I Couldn't Resist
I don't know if you have been following the Alito hearings, but I sure have. Unfortunately I stay up late and watch the reruns because I can't pay attention during the day - other things to do. But I really have to laugh about the lack of integrity shown by the Democratic Senators - especially the obviously addled Ted Kennedy.
The two biggest issues they seemed to be able to come up with were Vanguard and CAP. Vanguard was a non-starter from the beginning because Alito, even though he did not have to; and even though he did not break any law or ehtics rules, recused himself (after a request from one of the lawyers in the case) from the proceedings and asked that another panel from the 3rd Circuit decide the case.
But what was funnier was watching Kennedy read the same paragraph over and over again from the CAP magazine. For those of you who didn't follow - CAP was a conservative men's club at Princeton. According to many documents and interviews, the club was against the idea of women and minorities being placed ahead of others (particularly white men) simply because of their sex and race. This is the same old argument against Affirmative Action that has been used for many, many years.
To give you more background - what Kennedy was reading was one paragraph from one issue of the magazine, and the author was not Alito.
The questionable paragraph said:
"People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns blacks and hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and Hispanic, the physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports, and homosexuals are demanding that government vouchsafe them the right to bear children."
With this in hand, Kennedy (and other Democratic Senators) started speaking - yes speaking meaning pontificating - not really questioning - about Alito being a bigot; a racist. At one point Kennedy stated point blank:
In an era when America is still too divided by race and riches, Judge "Alioto" has not written one single opinion on the merits in favor of a person of color alleging race discrimination on the job. In fifteen years on the bench, not one.
This quote was from the first day of the hearings during Kennedy's opening statement. Note that he did not even know the judges name at that point. Nevertheless, the statement was basically a lie. Alito has participated in over 4,000 cases and in many, many of them ruled in favor of minorities, people discriminated against on the job, etc. You can read some of the cases - actual cases, not rhetoric here.
And then yesterday, when seven judges that have worked with Alito over the years, including self-admitted liberal judges - including a black judge - many appointed by the Clinton Administration - when these judges came to the conference room to deliver their glowing reports on Alito, Schumer did not attend, Kennedy left....in fact the only Democrat that stayed for the proceedings was Dianne Feinstein. What kind of respect does that show? What kind of fair hearing is it that the Democratic Senators can spend their time not asking questions, but smearing a qualified person with lies and innuendo, and then not even being present when people who have worked with the judge for so many years want to clear the record.
And Kennedy - what a hypocrite. Are you aware of the all male conservative club he belongs to at his alma mater - Harvard? It is called the OWL Club and Kennedy just renewed his membership in September 2005. Their have been several stories about it this week, but here is one from the Washinton Times. I just quote one paragraph:
The club has long been reviled on campus as "sexist" and "elitist" and, in 1984, was booted from the university for violating federal anti-discrimination laws, authored by Mr. Kennedy.
So here we have Kennedy, who still belongs to a club like the one Alito bleonged to in his Senior year (and apparently not since), criticizing the philosophy of Alito's club, using associative innuendo to intimate that Alito is against women and is a racist, when he - Teddy "Splash" Kennedy still belongs to the same type of club. Well maybe not the same. Kennedy points to one paragraph from one article from one edition of a magazine. His entire club was kicked off campus for violating the anti-discrimination law.
The two biggest issues they seemed to be able to come up with were Vanguard and CAP. Vanguard was a non-starter from the beginning because Alito, even though he did not have to; and even though he did not break any law or ehtics rules, recused himself (after a request from one of the lawyers in the case) from the proceedings and asked that another panel from the 3rd Circuit decide the case.
But what was funnier was watching Kennedy read the same paragraph over and over again from the CAP magazine. For those of you who didn't follow - CAP was a conservative men's club at Princeton. According to many documents and interviews, the club was against the idea of women and minorities being placed ahead of others (particularly white men) simply because of their sex and race. This is the same old argument against Affirmative Action that has been used for many, many years.
To give you more background - what Kennedy was reading was one paragraph from one issue of the magazine, and the author was not Alito.
The questionable paragraph said:
"People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns blacks and hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and Hispanic, the physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports, and homosexuals are demanding that government vouchsafe them the right to bear children."
With this in hand, Kennedy (and other Democratic Senators) started speaking - yes speaking meaning pontificating - not really questioning - about Alito being a bigot; a racist. At one point Kennedy stated point blank:
In an era when America is still too divided by race and riches, Judge "Alioto" has not written one single opinion on the merits in favor of a person of color alleging race discrimination on the job. In fifteen years on the bench, not one.
This quote was from the first day of the hearings during Kennedy's opening statement. Note that he did not even know the judges name at that point. Nevertheless, the statement was basically a lie. Alito has participated in over 4,000 cases and in many, many of them ruled in favor of minorities, people discriminated against on the job, etc. You can read some of the cases - actual cases, not rhetoric here.
And then yesterday, when seven judges that have worked with Alito over the years, including self-admitted liberal judges - including a black judge - many appointed by the Clinton Administration - when these judges came to the conference room to deliver their glowing reports on Alito, Schumer did not attend, Kennedy left....in fact the only Democrat that stayed for the proceedings was Dianne Feinstein. What kind of respect does that show? What kind of fair hearing is it that the Democratic Senators can spend their time not asking questions, but smearing a qualified person with lies and innuendo, and then not even being present when people who have worked with the judge for so many years want to clear the record.
And Kennedy - what a hypocrite. Are you aware of the all male conservative club he belongs to at his alma mater - Harvard? It is called the OWL Club and Kennedy just renewed his membership in September 2005. Their have been several stories about it this week, but here is one from the Washinton Times. I just quote one paragraph:
The club has long been reviled on campus as "sexist" and "elitist" and, in 1984, was booted from the university for violating federal anti-discrimination laws, authored by Mr. Kennedy.
So here we have Kennedy, who still belongs to a club like the one Alito bleonged to in his Senior year (and apparently not since), criticizing the philosophy of Alito's club, using associative innuendo to intimate that Alito is against women and is a racist, when he - Teddy "Splash" Kennedy still belongs to the same type of club. Well maybe not the same. Kennedy points to one paragraph from one article from one edition of a magazine. His entire club was kicked off campus for violating the anti-discrimination law.
posted by Specter at 1/14/2006 02:13:00 PM
<< Home