Ten Truths On The Alito Confirmation

What we've learned from the confirmation hearings for Sam Alito

1. In John Roberts and Sam Alito, President Bush has named two very smart conservative jurists who have a thorough command of case law and an ability to think their way through the problems with fully informed logic.
2. Ted Kennedy has nothing left in the tank.  Nothing at all.  He's on 'E'.  Sen. Kennedy spent the entire confirmation hearing essentially yelling "You're a racist!" at Alito, to no avail, and without any evidence.
3. Liberal will interest groups reflexively oppose any conservative nominee, even one exceedingly well qualified, one whose knowledge and fairness have been uniformly cited by even liberal attorneys and judges with whom he worked.
4. After reflexively opposing such a nominee they then scramble to find grounds for such opposition, even if it means slinging mud and patently unfair, unsupported accusations, including guilt by association.  What's a little mud on a Republican appointee, after all?  They deserve it.
5. Sen. Joe Biden: "He's ramblin', ramblin' 'round.  He's a ramblin' guy, oh yeah.  R-A-M-B-L-I-N ... apostrophe.  Ramblin'."
6. As bad as the tenor of the hearings was, it could have been a lot worse with Sen. Kennedy as chairman.  A. Lot. Worse.  Sen. Arlen Spector did an admirable job controlling the flow and limiting gamesmanship and grandstanding.
7. Democratic/Liberal web site denizens have no shame, and no decency.
8. To the liberal interest groups, just about everything comes down to abortion.  They want it universally available at any time, for any female, of any age.  Other issues come up, but they seem to always start with, finish with, and emphasize abortion.
9. The liberal press twists itself into knots to take the complaints of Democrats and liberal interest groups seriously, even when they are not serious complaints.  They do so to their detriment.
10. Sam Alito will be confirmed, and based on the proceedings there does not appear to be a reason for the seven Democratic members of the "gang of 14" to support a filibuster.  If they do, I'll be interested to see on what justification they base it.

Check out Memeorandum for all you could ever want to read on this topic.

1/13/06 0805: One more truth (hat tip: Jason Smith):

After slinging mud and unfair accusations, the accusers are unwilling and unavailable to listen to contradictory evidence and testimonials.

Comments

[Mr. Right]

Alito will be confirmed, but with no more than 2 Dem votes (Lieberman, Ben Nelson) and all 55 Republicans. Some Dems will abstain or be absent.

A filibuster will be threatened, but will not happen, because the Dems know it would be nuked and they do not want to lose that weapon. The Dems will try to delay the vote and use the time to throw more unsubstantiated dirt at Alito, but it will not stick. The hate Bush crowd will cry bloody murder about no filibuster.

The country will keep on a-swingin' to the right!

So sayeth the swami...

Ain't life grand?

[Giacomo]

You are prescient, swami. I bow in admiration.

Do you have any betting advice on the football games this weekend? You are, after all, Mr. 'Right'.

[Mr. Right]

Belatedly, I like Denver & Pittsburgh in the AFC and Seattle & Carolina in the NFC.

I shall make my predictions on who plays in the Super Bowl next Monday!

I'm NEVER wrong!

(Super Bowl XL winner prediction coming Feb. 6th.)