January 12, 2006
1/12: A Million Alito Pieces
If the SCOTUS hearings for Judge Samuel Alito have been on the dull side, the 1/11 sessions finally generated some sparks. First there was the confrontation between Senate Jud Cmte chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) over access to records concerning Alito's membership in conservative Princeton group CAP. Later, Alito's wife Martha left the hearing room in tears. While the former is clearly the more substantive issue, the latter got more attention. Some on the right hear that there's nothing at all pertinent to Alito in the archives Kennedy wants to open, and a few are accusing him of McCarthyism. Meanwhile, the left takes on conservatives' claims that Mrs. Alito broke down in response to Dem attacks.
Meanwhile, as Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) approaches a decision about whether to enter the maj. leader contest, National Review editor Rich Lowry has posted to The Corner excerpts of a conversation they had last p.m., in which Shadegg at times seems to be thinking aloud. With the 2 declared candidates failing to win widespread support, Shadegg -- this a.m. endorsed by pro-GOP group blog RedState -- stands to be a strong dark horse.
Plus, ex-NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey (D) resurfaces at Huffington Post, some Plamegate speculation, and a blogger separated-at-birth exercise. And we present our latest Blogger Spotlight.
THE ALITO NOMINATION I: A Rusher Of Blood To The Head
Both Michelle Malkin and Crooks and Liars have video of the exchange between Kennedy and Specter. The papers to which Kennedy sought access were those of ex-National Review publisher William Rusher; Rusher has so far withheld access but is now relenting.
>> Reax from across the 'sphere: Volokh Conspiracy's Todd Zywicki compares Kennedy's interest in CAP to Joe McCarthy's Red-baiting. 
WILLisms runs with the header: "Have You No Sense Of Decency?" Betsy's Page: "Does Senator Kennedy really want people to start looking at someone's college record?" American Prospect's Garance Franke-Ruta comments: "Perhaps those files show nothing, or prove that Alito had only tangential involvement with the group, as news reports suggest. But perhaps they show more. What's clear is that Rusher was playing politics with the public's right to know." Misteramiercano header: "Arlen Specter Smackdown Of Ted Kennedy Was A Joy To Behold." Wylie Post: "Arlen Specter doesn't make a very good liar but sure does make a wonderful fool." Sundries: "Their tongue-lashing was nothing more than a chance of posturing by Senator Kennedy." QandO: "So, that was fun to watch. Very high-browed and senatorial."
>> But what's in the papers? Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey writes: "Word around the Capitol has it that the New York Times did an extensive research project on the Rusher papers -- and found absolutely nothing. Kennedy is about to come up with major egg on his face when Rusher's papers turn into Al Capone's vault." NRO's Ed Whelan hears the Rusher docs in fact "make no mention at all of Alito." Daily Kos contributor QuickSilver suspects differently: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) "showed us a card today. From the way I heard his remarks, the Republicans are bracing themselves for fireworks if and when the CAP archive is actually opened. Whatever is in the boxes, it appears to be material dating from the mid 1980s, and the Republicans seem to know it." QuickSilver posits a theory: "I think this has everything to do with a 1984 scandal involving Dinesh D'Souza and a Princeton freshman," when CAP "put itself on shaky legal ground by" publishing a D'Souza-penned article in its Prospect magazine which included "details of a female Princeton student's sex life. Alito would have been a good person to turn to for advice on torts, and for dodging tort claims." A poll attached to the story shows 61% of 400+ voting Kossacks think the story is "viable (but needs oxygen)."
>> Conservatives couldn't be happier to have Kennedy take the lead on this -- Joe Malchow: "What an absolute hoot, and a scary one at that. Kennedy just fabricated this issue, and hit the straw man of CAP itself while ignoring Alito's denial of having been an active part of it, and his straightforward denunciation of CAP's more radical views. Now Kennedy is inventing a basis for a filibuster." SoxBlog's Dean Barnett calls it "the biggest tactical blunder by a Kennedy since the Bay of Pigs": "This incident was one of the two things from the hearings that caught the eye of the mainstream public that generally lives in blissful ignorance of our Senators' blustering. Because of this contretemps, Ted Kennedy became the public face of the Alito opposition."
