Posted 3 years ago around lunchtime by abogado
Look it up. These are lyrics to a country song. The coffee shop that I frequent in Dupont is blaring non-stop country on satellite radio. I’m not one of those “anything but country” people. I am not opposed to bluegrass or Johnny Cash and I’ve probably been seen inadvertently toe-tapping to an occasional Garth Brooks song, but 90% of the songs on this station are physically painful. Fortunately, there is free wifi and good coffee here and a slight auditory repulsion to background music forces me to concentrate on the task at hand. That is particularly helpful considering that I find myself hundreds of pages behind on my reading with December creeping ominously close and with it the prospect of failing exams.
The inevitable onset of exam-related panic was triggered by the recent and sudden change in weather on the East Coast. On Wednesday I woke up and put on my California uniform – hemp shorts and Rainbow sandals – and went to class. Not less than 24 hours later, the city was under a frost warning as the temperature dropped precipitously to an ear-numbing 30 degrees. I actually like the cold. I like bundling up and seeing my breath against the city backdrop and anticipating the first snow. I love walking in to a warm café and drinking hot coffee. (On a side note, I think every city that has a cold winter should do like Prague and have grog on every street corner.) What I don’t enjoy is the realization that an entire semester has gone by and I’m hopelessly behind. Hobbled by the motivation-draining recognition that law school is really a year long and anything I learn now will be subsequently forgotten, it’s been difficult to drag myself to class, let alone keep up with reading.
So, in the spirit of avoiding work that is desperately overdue I present my also long overdue opinion of Mr. Alito. I feel like I was pretty fair with Roberts and Miers, so hopefully I retain some credibility with our conservative readers when I say Alito should not be confirmed to the Supreme Court. I largely accept the premise that nominations to the Supreme Court are political and thus the corollary that Bush should be allowed to nominate whoever he wants. This is mostly because I also accept the premise that judging itself is largely a political process. There is simply no way to be objective when it comes to the major contemporary legal issues; every judge makes value decisions when deciding what the constitution means. In some ways this limits my arguments; I can’t yell and scream about protecting our rights and the like because I think our “rights” as defined in the Constitution are pretty vague and subject to opinion. Likewise, I can’t claim to know precisely what the founder’s meant in drafting each provision of the Constitution. So I’m left with political arguments. But I think at the moment these arguments are pretty strong.
First of all is Bush’s approval rating. It is clear that the public has lost the trust and respect for the President that (somehow) carried him through last year’s (has it only been a year??) election. All of the things that Democrats, objective independents and anyone else who has been paying attention have been complaining about for years, are catching up to the President. Jon Stewart said that he thinks part of the reason some conservatives are doubting Bush is because they finally saw what it is like to be on the other side with the Miers nomination. That would neatly explain why Bush has chosen Alito – to get back in the good graces of those who have supported him through every blunder because they believed at some point it would all be worth it when they got to nominate a Supreme Court justice.
I have to ask those people now: was it worth it? Was it worth a failed war, a corrupt administration, huge deficits, the undermining of America’s place in the world, corporate malfeasance run amok, and lies piled on lies to get your Alito? Conservatives around the country were so angry with Miers because they accepted each of these monumental failures defending Bush tooth and nail, because he promised to nominate Scalia-lite. Congratulations.
The second political argument against Scalia is that his views do not reflect the views of the majority of the country. As stated above, this nomination is a concession to the extreme right wing of the party that supported Bush even throughout his blatant failures. This, in and of itself, is reason for every Democrat, and every self-respecting Republican to vote against confirmation. In my view, the crazies already got their veto, they cannot now turn around and say that politicians acting on a power which they are granted are somehow overreaching that very power. In other words: just say no to Alito.
As a strong supporter of Alito, I am curious, what specifically do you find ‘out of the mainstream’ about him? The reason I ask is that several moderates have found him acceptable (or, I should say, not bad enough to filibuster), not just Republicans either, even Democrats.
HP and I were talking on the phone the day that Alito got nominated. Our conversation went something like this (please remember that HP’s voice squeaks):
HP: Yoooooooooooooo, wut up dawg.
OS: Hello kind sir.
HP: Sssssssup playa, did you hear the news or does daddy have to give it to you?
OS: I presume you are alluding to the nomination of Alito.
HP: Damn straight dawg … Scalito is in da hizouse. [starts to do Arsenio Hall type whooping thing] Shit blood, I gotta celebrate, time for the bubbly. I’m gonna find me some hizzies.
OS: I wish I could partake in the festivities my fine friend, but I am afraid I must inform you that such news excites me very little.
HP: Shit cuz, this shit makes up for everything. Just when I gave up on Bush, playa - you saw the shit I wrote - now he’s got me back, faithful and loyal. Bush is my fucking boy. Damn, that took some huevones - not only did he pick a dude, but a white dude! That’s what I’m talking about!!!! [more Arsenio Hall whooping]
So yeah, I guess it was worth it.
