President Obama’s former ‘regulatory czar’ and progressive icon Cass Sunstein has a new book out entitled Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas in which he ponders why topics like “perfectly rational people sometimes believe crazy conspiracy theories,” climate change, same-sex marriage, animal rights, and more. During a recent forum about the book at the National Constitution Center, an audience member posed a very strange question to Sunstein: “Should a fetus have the same rights as a horse?” His answer was even more bizarre.
“Cass Sunstein is really an amazing dude. I'm sure he appreciates that. He's a guy who wept, according to his wife, when he was offed the regulatory czar job… When you have a President that's like Woodrow Wilson, that's a dream come true, because you can change people – what they eat, what they watch, how they drive, how they vote, all through regulation… That was his job,” Glenn explained on radio this morning. “Now, he's a pretty spooky dude when you really know his real opinion… Listen to him try to answer a pretty serious question about the rights of a child. Does the fetus have the same right as a horse?”
Applicable video begins around the 1 hour 5 minute mark:
As Pat explained, Sunstein easily could have laughed off the ridiculousness of this question, but instead he stumbles through an awkward answer. Glenn, however, believes Sunstein didn’t ignore the question because he actually has an opinion on the subject matter – one that he may not have been fully upfront about in his response.
Glenn pointed to an eerie comment former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made earlier this year in regards to her evolving opinion on gay marriage as evidence. Napolitano essentially admitted she did not publically support gay marriage because it was not popular opinion at the time she was trying to win her gubernatorial races in Arizona. But now that the “arc of history” has evolved, she is much more willing to have the opinion that is now more politically expedient.
“So [she] can't tell you what [she] really believe because you are not prepared to hear it,” Glenn explained. “It comes from the progressives: I'm smarter than you are. And I can't tell you [the truth now] because you will reject me, so I will just work behind the scenes to manipulate through regulation, through information until you get to the point to where you're ready to hear what I'm really saying to you.”
With that in mind, when it comes to Sunstein’s response to the horse and fetus question, his answer may not have actually been what it seemed.
“Cass Sunstein, if I'm not mistaken, has written about litigation for animals. And we already have monkeys on trial. We have monkeys taking people to court! So look at the arc of history,” Glenn explained. “You are not ready to say monkeys and dogs are people too. You are not ready to say babies and horses are the same, so what does he say… He's a long-robed professor who's making his way around and gaining accolades in the marketplace. Beware… He's waiting for the arc of history to catch up, so he can tell you what's really on his mind.”