Scalito Testimony You Won't Hear
As you might recall, Senator Kennedy and Judiciary Committee Chair Specter spent some time yesterday bitch-slapping each other over Scalito's membership in CAP ("Concerned Alumni of Princeton"). CAP was a group dedicated to keeping Princeton white and male. Now it seems that an expert on the group, Stephen Dujack, will not testify at the confirmation hearings as originally scheduled:
Late last Thursday, Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a list of witnesses to testify for the Democrats on Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s nomination to the Supreme Court. I was on that list — a mere writer with a bachelor's degree — among all the distinguished household names. But by the end of the day Friday, I wasn't on the list anymore.
Ah, the old Memory Hole. Does it seem to you as though the Democrats, save Kennedy and perhaps Schumer, have thrown in the towel?
tags: samuel alito stephen dujack concerned alumni of princeton CAP
You're not alone in your feeling that the Democrats have given up. What happened?
Posted by: Robot Buddha | January 12, 2006 at 09:25 AM
What did you think they were going to do, filibuster? It was already set in stone just about that Alito was getting in there, all the Democrats had to do was demonstrate why the had their reasons not to vote for him. If Kennedy hadn't blown up we could have (and still might be able to) use all those "croc-a-shit-dile" tears to our advantage, exposing what a farce these kind of hearings have become.
Posted by: Fred | January 12, 2006 at 11:22 AM
As usual, Russ Feingold is the only Democrat pressing Alito with cogent arguments that are actually backing the nominee into a corner. Go Russ! But generally, I agree with Robot Buddha, "What happened?"
Posted by: Kvatch | January 12, 2006 at 11:55 AM
I wanna' be sedated ...
Posted by: blogenfreude | January 12, 2006 at 12:39 PM
THye have given up on this one.. Not much they can do. Let's just hope they dont do too much damage.
I strongly believe that RvW will not be overturned. There would be riots in the streets.
Posted by: Crackpot Press | January 12, 2006 at 01:06 PM
I just posted a rant on my blog about this. They wonder why they are the minority party? I can tell them why- the Alito hearings are why- their refusal to take advantage of a piss-poor political environment for Bush and the scandal-plagued GOP and actually STAND UP for something and filibuster Alito, is why.
Alito's refusal to answer questions and to claim memory loss when convenient just reinforces how inappropriate he is- he's a ultra-conservative judicial activist who will enshrine the rights of the fetus in law and allow a GOP president to have almost unlimited power during wartime.
I was amazed at how all week the dems never really got out in the media and fought hard against Alito. But why not? It's really pathetic. Really.
Oh, and in response to a comment above- Roe most certainly WILL be overruled because they now have the votes and right wing groups will now find cases to wage an all out frontal assault on the case- the problem is that people think it Roe is untouchable because they take it for granted but this has been the agenda of the Right wing nuts for years- to finally get a bunch of activist judges on the high court to overrule it- they just haven't had the opportunity until now.
Will people be rioting in the streets? I know I will be but the fact of the matter is most Americans just don't give a shit. But wait until unmarried women lose the right to such basic things as birth control- then their will be some outrage but by then it will be too late.
Posted by: Stacy | January 12, 2006 at 01:31 PM
But of course, and the dems will go back to their place with their tails between their legs...
Posted by: denisdekat | January 12, 2006 at 01:39 PM
You know, I keep thinking, ah this will be the thing that gets Americans upset and the tide turns agains these monsters, but as long as they can shop and eat out and drive their cars - that won't happen. As long as the problem does not personally affect them, it's business as usual. Sad, but true.
Posted by: Mary | January 12, 2006 at 01:43 PM
Ted Kennedy needs to resign. His little stunt was pathetic, and just makes all the Dems look bad. Schumer was beating a dead horse during every minute he had the floor.
Who cares about CAP, CAP is a non-issue. He probably just put it on his resume because the Reaganites it appealed to the Reaganites
Thankfully Feingold and Leahy asked the important questions--what are Alito's views on executive power? The real issue is Alito's ties to Unitary Executive Theory.
Posted by: comandante agi | January 12, 2006 at 01:56 PM
yeah. What he said.
