Posted on 01/11/2006 6:02:49 AM PST by prairiebreeze
(CNSNews.com) -- "Judge Alito Proves a Powerful Match for Senate Questioners," read the headline of a "news analysis" piece in Wednesday's New York Times.
The report described Alito as an "elusive target" for Senate Democrats who are determined to paint him as an extremist. "For nearly eight hours, Judge Alito was placid, monochromatic and, it seemed, mostly untouchable," the New York Times opined.
The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday compared Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to a "guerilla army searching for a weak point in a heavily guarded fortress...as they challenged Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing."
The L.A. Times described Alito as "contained and controlled...never seeming to anger and only rarely displaying flashes of humor," and the newspaper admitted, "He demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of the cases he had decided on the 3rd Circuit, fielding detailed questions on dozens of them without referring to notes."
The Associated Press reported that "Democrats appeared unable to stop the nomination, and seemed increasingly unlikely to mount a filibuster in the full Senate."
A Washington Post's news analysis described Alito as "low key" but "short on specifics." His replies didn't rock the status quo, the headline announced.
USA Today said Judge Alito "was effective and did not hit any bumps as he headed toward confirmation to succeed the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor."
Even a blog on the Planned Parenthood of America website wondered, "Where, oh, where is the drama in these hearings? Except for Dianne Feinstein's rally late today, it's like watching a tetherball tournament. Between the speech-making, his artful dodging, and the questions that not even Clarence Thomas could have messed up, I don't know how we're going to learn what he really thinks," the Planned Parenthood blogger wrote.
The Democratic National Committee posed the question, "Can We Trust Judge Sam Alito?" The DNC website said, "Judge Alito almost gives the impression of a man who will say anything he can in a job interview to get that job."
Likewise, the liberal interest group, Alliance for Justice, wondered, '"What won't Judge Alito say when he's trying to get a job?" Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron described Alito as "evasive," waffling, and said the American people "deserve a fuller, more forthright discussion of Judge Alito's record and views."
But Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a Republican supporter of Judge Alito, commented, ''There's a growing sense of inevitability that he will, in fact, be voted favorably out of the committee and confirmed."
The thing about the Miers pick is that it was so bad. It wasn't just a minor error. It was an appalling error. And the criticism was directed at the bush bots moreso than at Bush himself. Bush screwed up. Why mince words?
I don't applaud him because I don't think he had any choice. He was stubbornly going forward despite the uproar within the conservative community. It was only after senators had gotten a chance to meet with her that he finally rescinded. Remember? They cut the meetings short? Specter basically said she had a lot of studying to do. It was pathetic and sad. It was so bad Miers' detractors pitied her. So no, GWB doesn't get credit for it. We dodged a bullet, and to this day, the pick of Miers is inexplicable.
Someone should tell these morons that its not a crime to lie or exagerate about your personal hobbies or interests when you are trying to get a job. Lying to a jury like their hero Bill Clinton did is though.
Speaking of choices, I don't think the Miers pick was bad. I don't think it was good. It was just a choice. Others disagreed with that choice. She withdrew. The President made another choice. Instead of Judge Alito, he could have chosen someone equally as disturbing to those whose fondest wish is to be perpetually disturbed. I remember Coulter braying that GWB would pick Attorney General Gonzalez just to be vindictive, and I remember many people here followed right along where she led. Like you, when his 2nd pick was an excellent one, they failed to give credit where credit is due.
You are adamant that the Miers choice was a mistake. However, you apparently don't think people deserve credit for correcting their mistakes. Do you treat your loved ones that way? One mistake and boom! They are on your crap list forever.
True, but they are getting Alito to say things like Griswold and privacy are settled matters, one-person one-vote is important Constitutional principle, etc.
In effect, the Democrats have managed to require some amount of caginess and/or genuflection to their concerns, but, in case of Roberts and Alito, without compromising their judicial principles or vision.
This is overall very good for us. A court of 9 Roberts/Alito types would be the kind of court conservatives can live with.
"Brown, Owen, or any of the other supposed lightning rods would have also been confirmed. "
On Brown I am not so sure. What we are seeing is that we learned how NOT to get confirmed: Be combative like Bork. And how TO get confirmed: Be amiable, know everything, and dont rock the boat - Roberts.
JRB is a bit combative and might have gotten some hits on that.
Still, this is very encouraging! Alito will be confirmed with 60-70 votes is my prediction.
As for Alito, I don't know if it was an excellent pick, just as I don't know if Roberts was an excellent pick. It's too soon to tell; that's just the way it is. I do know that both Roberts and Alito are qualified for the job, whereas Miers wasn't even in the ballpark.
