Bush's supreme court pick

[Gary_Yngve]

The Dems had better fight this one!

[catbirdseat]

Scalito!

[JayB]

Should be a good fight. I'd much rather have a bareknuckles brawl where people actually have to take concrete positions concerning their views on the constitution, the role of the court, etc and defend them than "evade your way through the confirmation process" model that seems to have emerged over the last 20 years.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Scalito!

[Stefan]

Dudes,

 

you been all played. Miers set herself up to fail intentionally. Why? So when Bush came in with a more conservative opinion, it would not look so bad.

 

What did Miers lose? Nothing. She still has her job of helping out the President to pick nominees.

 

Its the politics game.

[Fairweather]

 

R's and D's. Presidents come and go. But this represents a chance to make real, long-term change for the better.

[olyclimber]

 

R's and D's. Presidents come and go. But this represents a chance to make real, long-term change for the better.

 

 

I'm a uniter, not a divider.

[Fairweather]

...I think he tried that. The D's spit in his face with accusations of electoral fraud, mental incompetence, Ted Kennedy/no child left behind dagger-in-the-back, etc, etc, etc.

I think the time for "unity" in D.C. is long gone. Time to put forward the conservative agenda.

[mattp]

He also tried the "I'm going to run a clean administration where we ask not only "is it legal, but is it right." I don't think you can blame either failing on the Democrats - do you? Seriously? Where have you seen an effort to be honest and to be "moderate" in his administration's efforts with regard the environment, taxes, the war, oil development, social security, you name it?

 

He chose a nominee that he hopes will stimulate his base in the far wing of his party, and he's counting on party loyalty to keep the moderates in line. If it works, as it has worked for him in the past, it is a good strategy. However, we may see that his fortunes are running out. Either way, hold on for the ride.

[JayB]

Watch this movie, then decide:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/poorboyz/.Public/Trailers/WAR_LoRes.mov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TREETOAD]

Dudes,

 

you been all played. Miers set herself up to fail intentionally. Why? So when Bush came in with a more conservative opinion, it would not look so bad.

 

What did Miers lose? Nothing. She still has her job of helping out the President to pick nominees.

 

Its the politics game.

 

This is what my paranoid mind was thinking as well

[JoshK]

FW, What exactly *is* the beneift of this alleged "conservative agenda"?

 

Deficit spending? Less civil rights? Religion forced upon us?

 

I mean, honestly, as far as social aspects go the country still leans more to the left, like it or not. The fiscal aspects of "conservatism" were lost long ago. This administration has spent more and fiscally fucked us quite bad. Small government? The Republican party no longer stands for this no matter how much you might want to pretend it does.

[JayB]

"Alito Name Too Vowel Heavy, Schumer Says"

 

"Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, today questioned Judge Samuel Alito's commitment to diversity noting that the Supreme Court nominee's last name is 60 percent vowels and only 40 percent consonants.

 

In perhaps the most substantive critique of President George Bush's nominee to date, the senator also noted that the federal appeals court judge's full name contains every vowel, but a disproportionately small percentage of consonants.

 

"Not only is Judge Alito's name too vowel-heavy for mainstream Americans," said Sen. Schumer. "But 'Alito' begins and ends with vowels, suggesting that vowels are the alpha and omega of the alphabet, and clearly denigrating the contribution of consonants to our society."

[chucK]

Should be a good fight. I'd much rather have a bareknuckles brawl where people actually have to take concrete positions concerning their views on the constitution, the role of the court, etc and defend them than "evade your way through the confirmation process" model that seems to have emerged over the last 20 years.

 

I think we will see a "bareknuckles brawl" this time as you wish. The reason being that Bush needs a distraction from his current problems. He has shown again and again that a good way to distract attention from important issues and solidify his right-wing base is to divide the country. I predict a much more "forthcoming" judicial candidate this time around

[catbirdseat]

Well the Dems just turned it around again by calling a closed session to question why investigations are not being conducted into the false pretenses under which the Iraq War was waged.

[JayB]

There's also the fact that there is, actually, a vacancy on the court that he has to fill.

 

Have there been any events involving the government in your adult lifetime that haven't been the result of a conspiracy orchestrated for a purpose outside of necessity? When Congress passes a budget, is that because it's their responsibility to do so, or is it an underhanded maneuver designed to distract the American people? Is that bond-issue that the water-district puts up for a vote really about raising the funds necessary for a treatment plant, or something more sinister.....

 

I just think that an open argument about judicial philosophy is a better way to vet candidates. It's a given that a president will nominate a judge who has a judicial philosophy that's consistent with his beliefs about the role of the supreme court in government, etc. Given that a judge's beliefs and politics will influence his rulings, he should at least be called upon to demonstrate that he has he has the ability to provide sound legal justification for his rulings.

[catbirdseat]

Bush is grasping for anything that can divert attention. Now it's Bird Flu. This issue has been smoldering for a couple years. Just coincidence that he brings it up now?

[sexual_chocolate]

Anyone remember why Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed without tremendous Repub opposition?

After all, we're talking about an ex ACLU lead attorney.

[archenemy]

Bush is grasping for anything that can divert attention. Now it's Bird Flu. This issue has been smoldering for a couple hundred years. Just coincidence that he brings it up now?

[chucK]

I'm not saying I think Bush chose to pick A new candidate to distract from the Libby problems (though the timing of Meiers' withdrawal does seem pretty coincidental). My point was that I think Bush picked an overtly extreme right-wing candidate mainly for the two reasons I stated above. Because of these reasons, I predict you're gonna get your brawl instead of the evade-a-thon that characterized the Roberts confirmation.

[foraker]

Maybe he's just some poor fool way out of his depth and he's got a lot of people screaming at him and he just wants some of them to shut up and go away so he can get back to reading comics?

[dberdinka]

There's also the fact that there is, actually, a vacancy on the court that he has to fill.

 

There is in fact no vacancy. O'Conner is still presiding until a new justice is confirmed. Get your facts straight you right-wing knucklehead.

[tivoli_mike]

[Off_White]

"Alito Name Too Vowel Heavy, Schumer Says"

 

I don't care about the name JayB, it's the fact that he likes to dine on small African children's livers that I find disturbing. "No one cares what happens in Africa, those people are scarcely human," opined Alito. "A controlled harvest is the act of a compassionate society, and unpropertied individuals were clearly originally excluded from constitutional protections."

[JayB]

There's also the fact that there is, actually, a vacancy on the court that he has to fill.

 

There is in fact no vacancy. O'Conner is still presiding until a new justice is confirmed. Get your facts straight you right-wing knucklehead.

 

Thanks for the semantic pedantry. Impending vacancy.

 

There's clearly no need to nominate a replacement at this time.