Eminent Domain

***Warning: This post contains some adult language and a stream of consciousness rant***

I can't go to Business Associations without major shit happening in the hearings. And yes, I said shit in spite of my pledge to clean up my language on here. That's what this hearing has been, shit.

Democrats, give up. Just give up. You have nothing. I have heard the same questions on Roe, Vanguard, the unitary executive (which none of you seem to understand), CAP, and "siding with the little guy" at least ten times. Judge Alito has been gracious enough to answer these questions time and time again. Stop wasting his time and just vote against him as almost all of you on the committee were going to do all along.

Kennedy's behavior has been abhorrent. Since these hearings began, he has implied that Alito is a racist, a sexist, and a liar based on CAP. Ted Kennedy, champion of women's rights. How about the rights of that woman that you let drown, senator? How soon we have forgotten that little incident. Rusher's papers that Kennedy had a fit over earlier have been examined by the NYT. They found nothing concerning Alito. And then there is this is from The American Spectator...

According to Senate Judiciary sources, Sen. Ted Kennedy this morning was informed that a number of media outlets -- including the New York Times, as well as both Democratic and Republican staff from the committee -- had reviewed a wealth of documents related to Concerned Alumni of Princeton and that there was no evidence that Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito played a major role personally or financially in the organization at any time. This information was passed to Kennedy after he raised the issue of possibly requesting a subpoena for all of CAPs documents before he entered the hearing room for the third day of confirmation hearings. "We told him we'd gone through it, and that seemed to be the end of it," says a committee staffer. So big surprise that despite knowing what he needs to know, Kennedy decided to simply create a few moments of entertaining political theater for the nightly news.

Very disgusting. Very Ted Kennedy.

Feingold just won't quit with the Vanguard questions. How many times do you want Alito to answer them? Then he asked if Alito would recuse himself from Vanguard cases on the Supreme Court. Has he missed the fact that the top legal ethicists in the country have said that Alito doesn't need to recuse himself? Rotunda and Morgan have spoken. Here is what Ed Whelan said about Feingold based on this...

It would now appear to me that I have dramatically overestimated Feingold's intellect.

No, Feingold's a smart guy. He's also a purely political animal who wants to be president. The people of this state need to take a hard look at him, his behavior here, his behavior with Judge Bill Pryor, and ask if this is who we want representing our state.

I feel horrible for Mrs. Alito. There is really only so much that a person can take. I don't know how long I could sit in that room and hear these disgusting attacks on a loved one. I don't agree with Senator Graham's politics very often. I think he grandstands a lot; he McCains a lot for the media (yeah, I turned McCain into a verb). But his defense of Judge Alito today was something I totally support. It was the right thing to do, and I applaud him for it. Jeff Greenfield of CNN had this to say about Mrs. Alito breaking down and the whole mess...

The temptation for some of these witnesses must be enormous, particularly if it'’s a more hostile situation, to just lean over the table and just let some of the senators know what you'’re really thinking about their intellectual capacity, their hypocrisy. If they attack him for, I don'’t know, being the member of a club, to say "Well really? Where'’d you spend your time? How many restrictive clubs have you golfed at?"” They can'’t do that. It's not part of the ethic, um... I have a lot of sympathy for these people no matter where they come from on the ideological scale.

Someone should do it sometime. Maybe Janice Rogers Brown would like a spot on the Supreme Court...

Remember what happened the last time senators tried to railroad a Supreme Court nominee? He still got confirmed. And he never forgot what happened. Leahy said today that Alito has the stamina of Hercules. He also has the patience of a saint. The next nomination will be worse than this one. It's hard to imagine, but it will be. Bush better get the pick right, because it's going to take someone with incredible willpower to make it through this ordeal.

I just called Feingold's office and expressed my dissatisfaction with his behavior. I'm going to call Kohl too. Even though I disagree with Kohl almost all of the time and I've called him an elf (in good fun), I think he's a decent guy. If there is any Democrat on that committee who will do the right thing and vote for Alito, it's him. I'm holding out hope...

END RANT