Does Bill Clinton deserve credit for breaking off his affair with Lewinsky? Of course he doesn't. Why? Because he did it because he had no choice. As a simple matter of fact, Miers WITHDREW her nomination. We don't even know for a fact that Bush had anything to do with it. For all we know, he'd have kept on going, straight into a buzzsaw. So no, he doesn't get credit for it. We dodged a bullet, no thanks to the bush bots.
We Conservatives have done SO MUCH BETTER with Alito. It will benefit Bush too, to have made such a good nomination.
No wonder Dems are biting nails. They know he is qualified and they know he is conservative, but they have nothing to pin on him.
I also think it was interesting but Bush was getting his ratings pummelled in the fall ... I think partly because of Miers. They came back up in nov and dec. If Alito is on the court, conservatives will remember that for a long time and CREDIT BUSH FOR A GOOD NOMINATION.
"I think a lot of people look for explanations that don't involve acknowledging that the president screws up sometimes. I think he just screwed up. He picked the picker, and that left no fail safe to avoid what would have been a mistake. Initial meetings with senators, plus a total outcry from the best conservative advocates in the business, stepped in to fill the void."
Exactly. There was a post-nomination 'vetting' that had to take place because proper vetting wasnt done prior. Some red flags should have been raised earlier but werent.
ACtually the comment about advisors IS wrong.
The person who was pushing Miers was Andy Card, according to American Spectator 'prowler'. So much for depending on advisors.
True, but the crux of the problem was that because Miers was the pick, the person doing the vetting reported directly to the person being vetted. And the fault for that lies with President Bush. Sure, Andy Card was pushing the idea, but the big guy gets to make the call.
This John Fund piece laid it out pretty good:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110007398
The privacy was "in the bedroom".
Can you tell me what's private about an abortion. Someone has to drive you there and you have to sign papers. There are doctors, nurses, aides, secretaries and then you go to a pharmacy with a "written" prescription. That's about unprivate as you can get.
"The Democratic National Committee posed the question, "Can We Trust Judge Sam Alito?"
A better question might be, Can we trust the liberal members of Congress?
Just what is the liberal's agenda? To make America a communist state?
Seems like Schumer's statement of Alito's responses being no answers were simply a soundbite for the evening news. It definately didn't make any sense at the time.
I had almost forgotten what a jerk you were during that entire episode.
Being so wrong will make some of them very bitter.
The statement was fine until you tacked on the entirely juvenile "so there."
Does Bill Clinton deserve credit for breaking off his affair with Lewinsky?
To compare the Clinton-Lewinsky matter to the situation with Ms. Miers reveals a mind set on your part that is truly muddled. The following is an example:
We dodged a bullet...
How do you know if "we" dodged a bullet when you can't even discern that Chief Justice Roberts and soon-to-be Justice Alito are not excellent picks?
Frankly, I have to laugh just thinking about someone such as yourself condescending to judge the qualifications of anyone.
Alito looks like he's singing "Oh, What A Beautiful morning"
Oh what a beautiful morning
Oh what a beautiful day
I've got a beautiful feeling
Everything's going my way
I hope he gets a good night sleep.
Waaah. You said I wouldn't give Bush credit for anything. You were wrong. So there.
To compare the Clinton-Lewinsky matter to the situation with Ms. Miers reveals
A very simple and easy to understand analogy that demonstrates that when one retreats out of necessity, it may be welcome, but it's not exactly creditworthy. In the case of Miers, SHE withdrew, so if anyone deserves credit, it's her, not Bush. That's not even debatable. He deserves credit for what? Not rejecting her withdrawal??
you can't even discern that Chief Justice Roberts and soon-to-be Justice Alito are not excellent picks?
I guess it depends what you mean by excellent. To me, SCOTUS picks are a crapshoot, and very unpredictable. From what I understand, Souter said all the "right" things when he was nominated. We just have to wait and see. Again, not even debatable.
Frankly, I have to laugh just thinking about someone such as yourself condescending to judge the qualifications of anyone.
Have a good time, bush bot. As I said, Alito and Roberts are clearly qualified, even to a layman such as myself. And Miers was clearly unqualified, to me, to just about every concerned conservative who wrote or spoke about it, to the Senators who met with her, and ultimately, even to herself. But keep on guzzling the kool aid and have a good time.
We dodged a bullet because the Miers hearings would have been an absolute trainwreck which would have severely damaged the president's credibility, and would have made attacking his next pick that much easier. It would have been a major embarrassment.
Socialist at minimum.
Precisely. Miers would have been crucified on competence. Which is a completely legitimate issue.
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