Russert on Alito: "Would Have Been Helpful to Have More Ammunition" - and Who Is Liu?

Today Show/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

by Mark Finkelstein

January 13, 2006 - 07:53

Discussing the Alito hearings on this morning's Today show, Matt Lauer and Tim Russert sounded less like host and analyst and more like two teenaged boys, griping as they exit the theater that the movie didn't deliver enough exploding cars and train wrecks.

Lauer's opening question sounded a theatrical theme: "did the event live up to its billing?"

Russert panned the performance's lack of fireworks: "It sure didn't, Matt. People talked about a confrontation. It certainly wasn't that. It started off with a bang and ended with a whimper."

But to the extent things did get nasty, who was responsible? Lauer slyly suggested that it was . . . Alito's own fault.

LauerL: "As he started to frustrate Democrats, Tim, it appeared to me that they then moved into more personal issues like that alumni group at Princeton and his failure to recuse himself from a case involving a company with which he had investments."

Get it? Is was frustration at Alito's intransigence that drove those Democrat pussycats into attacking Alito. Matt stopped just short of claiming that the Devil made Teddy do it. Lauer then asked Russert whether the personal attacks were "the wrong direction for Democrats to go?"

That's when Russert lamented the Dems' lack of the materiel of political war:

"It would've been helpful if there had been more ammunition. If there in fact had been something there they could directly link Judge Alito to."

We feel your pain, Tim.

In the set-up segment, Pete Williams noted the unprecedented move in which a bi-partisan panel of current and former judicial colleagues testified in support of Alito. He ran a clip of black former federal judge Timothy Lewis saying he wouldn't be sitting there if he thought Alito "might be hostile to civil rights."

On the other side, we were treated to footage of law professor Goodwin Liu who claimed that an analysis of Alito's judicial decisions "shows a clear anti-civil rights pattern."

Which raises the question, who is Liu?

As can be seen from his official faculty bio, Liu is a professor at Berkeley, a former law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a project director at something called the Earl Warren Institute for Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity. His main current interest is using the 14th amendment to federalize education. Oh, and just for good measure, in 2003 he co-authored an article in the Georgetown Law Journal with . . . Hillary Rodham Clinton.

So, bi-partisan panel of judges vs. professional Democrat who wants to reinterpret the Constitution to vastly expand the scope of the federal government. You be the judge.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Today Show/NewsBusters who-is-Liu ping.

[saveliberty]

Oh, and just for good measure, in 2003 he co-authored an article in the Georgetown Law Journal with . . . Hillary Rodham Clinton.

LOL! Did she sue him afterwards?

[strange1]

"It would've been helpful if there had been more ammunition. If there in fact had been something there they could directly link Judge Alito to."

Damn Alito for being the person he is. Why oh why must he be so perfect. /sarcasm

[beyond the sea]

It started off with a bang and ended with a whimper."

Hmmmm ..... I must have missed the bang.

[beyond the sea]

Peggy Noonan did well describing Biden's bloviating:

****

"The great thing about Joe Biden during the Alito hearings ............ that he is incapable of staying on the river of a thought, and is constantly lured down tributaries from which he can never quite work his way back--you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds, trying desperately to return to the river but not remembering where it is, or where it was going."

"little paddles of his mind" --- ROFL

[AmericaUnite]

Bump

[Mo1]

Oh, and just for good measure, in 2003 he co-authored an article in the Georgetown Law Journal with . . . Hillary Rodham Clinton.

You've got to be kidding me .... HAHAHAHA

[TomGuy]

"It would've been helpful if there had been more ammunition..."

Re-interpretation: Why didn't Alito give us more bullets, so we could shoot him with them.


Another paraphrase: I love the smell of Desperate libDems in the morning. They reek.

[mewzilla]

I caught a couple of minutes. Long enough to hear Timmy try to blame the Pubbies for making Mrs. Alito cry.

Nice try, Timmy.

And I noted the prof was from Berserkley :) Explained a lot.

[DCPatriot]

Noticed your "LauerL".

Hardy Har Har!

[andyandval]

While reading your daily post on the Today Show, my Newsbusters RSS feed alerted me to the story.

A harmonic convergence! :)

[beyond the sea]

Peggy Noonan also went on to say about Biden's meandering, listless, and confused bufoonery:

"Biden is like "a garrulous uncle after a drink". Made me wonder what Chappaquiddick Fats was ----- the dirty old, stumbling perv down the alley after the whole bottle?

[TomGuy]

Right.

The complaint for day 1 was that the Dems weren't 'aggressive' enough.

So day 2 was when they were in attack mode, when Kennedy had his rant with Specter, when Mrs. Alito left the room in tears, because the Dems seemed to feel they needed to ratchet things up.

On day 3 they seemed somewhat subdued, as if they had read the overnight polls and came off looking like donkeys' posteriors and decided to tone down the personal attacks.

It just wasn't too good for the Dems, all around.

Should another SC vacancy occur, we might see more fireworks to ensure a more liberal nominee. Providence might assist a couple of the elderly ones who, so far, refuse to retire.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"For good measure, in 2003 he co-authored an article in the Georgetown Law Journal with . . . Hillary Rodham Clinton."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Not kidding! Check out second para of Liu's official faculty profile:

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=4360

[Coldwater Creek]

I hope that Judge Alito orders Teddy's feeding tube removed, as it is quite obvious that the senator is brain dead.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

While reading your daily post on the Today Show, my Newsbusters RSS feed alerted me to the story. A harmonic convergence! :)

"When the Moon is in the Seventh House,
"And Jupiter, aligns with Mars . . . "

[HEY4QDEMS]

who is Liu

I'm pretty sure he interned for Ginsberg.

[YaYa123]

I watched the panel which included Professor - Ginsburg Clerk - Hillary Co-Author- Liu. ( A most articulate, youngish, bookish man of Asian persuasion )

Even as Liu opined Alito wasn't sufficiently PC, liked it when cops beat up on 8 year olds, and might be anti-black, he praised to the heavens Alito's brilliant mind.

When Liu was challenged by Republican senators for cherry-picking a few cases to prove his biased point, instead of defending his opinions, Liu countered with even more praise of Alito's strong points.

Last night on FOXNews, Brit's panel agreed, (even Mira), that the panel of witnesses was unnecessary. Just like the last few days of democrats' pummeling Alito with bogus and nasty atttacks, the panel did nothing to harm Alito's confirmation.

[johnny7]

Goodwin Liu = Friend of Hillary Clinton

That's all Russert needs to know for them to be an impeccable source.