A lot is taking place currently. Investigations, indictments, Supreme Court nominees and Iraq (maybe I should place Iraq at the beginning and not the end?). If this post appears scattered it’s because it is.
With the indictment of one of President Bush’s chief’s of staff on Friday, many people are feeling disappointed that Rove was not charged as well. Maybe people are not realizing that this thing is not over yet. A new grand jury will be looking into Rove and Cheney’s actions and whatever else Fitzgerald has convened them for. A lot of questions are still unanswered and the Italian forgeries may just well explode.
But I do love how now lying to a grand jury is not that big of a deal for Republicans. In 1998 it was big enough of a deal to impeach the president, but now it’s downplayed and political in nature. Nothing was more political though than the Kenneth Starr investigation. Fitzgerald is a federal prosecutor appointed by the Republicans to investigate the Plame leak. Starr was a Republican judge appointed by a Republican judicial panel to investigate a Clinton land deal. Then given unprecedented expanded powers by an independent governmental counsel to investigate extra-marital affairs. Fitzgerald is a federal prosecutor appointed by the Republican controlled DoJ. Starr was an investigative arm of a Republican controlled independent congressional investigation. Anyone noticing the politics?
Enough about the leak case.
President Bush has selected yet another nominee for Supreme Court. Judge Samuel A. Alito from the Third Circuit United States Court of Appeals is the newest nominee to replace Justice O’Connor. This one should get interesting. Alito appears to be a safe choice for Bush’s right-wing base. Alito has ruled against abortion laws and maybe has the paper trail that those of one-issue voters look for.
Myself, I’m not a one-issue voter. And I do have a lot of problems with this nomination. The obvious is I think it should have been a female. When half the population is female I do believe that replacing a female with another, considering that female rights are the biggest issue for which Bush’s base is so vocal about, is the prudent thing for the president to do. I’m sure many conservatives will disagree with me on that, and it’s obvious considering how they treated Bush’s previous female nominee.
Since this is Bush’s second pick for the opening, wouldn’t that mean that Alito is the second most qualified person for the Court? According to Bush, Miers was by far the most qualified person for the job. What are the differences between Miers and Alito? How can a non-judge, actually a non-Constitutional scholar be more qualified than Bush’s second choice? There are so many different ways I can go with this one, I better stop now.
Also, I just want to add, what happened to a minority nominee? I suppose barefoot and pregnant is where we are to begin this debate.
This month in Iraq has been the deadliest month for American soldiers since January ’05.
Tags:
politics, Alito, Iraq, SCOTUS
10.31.2005
Alito, More Work to Do
Posted by Chris at 11:19 AM
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16 comments:
the NY Times recognizes bloggers for their contrabution to building the debate in society...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/technology/31blog.html
i thought this site should have been mentioned.
It should have of course but it is a covert operation. ;)
I'm not up on this and am heading to class but I am not sure how easy this guy will get through.
I am at the point where I wonder of it even matters any more.
It matters that liberal dems oppose him with everything they have just on principle.
This is John Roberts, redux. Alito will be confirmed easily, by not answering any questions on the abortion issue, which is apparently all the Dems care about. I used to support the Democratic Party when it stood up for middle and working class people against big corporations. As we saw in the bankruptcy bill debate, that is no longer the case. They support a failed war. They have become a single issue party. That to me is a shame. Third party, anyone?
You guys on the Left make a mistake when you attempt to compare Scooter Libby with Bill Clinton.
Lying under oath about ANYTHING is a big deal whomever you are. It's an even bigger deal if you happen to be the President of the United States because POTUS is the nation's chief law enforcement official.
If Republicans regard the Libby indictments as a minor affair it is because [1] the independent counsel was unable to prove the charges against Libby so he went on a fishing expedition, and [2] the entire case was bogus from the start due to the fact that a bitter, washed up diplomat named Joe Wilson is the one who out-ed his wife. Additionally, Valerie Plame was not a 'covert' agent according to the law. In fact, Plame was an 'overt' agent, who contributed to political campaigns, grassroots political organizations and she was widely known by her neighbors to be in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Twice today I wrote out replies to everyone's comments and both times the bitch blogger has screwed it up. Blogger is really starting to get annoying.
Give me a minute and I'll try to remember my previous replies.
