Posted on 01/11/2006 7:24:25 PM PST by SmithL
A group cleverly called People for the Alito Way says the Associated Press wrongly characterized its an episode at Samuel Alito's hearing today that left his wife in tears.
The AP story, which followed an exclusive from the Drudge Report, placed the blame on a Republican senator rather than committee Democrats -- a fact the conservative group says is just plain wrong.
After taking a steady beating from Senate Democrats today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.-S.C.) offered an apology to Alito. (Read the full transcript.)
"Judge Alito, I am sorry that you've had to go through this," Graham said. "I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this."
Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Bomgardner, at this point had begun to choke up. She exited the hearing room and returned after a break holding her husband's hand.
But, according to the AP's account, it was a comment Graham made moments earlier that triggered Bomgardner's emotions.
"And really what I would look at to believe you're not -- and I'm going to be very honest with you -- is: How have you lived your life? Are you really a closet bigot?" Graham asked rhetorically.
The AP story reports:
"Martha-Ann Bomgardner, who had sat behind her husband for hours of questioning over several days, left as her husband was being questioned by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
"'Are you really a closet bigot?' Graham asked Alito. The nominee said no, and Graham said, "No sir, you’re not."
Commenting on the AP story, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary President Kay Daly said: “Mrs. Alito has shown grace under pressure after months of abuse at the hands of well-funded, left wing organizations and their Democratic minions on the Senate Judiciary Committee,” said Kay Daly. For the Associated Press to misrepresent these events in an attempt to smear Republican Senator Lindsey Graham sets a new low in the already subterranean level of journalistic standards on display in Judge Alito’s confirmation process.”
Mr. Bluey is editor of Human Events Online.
Aren't we all glad that it's not Harriet Miers up there?
Yes. He slid the knife home nicely by doing that.
Think of Alito's questioning this way. He has been pummeled all day by the Democrats and then Graham throws the "closet bigot" question at him, unexpectedly. I can imagine both he and his wife were shocked and took a sudden breath, thinking for a second, a very pregnant second, that he was now being attacked by a committee member who he thought was a sympathetic senator. When Graham explained the basis of his question and comment, the relief for them was measurable. As he went on with his comments, it became apparent that Graham's words were those of praise not attack. These turned what was shock into relief and triggered her tears.
NO WAY can you deflect this from the MSM...
Sure Graham was in some people's minds being overly dramatic...but, it got the point across...
and DANG IT...when the morning was filled with Kennedy demanding an executive session to vote about getting some records..that are supposed to show heaven knows what...
It was a refreshing change to see the GOP senators do something besides just sit there and let them get away with it!
For one, I am.
The left-stream media always take ill-advised remarks from Republicans out of context. His "closet bigot" remarks were uttered to draw attention to himself. The result was predictable given the orientation of the press.
Agreed (though not to the likely of tonight's RINO lovers on this thread).
And you are correct, Lindsey is at his best when he's grandstanding. I suspect he can make one helluva closing statement to jurors.
But that's not criticism. In this instance Lindsey was brilliant. He was. I don't know if he intended to make Mrs. Alito cry, but he most certainly wanted to expose the nasty attacks, the meanness, the lies, the unfairness of the democrats, and the lengths they are willing to go to destroy the reputation of an honorable man.
Mission accomplished.
(Whatever loathing I have for Lindsey's obsession with John McCain, I appreciate his awesome determination to get Alito on the Supreme Court.)
I don't deflect this from the MSM -- they are evil. I'm just saying that Graham gave them the opportunity and they took advantage of it.
The nominee said no, and Graham said, "No sir, you’re not."
I am no fan of Graham and I still think that Mrs. Alito's tears were caused by the sympathy Graham showed them for what they have/were enduring....
"Lindsey should be wary of closet references."
I see references like this occasionally implying that Lindsey Graham is gay. I would appreciate it if you would provide some information that confirms this. You do not have to agree with or like Graham, but perpetuating rumors about him without a basis is not becoming of you.
The demented fools will trumpet this lie loud and long.
And thereby lose even more of their rapidly vanishing credibility.
As I said, they are demented.
If, he is confirmed, (and I believe he will be) payback for the rats from one SCOTUS justice just might, JUST MIGHT, be a real bitch.
The perfect question for Graham to ask would have gone somthing like this:
"Judge Alito, did you ever get drunk and drive your car into the river and forget you had a date until the next morning?" "Judge did you and your cigar ever have sex with your supporters in the hall closet?" "One more question - did you ever wonder if our guys on their next trip to the moon will be able to see the flag our boys left there the last time we were there?
Alito Rocks
I made immediate and repeated efforts to save Mary Jo be diving into strong and murky current, but succeeded only in increasing my state of utter exhaustion and alarm. My conduct and conversations during the next several hours, to the extent that I can remember them, make no sense to me at all.
Although my doctors informed me that I suffered a cerebral concussion, as well as shock, I do not seek to escape responsibility for my actions by placing the blame either in the physical, emotional trauma brought on by the accident, or on anyone else. I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the policy immediately.
Instead of looking directly for a telephone after lying exhausted in the grass for an undetermined time, I walked back to the cottage where the party was being held and requested the help of two friends, my cousin, Joseph Gargan and Phil Markham, and directed them to return immediately to the scene with me -- this was sometime after midnight -- in order to undertake a new effort to dive down and locate Miss Kopechne. Their strenuous efforts, undertaken at some risk to their own lives also proved futile.
All kinds of scrambled thoughts -- all of them confused, some of them irrational, many of them which I cannot recall, and some of which I would not have seriously entertained under normal circumstances -- went through my mind during this period. They were reflected in the various inexplicable, inconsistent, and inconclusive things I said and did, including such questions as whether the girl might still be alive somewhere out of that immediate area, whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys, whether there was some justifiable reason for me to doubt what has happened and to delay my report, whether somehow the awful weight of this incredible incident might, in some way, pass from my shoulders. I was overcome, I'm frank to say, by a jumble of emotions, grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion and shock.
WOW.
When Media Lies and Bias is this blatant, it just makes you MAD.
Who do they think they are fooling?!?
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