The Senate has confirmed Judge Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. No - wait - they haven't? I read Monday's and Tuesday's transcripts of the confirmation hearings and the senators on the Judiciary Committee were doing so much bloviating and self-congrtatulating that I thought it was all over. Guess not, huh?
Today's hearings brought out the long knives used to backstab at will. Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Specter had a disagreemant about who is, in fact, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman (it's Sen. Specter, which he pointed out to Sen. Kennedy in no uncertain terms - video from Michelle Malkin).
After a day of Democrats hurling invective at Judge Alito to the tune of racist, anti-gay, anti-women's rights, etc., Sen. Lindsay Graham apologized to the judge and his family, saying, "Judge Alito, I am sorry that you've had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this."
"Are you really a closet bigot?" The nominee answered no, and Graham said, "No sir, you're not." At that point, Martha Alito, the judge's wife, got up and, in tears, left the hearing room. Sen. Hatch explained, "She's sick and tired of the mistreatment of her husband."
Well, she needs to toughen up a bit. The players involved in the hearings, from the nominee to the senators to their staffs and to all the special interest groups - most of whom which bitterly oppose Alito - are playing for high stakes. And those that oppose her husbnd's nomination - mostly on the grounds that he was nominated by George Bush and for no other reason(s) - and knowing that they are ultimately going to lose - will and are playing as dirty a game as they possibly can. She must have known that this was going to happen. Having said this, it probably helps the cause of Judge Alito that the people of America can see or read about what Judge Alito's (read: George Bush's) opponents are capable of doing and the way they are willing and able to do it and the effect that it has on innocent people.
Trial lawyers take a huge gamble when they tighten the screws on a female witness or defendant and cause her to break down in front of a jury. This can produce a backlash against the lawyers and can cause a sympathy vote in favor of the weeping female. It looks like Sen. Kennedy may have rolled the dice here and lost.
And now comes the "bombshell" witness that the Democrats had dredged up to testify about what a crummy organization CAP (Concerned Alumni of Princeton) was, which even Alito readily admits. This guy, one Stephen R. Dujack, was dropped like a hot potato by the Democrats when it was pointed out that Dujack had written a very offensive piece comparing the treatment of animals to the treatment of Jews by Nazis during the Holocaust. Dujack now says that his grandfather, Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1978, originally posited the idea of animals living in a continuous holocaust and that he (Dujack) had apologized to Holocaust victims (Jewish human beings as opposed to your everyday yearling beef steer) and that his being dropped as a witness was Matt Drudge's fault.
There is the big press release. The next morning the major newspapers spell your name right. But by noon the Drudge Report runs a shotgun blast of half-truths and innuendoes, and by evening pundits are sifting through your entrails on CNN and Fox. Can citizen participation in government survive the advent of the Internet search engine?What the hapless Dujack misses here, and so many others miss it, also, is that the internet search engine enables researchers to more or less instantly find out who you are and what you said. You know, like they're doing to Judge Alito. His opponents are dredging up stuff from 30 years ago and Drudge dredged up a 2 year-old article written by Dujack. Drudge's dredge hijacked Dujack, you might say. And if you might say that, try saying it 10 times rapidly. I'll bet Dujack can. And I'll also bet that Matt Drudge is giggling up his sleeve.
I'll post this and then do some research - using internet search engines - to find some others you might like to hear from - Pardon me. I am an English teacher, am I not? - . . . others from whom you might like to hear. Others like:
The Jawa Report
Dread Pundit Bluto
The Unabrewer
The Glittering Eye
The Political Pit Bull
Confirm Them
Iowa Voice
The Political Teen
Fatass The Conquerer
The Captain - go to the Captain's main page and read through his Senate Blogger Forums - really good!
Suitably Flip
The Captain - again
Right Wing Sparkle
All Things Beautiful
Professor Bainbridge
More from Michelle Malkin
Sister Toldjah
Severe Writer's Block
Southern Appeal
Whoa! Finding good posts today is like shooting fish in a barrel! I continue:
Random Yak
Kokonut Pundits
Cake or Death
Mike's Noise - Uh, Mike. What means PWN3D?
Lifelike Pundits
The Real Ugly American
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred
PoliPundit
Decision '08
Patterico - Wheeeee - a drinking game that does, however, seem dangerous
Brutally Honest
Tiger Hawk
James Joyner at OTB
Conservative Outpost
Blogs for Bush
Pardon My English
TMH's Bacon Bits
Basil's Blog
Adam's Blog
TAGS: Supreme Court, Judge Samuel Alito, Sen. Arlen Specter, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Stephen Dujack, Matt Drudge
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