THE ALITO NOMINATION II: Tear Jerks
The Political Teen has video of Mrs. Alito leaving the hearing room. Michelle Malkin makes available just Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) apology for the Dem onslaught.
>> The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez: "Bringing a SCOTUS candidate's wife to tears in the hearing room is going to do wonders for the Senate's popularity ratings." PA-based Susie Madrak: "Well, it's not that I have a heart of stone, but as I once said to a politician who angrily accused me of making his wife cry, 'No offense, but I have to take a lot of crap in my job for a lot less money than you make and if you're that concerned about the effect my doing my job has on your wife, perhaps you should consider another line of work.' Shut him right up." Jane Hamsher: "I've worked in the biz long enough to know a poorly executed little melodrama when I see it and that was the worst, the most shameless, most obvious. ... Pure setup 101." TalkLeft: "While I'm not convinced as is Jane ... I do think they were pretty lame. Bending The Third Rail: "Do they now have 'murder boards' for the spouses? Did Martha Alito spend hours sitting in a room practicing the appropriate non-verbal response to the questions at hand?" Huffington Post tweaks the umpire jud. analogy with the header: "There's No Crying In Baseball."
>> Of some controversy was the Drudge Report header: "ALITO WIFE LEAVES HEARING IN TEARS AFTER DEM ATTACK." Notably, conservative John Cole calls this "pretty hacktacular even for Drudge," adding, "only the most patently dishonest person on the planet would claim that Mrs. Alito left after a Democratic attack. She left after REPUBLICAN Sen. Lindsey Graham was basically praising Alito, defending him and reciting some of the things that have been said about Alito." Daily Kos' Armando quotes and tweaks Drudge's take: "Judge Samuel A. Alito's wife Martha left the confirmation hearing room in tears this evening, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. (You gotta love Drudge. The damn hearings were on every cable network, Armando has learned.)" AMERICAblog: "I'm sure FOX News and Drudge will be coming out with their corrections shortly." Hugh Hewitt disagrees: "Incredibly, the AP account of the departure of Mrs. Alito from the hearings today places blame on Senator Graham for her emotional moment. In fact Senator Graham was defending Judge Alito against the repulsive attacks of Kennedy et al." James Wolcott hits conservatives for going from boredom to outrage over Mrs. Alito's tears: "From their sympathetic clucks and disapproving tones you would have thought Alito had been subjected to a Stalinist show trial presided over by Randi Rhodes in a bad mood rather than honey-tongued Lindsey Graham asking Alito with tender solicitude, 'Are you a bigot?'"
THE ALITO NOMINATION III: Hello, There's A SCOTUS Nomination Going On Over Here ...
Cole also follows the lead of GWU's Jonathan Turley in opposing Alito over his "almost reflexive vote in favor of government." Again, Hewitt objects: "This is a curious, and ultimately reflexively anti-majoritarian position given that 'the government' is simply the accumulation" of the nation's laws. "Reflexively pro-government is the same as 'reflexively pro separation-of-powers and checks and balances.'" Cole's decision garnered some positive notices from the left-blogosphere, such as Running Scared, who agreed: "When the John Kerry and the Democrats waged a lame campaign in 2004 and all but handed the election to George Bush we knew the fall out would be a disaster. Alito will be an activist judge and our system of government will be the victim."
TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt hopes the "hoopla" over Kennedy and Mrs. Alito doesn't obscure "one of the more substantive moments" in the hearings -- where Alito "refused to say Roe v. Wade was settled law." She calls this "beyond troubling since he will become the swing vote for the conservatives on this issue. Leopards don't change their spots."
