i think this is just another example of the fact that mccain doesn't seem to have even a passing acquaintance with a lot of basic issues before the country. overturning the ledbetter case wouldn't "open us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems", at least not new lawsuits or new problems. before last year's supreme court ruling, the courts were "open" to those kinds of lawsuits for almost 45 years. the ledbetter decision essentially legalizes discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religious, national origin, disability, age, etc. under federal law, so long as the employer manages to hide the discriminatory conduct from the employees for more than 180 to 300 days (depending on the state).
it was a shockingly bad decision, overturning decades of clear precedent. maybe mccain isn't really this clueless. maybe he really does know what the ledbetter decision actually means. but if he isn't that clueless, it just means he's dishonest. if he really does know about the case, the most charitable interpretation of his statement is that he's trying to intentionally mislead the public about the issue in yesterday's vote.
