go back to the day when we used to have African-Americans up for confirmation and say ‘Yes, but you belong to the NAACP so, you know, we’re really suspicious of you,’” Leahy said CNN’s State of the Union.
“C’mon, stop the racial politics,” Leahy added.
Leahy remarks drew an immediate response from Sessions.
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Chair of S.C. Dems responds to Sanford's Op-ed
Carol Fowler, Chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, issued the following statement about the Gov. Mark Sanford's Op-ed:
"Mark Sanford's vague apology in Sunday's papers is fine as far as it goes, but he doesn't say what he's apologizing for. Turning his back on the people of SC? Abandoning his family? Dumping his responsibilities for weeks? Or 6 1/2 years of ignoring our public schools and the children in them? When my children were small and had to say they were sorry I always made them specify what the apology was for, to be sure they knew. Does Governor Sanford know?"
Sanford, 'humbled and broken,' makes vow to state
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/19/art.sanfordbow0719.gi.jpg caption="Close to a month after holding a press conference and publicly admitting to having an extra-marital affair, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford penned an Op-ed published Sunday where he apologized again."]
(CNN) – Embattled South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford tried a new tack Sunday to win forgiveness after admitting to an affair and being incommunicado while he left the state for several days.
A self-described "more contrite" Sanford wrote an op-ed, published in newspapers around South Carolina, vowing to "begin the journey of trying to get things more right with you and others."
Sanford had previously tried a news conference and several interviews which stirred more controversy over his admitted extramarital relationship with an Argentinian woman whom he called his "soul mate."
"I realize this op-ed does not do justice to the process of saying I am sorry," the two-term Republican wrote. "A handwritten note or a phone call would ultimately be more appropriate."
Sanford again admitted, "I did wrong and failed at the largest of levels." He said "life is... about way more than public standing or political views, it is about recognizing that none of us of are the arbiters of truth, that there are moral absolutes and that there is a God to whom we will all report for our actions.
"My failure has been more glaring on this front, where no public apology can make wrong right."
But Sanford wrote that he has been "humbled and broken as never before," and has "given up areas of control."
"It is my belief this will make me a better father, husband, friend and advocate."
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Jackson: Black leaders want to engage more with Obama
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/19/art.jackson0719.cnn..jpg caption="Rev. Jackson said Sunday that African-American leaders want to engage with the president because there is 'unfinished business.'"]
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A longtime civil rights leader called Sunday for the nation’s first African-American president to be more engaged with the black community and for greater government action to address the needs of the poor and unemployed - especially those in the African American community.
Rev. Jesse Jackson said that he and other African-American leaders “want to engage more fully with [Obama] because there is a lot of unfinished business.” While Jackson noted that the president has met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and with some African-American mayors, Jackson said he has yet to sit down with Obama.
Jackson said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was confident, however, “at some point in time, we will meet.”
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Reliable Sources: Journalists remember Cronkite
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former colleagues of legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite paid tribute Sunday to the personable traits and journalistic smarts of the man often hailed as the “most trusted man in America.”
Cronkite died Friday at the age of 92.
Related video: An anchorman's legacy
Howard Kurtz sat down with some of Cronkite's former colleagues on Reliable Sources Sunday to discuss what Cronkite meant to journalism.
Don Hewitt, creator of CBS's 60 Minutes and former executive producer of CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, has dealt with many of the biggest stars in journalism. He said he never had to massage Cronkite's ego. "He never got full of himself. America was full of Walter Cronkite. Walter was very modest about himself and maybe the best news guy I ever worked with."
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Morton: Goodbye, Walter
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Goodbye, Walter. I'll miss you, even though it's been a while since we last spoke. I'll miss what you stood for even more.
Walter Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening News for nineteen years, from 1962 until 1981. I joined CBS News in 1964, so I was there for most of it. It was a special time. We thought we had the best team. We in Washington thought we had the best bureau. We probably did. One review of network news back then said, I still remember, "People at other networks talk a lot about CBS people. So do CBS people." Right. And we knew, of course, that we had the best anchor.
Chet Huntley and David Brinkley of NBC led the ratings when Walter's tour began. He overtook them and was number one for years until he retired. CBS stayed first for a time after that but then lost it, and never, if I remember properly, got it back.
What was it about him? He wasn't TV slick or TV handsome, that's for sure.
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Health care proposals need more work, health secretary says
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/19/art.sebelius0719.gi.jpg caption="HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that the Obama administration wants a deficit-neutral health care reform bill."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - More work is needed on proposed health care reform legislation to ensure that whatever bill eventually gets passed by Congress is budget neutral, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday.
Appearing on the NBC program "Meet the Press," Sebelius said an additional tax on wealthy Americans is "a legitimate way to go forward."
She noted the tax surcharge provision in a House proposal was one of several options under discussion to help pay for overhauling the nation's ailing health system.
A final bill "will be paid for - it will not add to the deficit," Sebelius said of health care reform, which is currently President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
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