QandO's Dale Franks notices Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-IL) concern that Alito "has ruled for powerful institutions over individuals... some of whom are... black." He adds: "Well, I'm concerned, too, because the implication of Sen. Durbin's question is that Judges have a duty to rule in favor of politically preferred groups. If so, then that's not justice. That is a subversion of justice."
Crooks and Liars has video of NBC's Brian Williams on the MSNBC simulcast of "Imus in the Morning" where he appears to credit National Review with "video refuting what he said" about disliking Princeton "with an earlier statement" praising the school (see 1/11 Blogometer). However, Williams forgot the details. C&L's Jon Amato: "So far this week has turned into one big circle jerk of republican talking points for Alito and the fact that Brian Williams brought up the NRO as a resource tool without even knowing the story seals the deal."
EAVESDROPPING: Winners Don't Use Illegal Wiretaps
Georgetown law prof/ex-DoJ atty Marty Lederman posts to Balkinization a letter signed by himself and 14 others, including ex-FBI dir. William Sessions and Harvard law prof Larry Tribe critiquing the DoJ's argument in favor of the NSA program's legality.
Washington Monthly's Paul Glastris calls attention to a tidbit from the latest Pew survey, showing that 37% of GOPers compared to 18% of Dems are cool with gov't monitoring their communications. Pew adds, "This marks a 15-point increase in support among Republicans, and a nine-point drop among Democrats since 2002."
WSJ's James Taranto quotes New York Times NSA source Russell Tice as describing the NSA's mindset to ABC's "Nightline": "The mentality was we need to get these guys, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get them." Taranto extrapolates: "Apparently the mentality of Tice and many Democrats is that we don't need to get these guys and we're not going to do whatever it takes to get them." Right Wing News: "So are these lefties hysterically overhyping how bad George Bush is, thoughtlessly underestimating how monstrous al Qaeda is, or is it some combination of the two? Say what you like about conservatives, but at least we understand that al Qaeda is worse than the Democratic Party."
HOUSE GOP ELECTIONS: Shadeggs Of Gray
Radio talker Hugh Hewitt: "I have tried each day for three days to book an interview with either Roy Blunt or John Boehner. They have declined at a time when an audience of center-right listeners are intensely interested in the future of the party that they -- the activists -- put into the majority. It isn't a confidence builder to get no response from folks who want to be leaders no matter how busy their schedules."
The directors of RedState announce they're endorsing Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ): "The time has come for a new face in House Republican leadership. Whether we accept Boehner or Blunt (if we were forced to choose, it would be Boehner) we would be choosing a compromised leader at a time when every indication is that the Democrats intend to wage war on ethics. We need a better choice. John Shadegg is that choice."
At The Corner, Rich Lowry posts: "John Shadegg just called." Shadegg to Lowry: "I personally believe that we need pretty radical change. We need to ferret out anyone embroiled in this mess and any practices that contributed to it. We need to be taking the initiative to get back to our core principles." Lowry writes, "Even if he has an uphill fight, he muses, 'maybe I should carry this standard forward.'" Later, Lowry shared the analysis of a GOPer not affil. with any candidate, noting in particular the odd fact that Blunt appears weak and wants to retain his Whip position if he loses, while Blunt ally Eric Cantor (R-VA) is much better positioned to be the new Whip than anyone else is positioned for any other slot. Plus: "If Shadegg were to get in the race, there would be pressure on him -- given how unpopular Blunt's straddle is -- to say he was going to step aside as head of the policy committee. If he did, yet another leadership slot would be open, and the deck would be re-shuffled even more. It could get interesting."
Liberal Fired Up! America puts out a fake press release titled, "Blunt Leads In Votes From the GOP AbraMafia Caucus." The contact info is listed as "Todd Boulanger, Cassidy & Associates" -- with this note at the bottom: "If you are unable to reach Todd Boulanger at his offices at Cassidy, you might call his wife Jessica, in Rep. Blunt's office, and she will track him down for you."
