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Alito: Sparks Will Fly

By Jeralyn, Section Sam Alito
Posted on Mon Oct 31, 2005 at 02:04:22 PM EST
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If President Bush thought Sam Alito was a safe choice for the Supreme Court because he would pacify the radical right, he mis-stepped because it's already apparent liberals are gearing up for a fight.

In addition to PFAW, Alliance for Justice, NARAL and the National Women's Law Center, check out:

So, it seems like Sparks will Fly [audio clip here]:

You'd better stand back
The flames are high
Better get help
Can't stop the fire
Bell's going to ring
Hear the alarms
Better tell the fire chief
To quit playing cards
Sparks will fly

The Rolling Stones

< Court Upholds Gov. Vilsack 's Restoration of Felon Voting Rights | Alito on the First Amendment >

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    Alito: Sparks Will Fly | 23 comments (23 topical)
    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#24)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:34 PM EST
    char-lie- and the US Constitution is a far left extremist document as well? Looks like you would have it so as your Party of Ideas (wing-nut) finds it little more than inconvenient.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#1)
    by Harley on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:35 PM EST
    Your Lithwick link goes to the Corn piece. [Thanks, I fixed it.]

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#2)
    by Slado on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:35 PM EST
    From Mr. Corn @ the Nation This is pretty lame. He fully admits that the Democratic strategy is that Republicans shouldn't be able to nominate who they want. Why should Dems' pretend that they have any other motives except to deny conservatives their right (through elections) to select who they want? They believe they have this moral obligation so much in fact that elections, Senate majorities and 200 years of congressional precendent should be thrown out the window. Just say it Shumer, Reid and kennedey. Just admit it and I'd respect you. Instead we'll get this lame idological dance and He'll be confirmed. The only question is how deep a hole will the democrats dig before it's over.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#4)
    by theologicus on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    MoveOn can be added to the list. See also Jack Balkin's measured reflections over at Balkinization.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#5)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    He is Italian you know.....

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#6)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    "tweety was carrying on..."
    bkny, isn't that enough right there to make you take a step back and ask what's true and what's not?

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    bkny Don't worry when we start fighting back. When somebody kicks you in the nuts it's not a fair fight it's Repiglican politics. It sounds more like a repig dirty trick but if it isn't so what. Let the repigs squeal all they want. They picked this fight we didn't! We have just begun to fight! I like the sound of that!

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#8)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    It will take a successful filibuster to stop Alito from being confirmed, and the D's ain't got the Senate support for that. I'd love to see them try. Either way, Alito gets confirmed, but if the D's fb'd, they'd also lose the only effective tool in their kit for influencing future confirmations as well. They'll roll over on this one; no choice.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    As mentioned elsewhere, right now the focus should remain on Traitorgate where Bush is hurting bad. I say kick him hard where it hurts, then rub salt in the wound. Then kick again. As for Alito: As a lifelong liberal, and a card-carrying member of the ACLU, let me say that no matter how angry liberals get about Alito, it won't matter squat unless the Democrats fight him. Even money says the Democrats wont dare to pick a fight, even if MoveON, of which I am a proud member, threatens a financial boycott of all Democrats by its membership unless the Dems fight tooth and nail and force the rightwing to go nuclear. One other thing: If Alito is perceived as anything less than a right wing lunatic, it is better to fight Alito by concentrating on Traitorgate. In other words, if Alito isn't Bork, there's no point to shift focus from Traitorgate to a battle that will never be won, a battle Bush wants us to fight.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    Slado Lets face you repigs have been lying like rugs. You are sucking up to and cow towing to a small radical group of taliban fanitics in your party. They want to turn america into a theoracy and your party has been quite willing to sell it's soul to keep power. So don't talk to democrats about telling the truth you sound brain washed and trollish. And that's the truth! Oh don't take this personal ;-)

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    Just saw Howard Dean on Hardball. All I have to say is "We're Screwed!" Has anyone in this party ever had media training? It was pathetic watching Matthews being harder on the administration than Dean. How hard is it to get across the important info? So much to say, and Dean gets touchy over being labeled "pro-choice". Yikes! Why are we so bad at this??

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    Tristero You and I have a lot in common. I do think we can do both, keep focus on Traitorgait and also sink Alito. Look how easily Bushbag backed down over Reid. He's weak and election time is getting near. I think any Repiglican Senator up for re-election will think twice about supporting a radical nut jobs like Alito.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#13)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    Ras has it about right. I predicted that the Miers nomination was a political 'Ropa-Dopa' and I was correct. I also thought that the Dems would go to the filibuster on this nomination but again I have to concur with Ras. Between the let-down on Friday, pardon me 'Fitzmas', for those looking for 21 indictments the reality of a conservative nominee fight has to be disheartening. No flame in the Plame affair and now an ill-fated smearing of an honest, conservative nominee. The hostility is rising among the apparatchiks on the Left because they are being out-manuevered by the imbecile prince Bush. Boy is this going to be fun....

