I don’t come from an affluent background or a privileged background. My parents were both quite poor when they were growing up.

And I know about their experiences and I didn’t experience those things. I don’t take credit for anything that they did or anything that they overcame.

But I think that children learn a lot from their parents and they learn from what the parents say. But I think they learn a lot more from what the parents do and from what they take from the stories of their parents lives.

…Because when a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position.

And so it’s my job to apply the law. It’s not my job to change the law or to bend the law to achieve any result.

But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, “You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country.”

When I have cases involving children, I can’t help but think of my own children and think about my children being treated in the way that children may be treated in the case that’s before me.

And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account. When I have a case involving someone who’s been subjected to discrimination because of disability, I have to think of people who I’ve known and admire very greatly who’ve had disabilities, and I’ve watched them struggle to overcome the barriers that society puts up often just because it doesn’t think of what it’s doing — the barriers that it puts up to them.

So those are some of the experiences that have shaped me as a person. — Sonia Sotomayor No! It was Samuel Alito answering a question by Senator Tom Coburn during his confirmation hearing.

In today’s Wall Street Journal Karl Rove wrote:

“Mr. Obama said he wanted to replace Justice David Souter with someone who had “empathy” and who’d temper the court’s decisions with a concern for the downtrodden, the powerless and the voiceless.

“Empathy” is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want. It represents an expansive view of the judiciary in which courts create policy that couldn’t pass the legislative branch or, if it did, would generate voter backlash.”

I know it’s confusing so allow me translate what Karl is actually saying: I am a partisan hack.

H/T: Glenn Greenwald

Democrats
Because the Democrats use a presidential preference system where everybody’s opinion matters a little, and because they have two candidates who are tearing at the seams of a generational gap rather than at the policy soul of the party, Sens. Obama and Clinton will find themselves on the single ticket that Wolf Blitzer dangled in front of cable audiences everywhere during their first head-to-head match-up at a debate in California. Obama, after surprising in Texas, will be at the head of the ticket, but because the Clintons, like political cockroaches, cannot be finished off, the superdelegates will negotiate the equivalent of a plea bargain on Hillary’s behalf. You heard it here: Obama/Clinton ‘08. Dream ticket or nightmare? You make the call.

Republicans
John McCain, per my earlier prediction, is already the presumptive nominee. Now he just needs a running mate. He’ll find it in Tim Pawlenty, the Republican governor of Minnesota. A recent Politico article makes the case nicely, but I’ve had my eye on this “rising star” ever since he received the blessing of Karl Rove a few years back. An old edition of The Note picks up on this tidbit:

“Eibensteiner said that he had invited Rove ‘a long time ago’ to appear at a state party organization fundraiser, but that Rove said he preferred to help Pawlenty’s campaign specifically.”

If you think anything Karl Rove says/does is a coincidence, think again. McCain/Pawlenty ‘08

Inaugural Address 2009
John McCain. Having deftly parried Obama’s Generation Next caché with Pawlenty’s disarming youthful conservatism, McCain stands aside as the Republican attack machine and dominance of terrestrial radio eviscerate Hillary and Clintonism, as well as Obama’s Kennedyesque (read: inexperienced) sheen. Get ready for four more wars!

Decision 2012
At age 75, John McCain decides not to seek a second term, and Tim Pawlenty becomes disturbingly difficult to dislodge from the White House. He’s like a Mike Huckabee who believes in evolution–charming and disarming and a natural political talent. Who said Karl Rove’s vision of a long-term Republican majority was over?

In Conclusion
There’s a chance that Obama is a defter political talent than anyone could’ve foreseen and actually beats back the Clinton machine in the superdelegate mythical backroom. If he does so, look for another woman (maybe Janet Napolitano or Kathleen Sebelius, both of whom come with the benefit of executive experience and important regional constituencies) on the ticket.

There’s also a chance that Clinton’s inevitability turns out to be as strong as McCain’s, and she ekes out an earned delegate win. In which case, you’ll find a Clinton/Obama ticket. The Clintons might stand ready to tear apart the party to get back in the White House (such as if Obama winds up with more earned delegates), but they’re not stupid enough to commit a political homicide/suicide by getting rid of Obama’s next generation political machine when they’re calling the shots.

Right now, the only way I see the Democrats losing in 2008 is if Hillary is on the ticket. And the only way I see Hillary not being on the ticket is if there’s a wholesale rejection of neo-Clintonism as not-self on the part of a cresting wave of superdelegates after the Mar. 4th or maybe May 6th states have had their say.

March madness, indeed.