So reporters with small and/or lazy minds render people and ideas to categories and you follow their lead.

You have a tendency to be pompous, you know.

What say we write opinions, contribute what we can, bounce ideas off one another and leave our excessive self esteem out of it? This tendency to be our den mother really sucks.

I am writing my opinions, amongst which is that you have a tendency to categorize folks and ideas. Otherwise know as knee jerking.

I really don't understand how that amounts to "excessive self esteem" or being a "den mother", but have it your way.

What really amuses me about people who claim Stevens is a liberal is that he was appointed by Gerald Ford.

Liberal? Stevens is a conservative from the time when conservatives were centrists, as opposed to today, when "conservatives" are the far right wing.

Which illustrates why the labels have become meaningless.

I usually don't get into these kind of discussions and I will be getting out of it after this post. Even the insinuation about my small and lazy mind wouldn't pull me into them. I prefer discussions about events and opinions and I gave up flame wars a long time ago.

I simply broke my own rule: Never reply right away to a post that ticks you off. Let time go by and come back and address it and turn the discussion into something you want to discuss or just drop it altogether.

A reply to your post comes quickly to mind but I think we both have gone far enough in this discussion. I enjoy your posts and your participation. We differ greatly in our thinking but that is good. It would be boring otherwise.

Apologies for feathers ruffled.

If a real conservative was appointed to the court in Stevens place(unlikely) and a Roe vs. Wade was revisited what do you think would happen to abortion rights?

Presidents for many years have been trying to pick justices that echo their philosophies. That hasn't worked very well. Justices also change, as Stevens has changed.

You didn't ruffle my feathers. I'm addressing the ideas you post not attacking you personally.

Stevens is a real conservative. Real conservatives don't complain about "activist judges" and then overturn a century of established law, as the Roberts Court did with the D.C. gun control case.

An interesting, if somewhat aged, perspective on the subject.