Posted on 01/26/2006 10:22:20 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
On 12 January, 2006, the New York Times ran an article entitled “Thrust into the Limelight, and for Some A Symbol of Washington’s Bite.” It was a mini-biography of Mrs. Martha-Ann Alito, and it purported to explain the reasons for Mrs. Alito’s tears during her husband Samuel’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It blamed them on a follow-up question by Senator Lindsay Graham, rather than on the verbal savaging of Judge Alito by the Democrats on the Committee, led by Senator Ted Kennedy.
The Times should have gotten the story right, because one of the three reporters on the story was in their New Jersey Bureau, and based in Caldwell. But they didn’t. Here are the operative paragraphs from that article on the cause of her tears:
She has sat behind him [her husband] all week, a pleasant-looking woman in sensible clothes, peering through rimless glasses as Democrats grilled Judge Alito about his investments and his affiliation with a conservative Princeton alumni group and Republicans tried to provide him some relief.
On Wednesday, one of those Republicans, Mr. Graham, tried to mock the Democrats with a question about the alumni group, which opposed affirmative action.
"Are you really a closet bigot?" Mr. Graham asked, at which point Mrs. Alito drew her hands to her face and left the hearing room weeping.
Source: http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F20C14FD3C5B0C708DDDA80894DE404482
As the article explained, Mrs. Alito is “fiercely protective” of her husband. And she was upset by the attacks on him as if he were dishonest, or a bigot, or a poor judge. But there was an additional reason, much older and much darker than what happened at that hearing. It concerns the fact that Senator Kennedy led the attack against Judge Alito.
Mrs, Alito was born Martha-Ann Bomgardner in Ft. Knox, Kentucky. The family moved with her father’s profession as an air traffic controller to New Jersey, where she attended Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Kentucky, she returned to New Jersey and became a librarian in the US Attorney’s office, where she met her husband.
Through her husband’s family, she learned of their personal friendship with another young woman who was also an only child. This other woman and her family were staunch Catholics. On occasion, they attended the same church in Roseland, New Jersey, as the Alitos, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, one of only two churches in that town of 5,298. The Alitos live in Caldwell, population 7,584, where this other woman graduated from Caldwell College, probably as a commuter student from her home, rather than a resident student.
From the personal memories of this woman that Mrs. Alito got from her husband’s family, and from her own understanding of what it means to be an only child, Mrs. Alito knew of the worst thing that any human being could do to another. She also heard of its impact on the family.
That other woman’s name was Mary Jo Kopeckne. She was killed by Senator Ted Kennedy, in an auto accident on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, on 18 July, 1969. That was the other reason for Mrs. Alito’s tears.
[Author’s notes: The author did not bother any of the three families referred to here in writing this. All the information was gathered from reputable Internet sources. If the Times puts a competent reporter on the story, it can find the same information. It should also then apologize for its original article, in which the three reporters presented their personal assumptions as facts on the cause of Mrs. Alito’s upset at the hearing.]
John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
As I say in post 161, this article is based on assumptions. I think the evidence shows that. But I don't get the hysteria.
I don't support these kinds of articles if they're mere opinion pieces masking as fact.
I think some people here need to take a breath and relax.
And I think some people here need to pull their postings until they are rewritten as opinion pieces.
That is certainly true. But the problem some of us are having is that the article claims that Mrs. Alito was crying for Mary Jo Kopechne. I don't mean any disrespect to the author. I've seen his articles before and never had a problem with them. The only thing I have a problem with is the claim that Mrs. Alito was crying for Mary Jo.
Caldwell, New Jersey, where the Alitos lived, is about 60 miles as the crow flies from Mount Holly, where Mrs. Alito nee Baumgartner lived. It is a suburb of Newark and New York City. McGuire AFB is near Mount Holly, not Caldwell. Mount Holly is a New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia.
I haven't been down near McGuire AFB or in the Philly suburbs much, but I know that the AFB is surrounded by a bunch of pine forests. Today, Caldwell is surrounded by a bunch of other suburbs.
Are you a clown?
I never saw that picture until you just posted it. You are a hypocrite, and a hysterical one at that. Go to bed and sleep off whatever you are on.
If he knew that she had a migraine (or at least that she claimed she had a migraine) then it's reasonable to believe that he actually spoke to her, unlike the author of this article.
I stand corrected.
Look it up yourself. The time/date/signature stamps are all there.
"But there was an additional reason, much older and much darker than what happened at that hearing. It concerns the fact that Senator Kennedy led the attack against Judge Alito."
My suggestion ... but there MAY be an additional reason
See #173 and know what you're dealing with.
Collecting and distributing pornography appears to be one of your hobbies. Have at it. Just don't expect it to lend any credibility to your weird rants on this thread.
I'm not doubting the connection between Kennedy's atrocious history and the absurdity of his questioning anyone else's ethics. The article seems to imply that Mrs. Alito was crying FOR Mary Jo Kopechne which is at the very least an assumption.
A truly foolish remark.
You can stop wondering. That is probably how it doesn't work.
Just to begin, Ted's older brothers, Joe and John, both were killed years before Ted went off the Dike bridge.
Your wonderment is crudely misdirected.
Uh...doofus...HE posted it.
If the picture is so objectionable, why did you post it for others to view for the first time? I hadn't seen it either until you posted it.
Get a grip on yourself!
No problem...I am just going to forward it to any news organization who wants to publish his horrible piece, exposing Mrs. Alito to dreadful questioning.
ROFL !!!!!
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