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.
I am delighted that these unscrupulous dems are dining on this thin gruel........I hope they starve.
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ROFL!!! .............. I really do mean this ....... you owe me a new keyboard!
;-)
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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?
I think (but I'm not sure) that it was mentioned that he was a producer of "Laugh-In" ....... a real cerebral offering.
;-)
This is your brain stuck on stupid
Any questions?
Have you read my proposed constitutional amendment: viz Rhode Island and Delaware be represented by one Senator? Not one Senator apiece. One Senator.
"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?
"It started off with a bang and ended with a whimper."
If there was a bang, Biden's hairplugs might have shot out.
"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.
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.
Agreed, thus thier stall on a vote for a week. Ihope the Repubs call for the vote now and force the dems.
(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
"...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.
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!
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.................
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