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#14)
    by Steven Sanderson on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    The nomination of Scalito to the Supreme Court may be more than an attempt to pacify the radical right and to deflect attention from the Plame outing, the Miers fiasco, and the disasters in Iraq and on the Gulf Coast. It may simply be an act of utter desperation. The nomination of Scalito, throwing the craziest S.O.B. available into the ring to assure maximum distraction, might be a Rove and Shrub ploy to buy enough time to figure a way out of the mess they've made for themselves.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    I think Alito will be ok. The court is not going to overturn Roe v Wade. The Republicans really don't want it overturned, because then they wouldn't have an issue. People would not vote for them on their economic and environmental policies. On Hardball, a man who clerked for Alito said that Alito voted to reverse a ban on partial birth abortion because the ban did not include a "woman's health" provision. He used Roe v Wade as settled law. Alito voted to reverse a death penalty case because he felt the trial lawyers failed to adequately investigate evidence that could have persuaded a jury to spare his life. Alito wrote the opinion in a 1999 case in which the Third Circuit ruled, 3-0, that Muslim police officers in Newark, N.J., could keep their beards. Roberts and Alito aren't "freaks". Miers was a "freak". She thought Bush was "cool". Miers would have voted exactly like the "freaks" would have liked, but elite "freaks" didn't want her. The "freaks" like Roberts and Alito this is true, but I truly think that the Republicans are duping the "freaks". We should focus on Traitorgait and Iraq. This month was the highest death rate this year. The dems need to win back the House and Senate so Bush can be impeached.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    Ed Beckman writes:
    He's weak and election time is getting near.
    Uh Ed, Bush isn't running. BTW - Can you name the Repub Senate seats that are in play? Can you name me the number of seats in House that are competitive? debbiehamil writes:
    People would not vote for them on their economic and environmental policies.
    Let me see, third quarter numbers show a 3.8% increase, year looks like a solid 4%, market steady, housing starts up, medicare RX benefits starting 1/1/06 (which the Demo's fought...like dummies) and Kyoto is still a wet dream of the Eurocrats and their allies... Yes, things look bad. They really do. NOT! ;-)I am lol.....

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    I predicted that the Miers nomination was a political 'Ropa-Dopa' and I was correct. Let me get this straight: President C-Plus Augustus' master plan was to nominate his personal lawyer and family friend of 20 years, then have the nomination shot down by the right wing to clear the way for Alito? Was Miers in on the plot, or was her humiliation planned behind her back? If Alito was really the guy from the beginning, why would Bush have nominated Miers first? And why would Miers being shot down by the radical right make it easier for a radical right-winger like Alito to get confirmed? Evidently the Bush Cult is even more delusional than I had supposed.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#18)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    I enjoy watching self-professed "card carrying" menber of the ACLU make statements such as; "If Alito is perceived as anything less than a rightwing lunatic" .... You go on with a devious plan (to discredit Alito) that would make Eirlichman and Halderman proud. One of the reasons the ACLU is looked upon as a hack outfit is because of people like you.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:36 PM EST
    LWW, I think you misread: the 'plan' wouldn't be to somehow tie Alito to Plamegate (pretty difficult to do even if one wanted to). Rather, you weaken Bush and especially Cheney by a relentless, perfectly appropriate focus on Plamegate. One side effect of keeping attention focused on Plamegate is that Cheney becomes less imposing to moderate Repubs like the NARAL-endorsed Lincoln Chafee, among others. That way, if Cheney (as the Senate's presiding officer) attempts the nuclear option in response to a Dem filibuster, it's less likely to be sustained by the 51 votes required.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#20)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:37 PM EST
    Yes, sparks will fly on this one. Unlike Roberts, Alito isn't going to be able to play the "I-can't-talk-about-that" card on Roe v. Wade. He has a written opinion on Casey v. Planned Parenthood that the committee can ask about. It's one thing not to speculate. It's quite another to be asked to answer for your past opinions.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:37 PM EST
    One thing is sure Bush will fold when the heat get really high. No one can dispute that fact. So the issue here is how strong an opposition the left can muster and how weak the Preznet is. This guy is so self distructive instead of taking a Reagonist tact and cleaning his house he has circled the wagons instead. This means the same old mindset that got him into trouble is now manning the barracades.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:37 PM EST
    ACLU is only thought a hack outfit by those who can't hack freedom and civil liberties and want to limit both, LWW. And I love the quotes around card-carrying member. As if that is something that is open to question. So let me be clear. Unless I'm in bed, enjoying certain activities with my wife the practice of which would cause James Dobson to consign us to an inner circle of hell; or when I'm swimming or performing my morning ablutions, I wouldn't be without that ACLU card. Not since Bush the Father made it a campaign issue and rightwing nuts, even now, deploy the phrase on a regular basis.

    Re: Alito: Sparks Will Fly (none / 0) (#23)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:37 PM EST
    LWW-We will see if you are still sneering at the ACLU when you and all your friends are in jail and the ACLU is offering to defend you. Oh that is right you support free enterprise and would rather spend a million on your wingnut lawyers, it is good for the economy. Better start saving up, maybe Libby will be available by then. Here ai a tip: If you have sex at all I would recommend sticking to missionary position. BTW- thanks for reminding me to send some extra $$ to ACLU. Do you ever wonder why their membership ranks are swelling?

    Alito: Sparks Will Fly | 23 comments (23 topical)