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Russert on Alito: "Would Have Been Helpful to Have More Ammunition" - and Who Is Liu?
Today Show/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 01/13/2006 5:10:13 AM PST by 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.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: 109th; alito; alitohearings; baderginsburg; berkeley; goodwinliu; hillary; lauer; russert; scotus
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

I am delighted that these unscrupulous dems are dining on this thin gruel........I hope they starve.


61 posted on 01/13/2006 7:52:09 AM PST by Carolinamom (New member of Sam's Club)
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To: Kenny Bunk
"Is there any wonder the guy can no longer track an elephant through fresh cement?" -------

********

ROFL!!! .............. I really do mean this ....... you owe me a new keyboard!

;-)

62 posted on 01/13/2006 7:57:48 AM PST by beyond the sea ("If someone is callin' you from Al Queda, we want to know why.")
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To: Kenny Bunk
"BTW, he represents a state so small and comes from such a large family, that it is entirely possible he is elected by his relatives. It's the family's idea of custodial care to keep Joe in DC. THey use the Senate as kind of a Senior Day Care thing. It's not heartless, they can check up on him when he's on TV."---

*****

I just read the second half of your post................you're killing me. You are one funny FReeper!!!!!!!!!!

May I ping you every once in a while?

63 posted on 01/13/2006 7:59:51 AM PST by beyond the sea ("If someone is callin' you from Al Queda, we want to know why.")
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To: cricket
That 'hollywood type' guy was interviewed last night on Fox.

I think (but I'm not sure) that it was mentioned that he was a producer of "Laugh-In" ....... a real cerebral offering.

;-)

64 posted on 01/13/2006 8:03:11 AM PST by beyond the sea ("If someone is callin' you from Al Queda, we want to know why.")
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
This is your brain

This is your brain stuck on stupid

Any questions?

65 posted on 01/13/2006 8:03:42 AM PST by Darth Republican
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To: beyond the sea
Ping away. And I hope you're not from Delaware. If we ever get any money in Maine, we probably ought to buy it.

Have you read my proposed constitutional amendment: viz Rhode Island and Delaware be represented by one Senator? Not one Senator apiece. One Senator.

66 posted on 01/13/2006 8:11:42 AM PST by Kenny Bunk (Democrat vote fraud must be stopped. Hello? RNC?)
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To: TomGuy
"Should another SC vacancy occur, we might see more fireworks to ensure a more liberal nominee..."
I beg the difference. If another SC vacancy occur, Pres. Bush nominates another outstanding smart conservative and constructionist judge, we'll win again. Could you imagine if Harriet Miers sitting where Judge Alito sits at the same time is being grilled by the DIMs? The picture is not very pretty, is it?
67 posted on 01/13/2006 8:32:36 AM PST by Toidylop
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To: beyond the sea

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

If there was a bang, Biden's hairplugs might have shot out.


68 posted on 01/13/2006 8:42:16 AM PST by LongsforReagan (Dick Cheney is the best elected official in this country. Period.)
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To: Kenny Bunk
"It's the family's idea of custodial care to keep Joe in DC. THey use the Senate as kind of a Senior Day Care thing. It's not heartless, they can check up on him when he's on TV..."
OUCH!!! LOL.
69 posted on 01/13/2006 8:49:22 AM PST by Toidylop
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
When Mrs. Alito left the room, the confirmation became inevitable. Confirmation for the next judge as well. The President can send anyone decent up next time and park his/her entire family in the front row. Character assassination will be way too risky for Schmuck Chumer and crew.

Without that, they have nothing. They'll actually have to talk about the law where they are casual interlopers and the nominee is a lifetime participant.

70 posted on 01/13/2006 10:01:56 AM PST by Dilbert56
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To: Inwoodian
The failure of the Committee to unearth this corruption is because they can't find it, not because it doesn't exist.

Agreed, thus thier stall on a vote for a week. Ihope the Repubs call for the vote now and force the dems.

71 posted on 01/13/2006 11:17:48 AM PST by strange1 ("Show the enemy harm so he shall not advance" Sun Tzu The Art of War)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

(Watching the Today Show Since 2002 So You Don't Have To.)

Thank you for all the courage you muster to do this for us!

I stopped watching during Iran/Contra, 20 years ago next year.

What meds do you take during veiwing? LOL


72 posted on 01/13/2006 2:00:56 PM PST by ConservativeGreek
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To: beyond the sea
Peggy Noonan on Joe Biden:

"...you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds...."

I can....its as apparent as night and day..... a perfect, priceless description.

73 posted on 01/13/2006 2:12:35 PM PST by HardStarboard
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To: ConservativeGreek
What meds do you take during veiwing? LOL

Glad you enjoy the threads. All joking aside, since I started covering the Today show, I've been diagnosed with acid reflux. Coincidence? Anyhow, I pop a daily Prilosec!

74 posted on 01/13/2006 6:53:40 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show Since 2002 So You Don't Have To.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Anyhow, I pop a daily Prilosec!

I just knew it!
Katie Koran makes me a destructive machine. Rip newspapers, through magazines, yell at the cat.................


75 posted on 01/14/2006 4:32:20 AM PST by ConservativeGreek
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