Get Wise: Will Dems realize pouncing on Alito will only do them harm?

NRO ^ | 11/03/05 | Dennis Coyle

[StatenIsland]

Now it appears that if there is to be mindless destruction wreaked on Washington politics, it will be triggered by the Democrats. They have come out shrilly against President Bush's superb nominee, Samuel Alito, clearly hoping they can repeat the successful character assassination that brought down the most able of unconfirmed nominees, Robert Bork. Harry Reid, that perceptive judge of judicial and executive competence, pounced on the selection, as did Ted Kennedy, who had praised Alito when he was named to the federal bench.

The liberal interest groups were issuing doomsday predictions before the television lights at the announcement had even been turned off. This, it would appear, is the moment of truth, as the future of the Court, the future of the country, hangs by a slender thread, and the forces are being amassed for the mother of all confirmation battles. "The stakes couldn't be higher given the dangers posed by Alito's record," warned Nan Aron of the Alliance for [Liberal] Justice, while Judith DeSarno, president of an abortion-rights group, bemoaned that "it just can't be much worse than this."

[StatenIsland]

Sums things up nicely, I think.

[Doogle]

whether or not the dems do themselves harm...???...hmmmm..
let me think about it for a year or two.


Doogle

[Piquaboy]

I cannot believe that the Fag Reid and Fat Teddy would jump on this guy. They are the smartest of the smart.

[SoFloFreeper]

Let's get Alito confirmed and then replaced Ruth Buzzi Ginsburg with Janice Rogers Brown and John Paul Stevens with Michael Luttig!!

Wouldn't that be AWESOME???

[SoFloFreeper]

Let's get Alito confirmed and then replaced Ruth Buzzi Ginsburg with Janice Rogers Brown and John Paul Stevens with Michael Luttig!!

Wouldn't that be AWESOME???

[Cicero]

Actually, the Dem leaders and the MSM so far are clearly divided in their reactions to Alito. They don't know what to do. One minute they bash him as an extremist conservative who will deprive us of all our basic rights, the next minute they say he's a nice guy who knows his stuff and respects the Supreme Court.

Unless this pattern changes and they decide to go for the scorched earth propaganda campaign, it looks as if Alito will go through.

They managed to bottle up and filibuster Bush's earlier candidates, but only by virtue of the fact that they were not big news, and the media could basically hide what was going on. That won't be possible, now. Everyone knows that another Supreme Court candidate is up for consideration, and they know who he is. Lots of luck trying to bottle him up while the press directs everyone's attention another way. Fitzmass has failed.

[gieriscm]

Word is that Ginsberg will be out in the next six months, for health reasons.

IIRC JRB has indicated that she's not interested in a USSC position at this time, more's the pity. I'd love to see Luttig in there, though!

[Verginius Rufus]

I hope Ginsburg does retire in time for President Bush to pick her successor, but it will undboubtedly be a woman. He is getting enough grumbling over picking a male as O'Connor's replacement...the noise level would be deafening if he picked a man to replace Ginsburg, making the Court all-male again. The only way that Ginsburg might not be replaced by a woman is if another vacancy occurs sooner and that replacement is a woman.

[NeoCaveman]

I hope Ginsburg does retire in time for President Bush to pick her successor, but it will undboubtedly be a woman.

Bob Bork likes Edith Clement. And she is Federalist Society. Fairly stealthy but if Janice Rogers Brown decides not to go then I suspect she'll do. Actually for geographic/religious reasons I think Karen Williams could be the next pick and she's very conservative.

[cubreporter]

No, cause they don't care plus...they are too stupid to know that.

[Verginius Rufus]

Yes, there are some very good women who could be nominated, if they are willing to undergo the confirmation process. The battle over someone replacing one of the hard-core liberals would be a real Armeggadon if it occurs when a Republican is President. (Of course if a Democrat gets to replace Ginsburg or Stevens, the Republicans will meekly vote to confirm whoever it is, Bill Lann Lee or Lani Guinier or whomever.)

[Spirited]

I'd prefer Luttig anyway.

[Frank T]

"Well, actually, it could be 'much worse than this' for defenders of leftist jurisprudence. Nothing has yet appeared in Alito's record to suggest that he burns with desire to wipe out the federal regulatory state, resurrect liberty of contract, or even abandon the right of privacy."

Too bad.