Dems v. Alito

Parallel universes clashed today again at the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito.

Alito suffered the Dem fools calmly. He remained composed throughout the long day.

When questioned by the Dem Senators, he reminded me of someone gently trying to brush away crazed chihuahuas as they nipped at his ankles.

Again and again, Alito proved himself to be an extremely qualified candidate, in terms of temperament and intellect.

Again and again, the Dems on the Judiciary Committee proved themselves to be embarrassments, in terms of temperament and intellect.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito picked his way carefully Tuesday through the issues of abortion and warrantless wiretapping, satisfying Senate Republicans at his confirmation hearings but provoking Democratic expressions of displeasure.

This is typical AP-style reporting.

I don't think Alito "picked his way carefully Tuesday through the issues."

The article insinuates that he was trying to conceal something. The only thing that Alito appeared to conceal was most likely his boredom and disgust at the Dems' idiocy and pontificating.
The Bill of Rights applies "in times of war and in times of national crisis," the 55-year-old appeals court judge said, although he declined to specify whether President Bush acted properly in ordering wiretaps without warrants in selected cases as part of the war on terror.

That is so lame!

It would be completely inappropriate for Alito to address the constitutionality of a specific matter that has not been argued in court.
Asked repeatedly about abortion, he assured the Senate Judiciary Committee he would first take previous rulings into account. At the same time, he stressed that precedent, including the landmark 1973 decision establishing a woman's right to end her pregnancy, is not binding on the high court.

"I would approach the question with an open mind and I would listen to the arguments that were made," said Alito, who wrote two decades ago that he did not believe the Constitution includes the right to an abortion.

That's precisely what a Supreme Court Justice should do.
The framers did not intend Justices to be politicians. Their role is to interpret the law, not act as advocates for special interest groups.

...Given the strong possibility of a party-line vote in committee, it seemed at times that Alito was testifying at two parallel hearings. Democrats peppered him with questions about his rulings in cases involving civil rights, presidential power, criminal cases and more. Republicans often invited him to defend his actions and rulings of the past.

These hearings are useless. The forum is used for political grandstanding and sucking up to the vocal fringe wackos, not to determine whether or not the nominee is worthy of confirmation.
Leahy first mentioned Alito's membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a group that opposed admission of increased numbers of women and minorities.

"I really have no specific recollection of that organization," Alito said, although he did not dispute that he belonged to it.

Moments later, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, returned to the issue.

"Let me just ask you directly, on the record, are you against women and minorities attending colleges?"

"Absolutely not, senator. No," he replied.

Said Hatch, "You know, I felt that that would be your answer. I really did."

That exchange was great.

Hatch has a knack for taking the Dems down a notch, revealing some of them to be complete doofuses.

Outside the committee rooms, senators of both parties offered differing assessments of the proceedings.

"I think Judge Alito went farther than Chief Justice Roberts did" in discussing abortion, said Specter, signaling satisfaction with the responses to his questions.

Schumer, D-N.Y. dissented. "We're going to keep asking questions until we find out specific answers to how he feels about major issues confronting Americans today," he said.

I think Americans are learning something from these hearings -- that the Dems on the Judiciary Committee are intellectual lightweights, and that Alito is a very intelligent and very patient man.