Posted on 09/13/2005 5:01:31 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
I love Levin. He really skewered the Dems on the committee today. I just worry that someday his head's going to explode.
Yes, it would, but it's hard to imagine there is another
mind like Roberts out there. He was truly amazing....or maybe he just looked that way in contrast to the dopes doing the questioning.
Thanks for the heads up.
My pleasure. I am much encouraged and reassured about this man now. He has a truly magnificent mind. It is absolutely stunning to listen to him.
Thanks! I appreciate that coming from you! You're one of the true stalwarts here!
They could care less what he said to other senators. What they were doing is typical of attack senators. They have staffs that try to come up with questions that will cause the nominee to make a mistake.
What they hope to do is two fold. First by their own monologues persuade the audience that the nominee is not a good nominee, and then to prove it by trapping the nominee into saying something he should not.
The techniques are all known. On common ploy is to use an untrue premise to a question in hopes the nominee will not challenge the premise. Another is to quote the nominee out of context for the first part of a question and then ask a second part and third part to the question hoping the nominee will not challenge the first part. Then a Democratic staffer will point out to AP and other news services that Roberts did not deny the allegation in the out of context quote. Roberts never once failed to challenge false premises and always countered all accusations made in the first part of questions.
There are several other techniques and the Democrats failed at every attempt to use them
Congressional hearings are a lot like football. Everyone knows about every play used in the game. Everyone knows every possible run and pass play. Games are won by Senators who oppose a nominee, when the nominee fails to halt the offensive play. Roberts was never blindsided. He knew what was coming in every case, and had a near perfect defense. In football terms Kennedy, Leahy, Schumer and company never got a touchdown. They never even got a first down.
It is not uncommon for Senators to only stay in the room when they are in the game.
Today was a spectacular performance by Roberts. The best I have seen in my lifetime.
Today reminded me of when you see a dog play with a stuffed animal and they shake their heads back and forth with it in their mouths. Roberts was the dog, the Dems were the stuffed animal. He overpowered them at every turn, controlled them.
Same here.
Hopefully, they will be thick and too shell-shocked to notice. I can't imagine they understood half of what he was talking about. Their lack of follow-up questions indicated they were clueless. All they could say was, "hmmm,.... let's come back to that tomorrow" - i.e. I'll have my staff look at it overnight and let them figure out a relevant question.
The Dems brought a wagon load of half-wits to a wit fight. They lost.
*one more thing* -- Roberts is not one of us (partisans) but he is truly a STRICT CONSTITUTIONALIST, just like POTUS promised.
Precisely Right.
I have tired of people refering to whether or not he is a conservative. It isn't the point. Yes, I believe he's a conservative, whether as "conservative" politically as Reagan or Scalia? I don't know, but I do believe he's a conservative.
The main point is whether he is a Constitutionalist. Strict Constructionist. Originalist. By whatever name one defines it as. While there is still room for argument among those that hold this viewpoint towards the Courts, even the Founders had their areas of disagreements, this viewpoint towards the Courts will be closer to the intent of the Constitution. No question it trends further away from Judicial obligarchy.
I have no doubt he meets the requirements set forth by the President and by Conservatives in this arena. Courts are not meant to spur a movement, either Liberal or Conservative. It is not their role. Simply to function as a co-equal branch charged with the responsibility to interpret the Constitution. This duty he will discharge well.
You know, it must suck to be the other guys (senators) sitting and listening to judge Roberts, thinking they brought their A-game and being so outsmarted to the point of looking stupid themselves. Though, most of those narcissistic shmucks probabaly even realize how stupid they are and that they are R oberts' intellectual inferior in every way.
That's good to know. Unfortunately all I got to hear of the grilling was a few minutes now and then throughout the day, so most of my information about it came by reading parts of this thread. I must have missed the questions about his view of stare decisis.
I'm pretty sure it was during an exchange with Senator Hatch that it was noted that Casey itself was an alteration of the Roe precedent.
It was addressed early in the day, and then referred back to somewhere in the middle of the day.
This is C-SPAN's "Heidi" snafu.
Okay, okay, I keep seeing these posts about Chrissy Matthews interspersed in the confirmation hearing thread...
Is there a thread somewhere about this Hardball is off of MSNBC schedule, story????
I feel like the only one at party that doesn't know the punch line to a joke....
Yes, it must suck to be them. They know he'll be confirmed. They know he knows more about the law than all of them put together. They know he has more class in his pinky finger than all of them have together. But they still had to sit there and spew their crappy talking points on TV to grovel to their looney left base for campaign funds. They'll still be doing the same thing long after John Roberts is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Is the hearing over for the day?
For some reason, C-span 2 isn't showing this --- just reruns of other stuff from today.
So you need to learn to spell then. Judiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiary Comiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitee.
Oh, I think they understood. When they were forced to look at their notes, then pass on questioning because they didn't understand his reply well enough to follow up a question...they understood they were outmatched in intelligence.
Striking, to me, because Roberts clearly kept his responses in terms an average American could follow. He did not revert to "shop talk". Yet they couldn't keep up.
I suppose in a sense that is depressing. One would think our elected leaders were the brightest the country had to offer. Clearly not so.
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