Souter Kagan.
July 25, 1990:
One of the few negative notes was sounded by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) who said he would have preferred if Souter, a lifelong bachelor, were a family man. But Hatch quickly backed away from the statement. “It came out wrong,” Hatch said. “I did not mean that as criticism.”
What was Hatch trying to say there anyways?
Something around here? There’s more!!
He lives in a New Hampshire cabin with only flannel shirts and firewood for company. He wields substantial power as a judge, and may get the promotion of a lifetime. But what intrigues many Americans about U.S. Supreme Court nominee David Souter is the fact that he is a 50-year-old bachelor. We wonder, “What’s wrong with him? How does he feel about women? Is he anti-social, homosxual, misogynistic, immature, or just plain dweeby?”
He is an enigma. He is Spinster Man.
For the average, never-married, middle-aged man, perennial bachelorhood should not be an issue. Yet it is. It is hard to say which sex has it worse when it comes to stereotyping. Never-married women are assumed to be unattractive or otherwise undesirable. Never-married men are thought to be either womanizers (which carries a positive connotation), hermits or homosexuals.
Actually, doing that quick dig was a way of figuring out something or other about the current Kagan Lesbian Crisis. I have no particular impetus for “gaydar”. I am well aware of the presence of people scouring about to “out” various politicians. I have thought of two politicians named in this odd game-hunt as “gay” based on a sort of confluence of credible enough rumor mongering by particular sources– Larry Craig (this was pre-“Wide Stance” Incident) and the current Governor of Florida. I haven’t got much thought on the current Senator from South Carolina. Are we supposed to analyze squeeky voices and attribute it to a homosexuality?
We then turn from them to the specter of Butch-haircut women. That almost seems to be enough to get everyone a’chattering. The former governor of Arizona, current Homeland Security head, has been rumored to be gay.  Step outside peculiar lines and you get this treatment, I suppose. In the end, at the end of her career, she’ll get Souter’s treatment of idolizing whatever idiosyncracies she supposedly has — probably not playing Softball anymore.
It is worth mentioning that when Souter retired, he was deemed a hermit retiring to some encased New England cabin, to spend the rest of his life reading — until such time as this happens. Elana Kagan is, by reports, more social — apparently hob-nobbing with the Liberal Intelligentsia, the new going line is running — that and the stratifying New York City influence is getting to people. From there, it’s curious to look at the Justices Franklin Roosevelt nominated —
Alabama (I imagine the last Ku Klux Klan member who’ll ever be nominated), Kentucky, Massachusetts, Washington (The Pride of Yakima), Michigan, South Carolina , New York, and Iowa. Then again, you’d have to look in and see who touched down in New York in their lives — only one person is pegged to “New York” on this list.
Well, better a disporportionate number of New Yorkers than a disproportionate number of Alabamans, if we’re going to play this “Heartland” Game.