As of last p.m., Hotline On Call counts 62 for Blunt and 35 for Boehner; Wyatt's Torch counts one more for Boehner -- embattled Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), which Hotline has since confirmed. As of this a.m., Blunt claims 100+ to Boehner's 86, while Wyatt's Torch has taken Ney off the list, sans explanation. Keep checking Hotline On Call for updates.
MIDTERMS: More Questions Than Answers
Wal-Mart Watch highlights Gov. Bob Ehrlich's (R-MD) claim that Wal-Mart never hosted a fundraiser for him -- and CNBC's Insana confronting him with evidence that in fact they did. (Ehrlich had just vetoed MD's Fair Share Health Care Act, which Wal-Mart opposed.) Wal-Mart Watch also makes available the invite [PDF] to the 12/15/04 fundraiser in question.
On the news that Nassau Co. exec. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) is considering a GOV primary challenge to likely nominee/AG Eliot Spitzer, DavidNYC tries to game out what Suozzi could be possibly thinking. At best, "raise his profile" for a future race? But which race? He concludes: "Suozzi is manifestly impatient, to the point that it's very dangerous to his own dreams."
Re: the reports that a UK memo has Pres. Bush suggesting an attack on al Jazeera's Doha HQ, Kevin Drum rescues this from the depths of a New York Times report: Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle said he "had tried to publicize the document in the United States in 2004. Mr. Kilfoyle said in a telephone interview that he and [ex-Labour MPTony] Clarke had hoped to influence the 2004 presidential election by sharing information from the document with John Latham, 71, a British citizen with connections to the Democratic Party."
Blogs for Bush hosts video of an Afghanistan vet confronting Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) at an Arlington town hall event which also featured Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA). "I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. ... The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan." More details at Mudville Gazette.
Brendan Nyhan points out that in Bush's latest speeches attack dissent on the war: "Note the juxtaposition Bush makes between 'a loyal opposition that points out what is wrong' and 'defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right.' So people who think the war is doomed to fail are disloyal?"
As New Yorker's Toobin reports that Scooter Libby's defense team will challenge the reporters' credibility, Tom Maguire suggests the trial will "shatter the credibility of the media in a way that makes RatherGate look as embarrassing and unimportant as on on-air sneeze." He makes a series of guesses as to the nature of revelations that may come out, such as: "Walter Pincus is forced to admit that the Plame leak he received on July 12 2003 was *not* his first leak of the news that Wilson's wife was at the CIA. "
Taegan Goddard, who runs the popular political news wire Political Wire has now launched the beta version of Political Stuff, a community news site to which users can recommend stories and vote to promote or demote stories based on how interesting they are. The site is based on the tech news site Digg. Interested in starting your own Digg clone? Start at pligg.com.
File under: Re-Introducing -- In what the Blogometer believes to be ex-NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey's (D) first public writing since resigning office in 8/03, he collaborates with Dem activist David Mixner for a Huffington Post piece about about visiting WV: "Yet, amid this misery and hopelessness, one finds remarkable kindness. Folks here believe helping a neighbor in need is nothing special - indeed, it is a way of life. Even the poor help the poorer. And by embracing the age-old virtue of loving thy fellow man, many of these tenacious residents find redemption for themselves. The amazing Marsha Timpson is one of those people."
BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: About Schmitt
Today the Blogometer talks to liberal Mark Schmitt, who writes The Decembrist and contributes to TPM Cafe.
What is your full name?
Mark Schmitt
What is your age?
43
Where did you grow up?
New Haven, CT
Where do you live now?
Washington, DC, returning recently after several years in New York.
What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?
I'm a senior fellow at a think tank, so I don't have any idea how to answer a question like "what is your occupation." On my marriage license, I wrote, "writer," and my wife looked at me funny, prompting the clerk to ask, "Are you really a writer?" But they let it stand. I have worked on political campaigns, although the only one since high school (when I worked on a lot of them) was Bill Bradley's 2000 presidential campaign. I've written plenty of op-eds and opinion articles, and recently started a regular column in The American Prospect, but I've never been employed full-time in the mainstream media.
