- Would Samuel Alito even be considered for a seat on the
Supreme Court if he had committed an act of plagiarism? Would he be considered
for the highest court in the land if he had let a woman die in his submerged
car? Welcome to the Alito Senate confirmation hearings, featuring Joseph
Biden, the Delaware Senator bounced from the 1988 presidential race for
plagiarism, and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, a notorious womanizer
responsible for the drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Of course, our
media don't want to talk about any of that. They would prefer to talk about
Pat Robertson's latest controversial comment. But Robertson is not in any
position to defeat the nominee.
-
- The media the other day ran several stories about Biden
filibustering during an occasion when he was supposed to be asking questions
of the nominee. It was funny, and Biden later joked about it. But why would
he do such a stupid thing? What was he trying to prove? My theory is that
Biden is trying to make up for the 1988 case, which is still on the public
record for those in the media with any interest in pursuing it, in which
he was caught plagiarizing from a speech made by a British politician.
Biden seems determined to prove that he really can think for himself, and
that he doesn't need to crib from what others are writing or saying. It's
amusing when Biden appears on various TV programs and is introduced as
a foreign policy expert. It's hard to know with any certainty, except when
he's talking extemporaneously, who is putting the words is his mouth. That
is why, I believe, he talks too much.
-
- As for Kennedy, who suggests Alito is anti-woman, here
is a Senator who was directly responsible for the death of a young woman,
riding from a party with him in a car that went off a bridge and into a
pond. Kennedy swam to shore, pondering his political future, while she
struggled for her life in the bottom of that submerged car. It's probable
that she breathed for a period of time in an air pocket before her lungs
filled with water and she died a horrible death.
-
- This column is not meant to be a political attack on
leading Democrats on the Judiciary Committee disguised as media criticism.
I really want to know why the major media permit these characters to launch
personal attacks on Alito when their own personal lives are scarred by
scandals. The media like to talk about Washington corruption these days,
but in my mind the hearings are a corrupt spectacle, in which Senators
who are lacking in personal integrity are passing judgment on a religious
family man who, by all accounts, has led an exemplary life and treated
his associates in accordance with the highest standards of civilized behavior.
-
- Mrs. Alito's tears came when Senator Lindsey Graham referred
to Alito as a good man who had been unfairly attacked as a bigot for being
associated with a group which published some controversial articles. Graham's
voice was itself cracking as he described the testimonies of all of those
who have worked with Alito over the years and have described him as a man
with the highest level of personal integrity. As for the articles, Alito
never wrote or read them. But Kennedy wanted to subpoena the records of
that Princeton alumni group that Alito joined to see if he could dig up
some dirt on the nominee. It was classic guilt by association, when the
Senators raising the questions were guilty of egregious conduct that would
disqualify them from even being considered for the federal bench. Yet here
they were as sitting Senators. That's about as hypocritical as anything
I've seen in Washington. But it's not a story for the Washington media.
-
- Instead, taking its lead from another liberal Democrat,
Richard Durbin, the Washington Post has today run a front-page story about
Alito leaving open the possibility that he could rule against the Supreme
Court pro-abortion decision, Roe v. Wade. This is depicted as an alarming
development. The story is based on some misleading questions asked by Durbin,
who himself used to be pro-life. The Post alluded to this, noting that
Senator Tom Coburn "suggested that Durbin is ill-suited to challenge
Alito's views on abortion because Durbin once opposed abortion rights and
changed his mind."
-
- Notice the phrase "abortion rights." This is
how the Post changes the terms of the debate in order to favor those who
are pro-abortion. The phrase, popular in the liberal media these days,
eliminates the need to consider the possibility that the unborn child may
have a legitimate and valid right to life. That possibility has been ruled
out of order by the liberals, in and out of the media, and not fit to print.
-
- The implication of the Post story is that Alito has an
open mind on an issue on which Durbin changed and has now apparently closed
his mind. It only makes sense if you share Durbin's current view that unborn
children have no rights. This is what passes for fair and objective news
coverage of Alito's confirmation hearing. I don't know whether to laugh
or cry.
-
-
- Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of the AIM Report and can
be reached at cliff.kincaid@aim.org
-
- http://www.aim.org/aim_column/4294_0_3_0_C/
- Comment
David Payne
1-15-6
-
- The jaba-slug Kennedy is the absolute king of hypocrites.
He didn't bother mentioning that when HE was in college he proudly belonged
to The Owl Club, which fully discriminated against women being members!
Ted was no stranger to The Owl Club, its traditions, practices and functions,
unlike Alito, who merely listed a Princeton Alumni club on a resume, but
cannot remember ever attending or participating in the organization beyond
the singular issue of ROTC (of which he was a member) being returned to
the campus. But Ted would have us believe or at least wonder if perhaps
Alito was a sexist back then... like Ted was! This has been one of the
most ridiculous spectacles to come out of Washington and further convinces
me, and millions of others, that the Democratic party has lost control
of its most radical and worthless figures. Ted's outrageous attacks on
Alito and innuendo should carry about as much weight as if Senator Bird
dared to question Alito on issues of race/racism, he himself having been
a former member of the freakin' Ku Klux Klan!
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