HP’s actual license plate, by the way is “CPT GOP“
LOL. Aside from the white dude part at the end, and me calling you a playa (I don’t use the word playa, it was probably dawg, which means kinda the same thing), that sounds about accurate.
Oh yeah, it was your lady who called me a playa.
HIYO!
LOL. Yeah, and lets not forget the second part of her statement, “Playa hata”…;-)
Tequila makes her mean.
I clicked on your coffee shop link and the I tried to click on the ‘live’ button. Pero nada. I got nada. Niet. Zilch. Zip.
The conservatives who doubt Bush are weak. Bush is human and is bound to make a couple of mistakes…..but the war is NOT a mistake. He’s doing what any good and fair pres would do in my humble opinion. Reagan did it and so did Clinton. Heck…..Clinton went after Milosevic and I don’t remember the libs screaming about that. Milosevic killed over 200,000 people while Iraq/Saddam killed well over 600,000 Shia. If it wasn’t for Milosevic’s economic collapse, that might have turned ugly as well.
In regard to your ‘American’s place’ in this world, well, I find it interesting to hear from people who think we should stay out of foreign affairs and yada, yada, yada……. (list goes on)…….I just find it strange how we are always the ones to be giving and generous when catastrophies strike other countries.
Yet we are not supposed to say anything?
Pff.
I think we should have a say, especially when we have given generously and written off debts. It’s good to try to inform other countries of our model in being somewhat of a self-sustaining nation. That way, if they (that country) turns out to be vibrant and self-sustaining……perhaps that will lead to us not having to pull countries out of bad situations and it ’should’ save us some tax payer money. Don’t you think?
And you’re right, Abogado, some conservatives were angry about Miers (because she didn’t come from an Ivy league college — *disgust, disgust)……other conservatives waited and trusted the president’s decisions.
I don’t see Bush’s monumental failures as you put it. I see Bush as a man with balls to get a job done and promote freedom. I see a man who will address terrorist cowboy style.
These people cannot be reasoned with. For God’s sakes…..Saddam paid and took advantage of the poor Palestinians to strap bombs on themselves to harm and kill Israelites.
Heck, Abe Lincoln wasn’t popular either at a difficult time in our nation’s history and he still preserved the Union and was instrumental in giving slaves their freedom at a time it was unpopular to do so. Same with the Pres…..the nation is split and this man is doing the best he can.
He’s doing a good job in my opinion.
My two centavos.
Vote Alito.
Great thoughts dd! This is true, W. has done all that he can to take it to the enemy and the Liberals have done everthing they can to dismantle our fight. For what? For political gain. they have used the boold of our troops to show why we should not be in Iraq. They have no courage and are not dedicated to fighting a fight to the end.
How many schools how many hospitals, fresh water, power infrastructure have we built but all you hear is when a soldier dies. The Lib’s like that and those that shutter at a fight have no business calling them selves conservatives. The cut and run crowd dishonor those that have died and that have been wounded in combat.
VIVA Bush!
All your neocons are belong to us.
HP - It’s funny you ask why I do not support Alito; you answered it yourself:
I, like you, have surveyed his opinions; where you found them to be agreeable, I found them to be disagreeable. My point here (and maybe it’s a silly one) is not to quibble with his judicial philosophy, but to give reason why I think Democrats in Congress and progressives in general should not support him. I think the legal debate is a different one, though also perfectly relevant.
DD/Omega - To be fair, I think Bush’s “monumental failures” extend far beyond the current debacle of a war that is Iraq. If you support the war, that’s fine; I totally and wholeheartedly disagree with both the philosphical and ideological premises of the war and I think the failure that is becomming inevitable was evident looking at these premises form the beginning (not to mention the conspicuously absent WMD’s). Hence, I did not support the war when it began. That said its interesting that you are so quick to attack me. I don’t think we can leave Iraq now and I have never advocated pulling out of Iraq. In fact, one of the main reasons I was against the war in the first place was because history has clearly shown that American politicians do not have the political will to follow through with what they start. They will inevitably leave the country worse than when they came. I can’t stand Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld, but they are correct that now that we are there American troops cannot leave Iraq. Unlike you and others who support the war, however, I see that as the exact reason why we should never have been there in the first place. I also see that as typifying the short-sightedness of this administration and the so-called neo-conservatives in general. What pisses me off to no end is that now that they have gotten us in to this mess and committed us morally and militarily to building a democratic Iraq, they question the patriotism and honesty of those who have the courage to tell them the truth: that they have been wrong from the very beginning.
Omega – any sane person on this earth would “shutter” at a fight that will inevitably kill thousands of innocent people. Maybe if Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld had ever seen a battlefield they would have “shuttered” themselves in to considering the consequences of a war a few seconds longer and we would have avoided this horrible mess.