Posted by: lily | January 12, 2006 at 02:10 PM
comandante agi is right about this all of course.
Kennedy is a joke, and the Dems never attack the isssues that matter.
Posted by: denisdekat | January 12, 2006 at 02:34 PM
You damn Democrats made poor Mrs. Alito cry!
When, oh when will you stop being the party of mean-spirited partisan division, and just sip the damn Kool-Aid?
Posted by: Rex Kramer, Danger Seeker | January 12, 2006 at 04:40 PM
Here's some propaganda for you:
"Tough on mice, tough on the causes of mice!"
The War on Rodentism.
DLA proudly supports Al Chaeseda!
BTW, well spotted on the Bumper Dumper. I nearly cacked my kecks laughing: i can't wait for the first law suits when one snaps after being sat on by a "Supersize Me".
Posted by: edjog | January 12, 2006 at 05:14 PM
You dare mock the boycott, Blogenfreude?
Someone *really* smart at Polly's wrote:
"Agitprop is like the Wal Mart of bloggery- you know its wrong but it lures you with the promise of cheap goodies..."
YOU WILL. OH, YOU WILL.
Posted by: lily | January 12, 2006 at 06:12 PM
I feel bad for Kennedy and all the rest in this futile battle. All this contrived BS without any fire in the belly...what good is it? They can't change minds and never present a real convincing argument with passion.
This bastard will overturn Roe v. Wade, and even that won't be enough to wake America up. :/
Posted by: General Cucumber | January 12, 2006 at 07:38 PM
Blogenfreude, I offer you The many faces of Judge Alito. (I thought about changing it to "The many CAP's of Judge Alito.")
Posted by: J Macdonald | January 13, 2006 at 12:28 AM
The towel is thrown.
Posted by: Neil Shakespeare | January 13, 2006 at 01:03 AM
You know, thirteen days (coincindence?) into the new year under this continuing nightmare of an administration, with all the headlines proclaiming "Alito Likely To Be Confirmed" and the Dems barely even able to show the oppositon of a two-week old puppy (let's not kid ourselves), I'm just sick of it all. These hearings have finally, without any doubt, proved that our "senators" are a goddamn joke. (Yeah, yeah, laugh; I know that seems redundant, but here they at least had one last chance, with the Abramoff scandal costing most of them at least one less Scotch...and Scotch...and Scotch...and water, to at least make the attempt to appear to do be doing their "jobs"; apparently even that wasn't enough. Alito is as qualified to sit on the High Court as I am; in other words, not at all. And yet he sails straight through a fog of gasbaggery that even he is probably embarrassed by, to say nothing of the nation.
I've had enough of this shit. I really have. What can anyone do anymore if you're not a (professedly) straight, white, married (and I use that term lightly), "Christian" (and I use that term extremely lightly), middle-to-late-aged weathy white male? Alito belonged to a "club" that thought people like me - "fags" - and other undesirables, i.e. "niggers", (I haven't read enough yet to see if Jews were on the list, but it wouldn't surprise me) should be kept out of their social strata.
What makes me most tired of it all is not that these grimy people achieve the levels of power in government that they do; that's how it's always been. (Brownie, anyone?) It's that the public just doesn't seem to give a shit. The nation gets the government it deserves, it seems, despite the many of us who are fighting for something better.
I need a drink.
Posted by: D. | January 13, 2006 at 01:09 AM
When the evening news..which btw is how most americans get their info..gives us a whopping 45 second soundbite each nite..how can you expect the general public to be incensed? The next story is a "feel good" one designed to take your mind off the crap you might of just seen if you werent eating dinner or yelling at the dog or helping the kid w/his or her homework.dont blink or you will miss it.
I blame the press and its lack of nads.They fear the Regime and they will not go up against him.By press I mean the traditional press..nbc,cbs, abc..and most,if not all of the newspapers who sit on stories when asked.
Posted by: dusty | January 13, 2006 at 02:19 AM
Over. Done. Confirmed.
Next...
Posted by: comandante agi | January 13, 2006 at 08:37 AM