When did you start blogging and why?
I started my blog in September 2003. I had a brief sabbatical from a previous job and a blog seemed like it would be a good way to make use of the free time that sabbatical provided. What appealed to me about blogging was, and remains, the flexibility of the format. You can comment casually on a dozen things that you come across, or dig into some issue with great depth, and everything in between. At first, my blog was a slavish imitation of Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, probably right down to the tone.
What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?
I particularly enjoyed writing about the Nuclear Option over judicial filibusters last spring. Because I've worked in the Senate, I had some particular background to contribute to the debate, and I was relatively certain of my opinions. But in a way the niche I prefer is not to get caught up in the day-to-day scandals, but try to look at them in a broader historical and forward-looking context. For example, through the 2004 presidential campaign, I tried to keep a thread going on the question of what would happen if Kerry won -- the fights about budget priorities, dealing with a hostile Congress, etc. Obviously, not applicable, but at the time nobody was publicly talking about any of those topics.
Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?
It varies. My recent schedule has been three or four posts a week, on my own blog, The Decembrist, or on TPM Cafe, or cross-posted. But I sometimes go a week without posting anything.
Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?
Both questions are hard to answer. On the first, I'll say that lately I have really been enjoying Laura Rozen's War and Piece blog. She strikes the perfect balance between her own reporting, her own insights, and simply pulling together other things that someone should read, and she has a Joe Friday-like economy of language that others should learn from. Favorite non-political blog these days is Overheard in New York, because it gives me the daily dose of sheer lunacy that I need and that Washington doesn't quite provide.
Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?
Martin Wolf, Financial Times. Ron Brownstein, L.A. Times.
What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?
"Hardball." (Not that I watch any television these days.)
What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?
WashingtonPost.com, NYTimes, Financial Times, MSNBC
What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?
Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, RedState, Crooked Timber, Arts and Letters Daily.
How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?
Daily. And if I don't, I get caught, because I miss something that just doesn't show up online.
How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?
I hope it's a significant change from the way they affect and influence each other at the moment, in which many of the new media (bloggers, in particular) regard the "MSM" as a useless dinosaur or worse, and newspapers and magazines stumble over themselves to capture the perceived hipness of new media for themselves, but only get the form -- e.g., reporters being required to write blogs in addition to their other deadlines. New media should recognize that we are often parasites on old media -- absorbing and commenting on stories that we don't have the resources or background to write. Traditional media should recognize that the open-source innovations in tone and format pioneered on the blogs can refresh stale formats such as the op-ed page. Five years from now, however, I doubt these distinctions will be meaningful and the term "new media" will seem quaint.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Have A Nice Day
Julian Sanchez thinks dark thoughts: "How many committed al Qaeda operatives, people willing to kill and perhaps die for the cause, do we think there are in the U.S. right now? The initial New York Times piece on the NSA wiretap story suggested that about 500 people were being tapped at any given time. How many do we think were full-blown al Qaeda terrorists? One in ten? One in twenty? ... Maybe we've just been that effective at catching these folk -- or maybe we managed to deport a big chunk on visa violations -- and I'm certainly not implying there aren't any U.S.-based al Qaeda. But if they've got even a fraction of 500 people here involved in their plots, why hasn't one of them managed to pull anything off?"
LEST WE FORGET: Separated At Birth?
Daniel Drezner tried out a face recognition program available at MyHeritage.com, which will tell you which celebrities you resemble. At first he declares the software "rubbish," but then realizes what a great time-waster it would be to upload the photos of prominent bloggers to find out whom they resemble. Among the results -- Drezner himself: Matt LeBlanc, Osama bin Laden; Glenn Reynolds: Franz Kafka, Henry Kissinger; Virginia Postrel: Diane Keaton, Eva Peron; Matt Yglesias: Leonardo DiCaprio, Vaclav Havel; ex-blogger Ana Marie Cox: Katie Holmes, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Posted by at January 12, 2006 12:45 PM
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