Abogado,
My point here (and maybe it’s a silly one) is not to quibble with his judicial philosophy, but to give reason why I think Democrats in Congress and progressives in general should not support him.
Fair enough, and I agree with you that Bush is definitely bleeding right now, and Democrats are fully within their right to smell blood and do what they can to advance their political agenda.
But, putting my Karl Rove hat on for the moment, I don’t think that Democrats really have the power to stop Alito. For one, while Bush may be hurting, there are still other Republicans who have a political career to think about. For example, Republican senators McCain, Frist, Allen, Brownback, and Hagel, are all rumored to be thinking about running for President, and judicial appointments, especially this one for the Supreme Court, are soo important to card carrying Republicans that all of these senators can kiss their national political career goodbye if they don’t support Alito, even as far as the nuclear option.
In addition to this, Alito is not the ideologue that people claim. For example, Time Magazine, a moderately liberal publication, writes:
Alito is to conservatives what Ruth Bader Ginsberg is to liberals, a very qualified, highly respected by both sides of the aisle, conservative justice (in Ginsberg’s case, liberal justice). Yet while Republicans greatly feared Ginsberg’s rulings, they had no choice but to vote to confirm her, and that is why she was confirmed 97 to 3, and in the same fashion, I expect Alito to be confirmed (although, not nearly as high of a confirmation rating, Democrats have proven to be much more partisan on judicial issues).
HP - I agree with all of that. I too think that Alito will be confirmed. I also think that there is truth to the political axiom that you only have as much power as you are willing to use — use it or lose it. Above all, what I would like to see is a serious confirmation hearing and some serious Democratic opposition.
I do find it odd that you are such an adamant supporter of a judge that Democrats would support. As you have said many times you want a judge in the mould of Scalia and Thomas - that was your main motivation in voting for Bush in the first place. Scalia is exactly to whom the quote is alludes in saying “ideological tantrums” and “overarching theories.” So are you trying to have it both ways — saying he is a great conservative to conservatives and a moderate “fair” thinker to liberals — or have you tempered your own expectations and are now accepting of a moderate-minded justice?
Abogado,
So are you trying to have it both ways — saying he is a great conservative to conservatives and a moderate “fair” thinker to liberals — or have you tempered your own expectations and are now accepting of a moderate-minded justice?
The latter, in other words, as much as I love Thomas and Scalia, I don’t think Bush could get another one confirmed, certainly not to replace O’Connor’s seat. So I do think that Alito is as conservative as we are likely to pass, meaning that he is a lot more ‘moderate’ than liberals feared(For example, I doubt that he would vote to overturn Roe). Add to that his young age, 55 years old, and his outstanding credentials, and more so, his great ability to communicate his beliefs, and now we have a solid conservative base on the Supreme Court, that is, A. Very young, meaning they will be on the court for generations to come, B. Highly qualified, meaning the younger generation moving up the law schools will have to read, and take seriously, their opinions, and C. Justices who can articulate their beliefs well, and you have now a superstar team that seals our spot in history, and has a strong chance of moving the judicial culture to the right.
It is Democrats who have more to fear here, as I said above, if Alito is confirmed, we would now have 4 solid conservatives (while Thomas and Scalia would be the super conservatives), 4 solid liberals, and a moderate conservative swing voter. As you are aware, I’m sure, the older justices all tend to be the liberals on the court, that means that at most, all Democrats could hope for is keeping the court evenly divided, at worse, they could become an insignificant block on the US Supreme Court. Something I would sacrifice any presidential election for….
touche my friend. I can respect that.
Trying not to gloat here, but boy am I happy. Looks like tomorrow we will have a new young Supreme Court justice, Scalito, errr, I mean Alito. Two down, five more to go.
Drinks are on me!!!
HispanicPundit your picture is not just freaky it is just disturbing. Actually wrote in Spanish today!
Yes, but the crack is ohhh so good. It helps me stay up at night.
Yippee Ki YAY!
I’m happy about Alito.
Forgive me if this sounds bad……but I still think people underestimated Bush’s strategy of nominating ‘female’ Miers. Miers was a woman who is fine lawyer that was also true to Ronald Reagan’s judicial views.
I think it was smart of President Bush to nominate this woman primero, and when he received a verbal lashing from Republicans as well as democrats……..this paved the way for Alito. Thankfully so.
Some people think that Bush is stupid……..but I don’t believe this. I think he knew what he was doing all along. Just a guestimate.
“I think it was smart of President Bush to nominate this woman primero, and when he received a verbal lashing from Republicans as well as democrats……..this paved the way for Alito.”
It’s amazing how easily humans can rationalize inconsistent events after the fact. Congrats on Alito, though I still don’t think any of us have any idea what to expect from him.