David Limbaugh referees a debate held on “Meet the Press” between Professor Douglas Kmiec and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. Says Limbaugh, in part:

…it is axiomatic that those who don’t play by the rules are always suspicious that the other side won’t either. Since liberals have routinely exploited the judiciary to implement their policy agenda they fear conservative-oriented judges might do the same. Actually, they’re horrified at the prospect that conservative judges might simply reverse precedent established through liberal activism, such as Roe.

Mario Cuomo gave voice to this liberal fear during the debate. Kmiec asserted that Pope John Paul II’s admonition to public officials to work legislatively to limit abortion did not apply to judges, because they are not legislators. Cuomo vehemently disputed this, saying, ‘The law today, as we all know, is Roe against Wade. That was made by judges and it can be overturned by judges. To say that the [pope’s] rules that apply to legislators shouldn’t apply to judges is, it seems to me, wrong.’

Quite a damning admission by Cuomo. That he so adamantly rejected the legislative-judicial distinction reveals that he fully embraces the idea that courts are a third policymaking branch…

About ten years ago, Mario Cuomo had a national weekly talk radio show. In an attempt to give the liberal point of view a fair hearing, reasoning that Cuomo was one of liberalism’s leading lights, and figuring that three hours per show gave Cuomo a chance to really present the liberal POV, I made a point of listening to every show.This, unfortunately, soon became a painful experience. Cuomo patronized nearly every caller, and gave answers, when challenged, that often were self-contradictory. He convinced me only that liberalism is a dead philosophy — which soon proved to be the fate of Cuomo’s radio show, as well.

I wonder: How many liberals can even correctly define the term “strict constructionist”? It might be fun to ask a few.

Meanwhile, I recommend David Limbaugh’s entire piece. Unlike Mario Cuomo, David Limbaugh understands the Constitution.

Addendum: MSNBC has posted the transcript of the August 7 debate between Doug Kmiec and Mario Cuomo. ( As an aside, for those who are interested, the transcript also contains a debate between two autism experts, Dr. Harvey Fineberg of the Institute of Medicine and David Kirby, author of “Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy,” regarding the state of scientific evidence relating to the cause and treatment of autism.)