Smink, thanks man. I'm just humbled by your presence on my site. Thanks again.
Alice, I just hope I'm not outed, then we all would be in trouble :-) I think for women, much more is on the line in the case of Alito.
businessman, so much is on the line with this nomination. I think the Dems best bet is to put the focus on Miers and make Bush explain why Miers is the better pick.
girl, I do hope that women will care about this pick. I'm not the biggest proponent of abortion, but I do believe that Roe should be left alone. Since women's rights are on the line, I would feel much more comfortable with another female able to rule on their own behalfs. Like Alice always says, it's easy for men to just discredit Roe v. Wade.
Jack, I'm not sure Alito will be easily confirmed, but I do agree that he will not answer many questions. The Dems should keep the focus on why Alito is the second best person for this job.
Kent, it does appear we have some disagreements, I know you're not shocked by that :) Just for starters, the president is not a law enforcement official. He's the executive officer. Very completely different branches of government. But do let us remember that Libby has not been charged with anything about the status of Plame. If the investigation was not warranted, as you suggest, then why did Libby lie during his questioning?
Joe, very true that the conservatives will lose some thunder without Roe. But I'm willing to take the chance that Roe is too important to lose and that moderates and anyone on the left should stand up and oppose the loss of Roe or any loss of right to privacy.
True enough Graham. It should be very interesting. Many, many questions are waiting for answers.
Thanks to all for reading. I hope blogger doesn't lose this one, cause I'm not re-writing it.
I do like Alito's views on the Second Amendment. I don't know that I ever heard what Miers had to say about it.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
The worst thing that can be said about Mr. Alito's Casey dissent is not his support for abortion restrictions or even for that matter, his desire to go as far as he could to the right on that issue, but rather how he views the role of the wife and her obligations to that husband.
And actually, now that I think of it, if he is willing to give the state the awesome responsibility of dictating to the wife how she is to proceed with respect to her husband before she can "deal" with the human fetus, he would have no objection giving it the state the power of denying her the ability to kill it (or him/her).
Kent - Everything you said is so far off base I don't think there is enough character space here to refute every echo-chamber, Republican herd-following statement you've made.
First off, not only was Plame covert, there debate as to whether or not she was covert doesn't even exist among even the semi-informed. She was so protected that even people who graduated from training with here didn't even know her real name. In addition, many CIA veterans have spoken out on this matter, and you can read some testimony here. If you'd like more evidence about administration officials knowing her identity was secret, I would refer you here
Secondly - It amazes me to no end that when Republicans get called on their bullshit, they have absolutely no facts to argue the case at hand, but rather smear the whistleblower.
The actual facts of any particular debate are meaningless to you - but the person uncovering the corruption that in part has lead to well over 2000 of our own and unknown 10's of thousands of their own dead - well how dare someone speak up, right?
Joe Wilson is not bitter, and in fact contributed $1,000 to Bush in 2000 and $1,500 to Rep. Ed Royce's (R-CA) 2000 re-election campaign. He was one of the most qualified ambassadors in the United States as he was an expert on specific African Nations, and not only that - of that 5 nations he frequently traveled to and had strong diplomatic relations with, FOUR of them are Uranium producing.
For the pseudo-flag waivers on the Right who are constantly playing the Patriot police and National Security cards in any debate I've ever seen, I find it odd that those same people
1. Are not upset that a leak compromising national security, specifically weapons of mass destruction was uncovered, and that you don't want to absolutely fry those involved.
2. Are smearing a "true American hero," as he was called by a former US president. Wilson was responsible for freeing 150 American hostages seized by Saddam during Desert Shield in the 90's.
Oh, and the former president who called him an American hero? George H. W. Bush.
Jeremy,
Nice talking points.
Perhaps you should consider changing the name of your blog from "Raging Against the Right" to "Suspending Reality."
That would be an accurate description of your thought processes.
One thing we do agree on: Country music sucks.
Kent, you can slam the politics all day long, but not my country music! :-)
Heretic, very good eye. Now you got me thinking.
Schantz, Miers was an idiot. :-)
MJ,
Why are you calling Harriet Miers an idiot?
That doesn't sound like you.
Kent, anyone that I can beat in an oral argument is an idiot.
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