Headlines and Commentary for 11.01.05
Conservative? Alito’s Record Leaves Little Doubt
Samuel Alito Jr. has the most judicial experience of any U.S. Supreme Court candidate since Benjamin Cardozo in 1932, and the most conservative judicial record of any candidate since Robert Bork in 1987.
Alito’s 15 years on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia provide a storehouse of ammunition for both supporters and opponents of President Bush’s nominee to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
A sampling of his 300 published opinions shows a careful, workmanlike judge who quietly explains his conclusions without needless rhetoric, ideological pronouncements or attacks on opponents. Alito can vote to uphold a city’s display of a creche, a menorah and other holiday symbols without a discourse on religion in public life and to uphold a spousal-notification requirement for abortions without condemning either abortion or the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling.
And after the Miers debacle, this is what we want – a solid conservative judge who will interpret the constitution, not legislate from the bench.
NY Sun – Bush Is Back
Those who have been hoping that the Supreme Court battles would provide an opportunity for a concerted debate about constitutional principles have a lot to smile over after yesterday’s nomination of Samuel Alito. Not only have Judge Alito’s 15 years riding the 3rd Circuit left him with an extensive paper trail that will be grounds for such a debate, but this nomination seems to signal that the White House is finally ready to force senators to confront issues that were obscured in both the Roberts and Miers nominations. The bold President Bush whom Americans re-elected in 2004 may be making a comeback.
I find it funny that Liberals will allow a sports team to have a slump, they will allow a temporary slide in corporate quarterly earnings, and they will allow their favorite actor to make a bad movie, but the President of the United States has a tough week and they’re calling for impeachment. How silly. Actually, this comment left by a reader at Lucianne can speak for me:
“The U.S. economy is growing at about a 3.5 percent annual rate. (sans H. Katrina, it would be doing even better.) Iraq is well on its way to being a federal republic with a strong constitution. Libya’s nuclear program was stopped. Terrorists are being killed and arrested globally. Justice Roberts has taken his seat at the SC. Justice Alito will soon follow. An excellent replacement for Alan Greenspan was made at the Fed Reserve. So? What is not to like?”
Indeed.
CNSNews – ‘A Mother Who Risked Her Life to Protect Her Country…’
Democrats who work to elect other Democrats to Congress have compiled a two-minute video comparing the CIA leak case to the Watergate cover-up.
The video shows photos and headlines from the Nixon era, then transitions to photos, soundbytes and headlines involving the federal probe that led to the indictment of Lewis Libby last week.
“Last Friday we witnessed an explosion, an event that, like Watergate, will shape politics and the way we see government in America for years to come,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a press release introducing its video.
“This is a solemn time, and gives us a moment to remember what men can do when they abuse the power given to them by our nation,” the DCCC said.
The video makes the point that President Bush has not fired everyone “involved” in the leak, as he once said he would do. Democrats are particularly eager to get rid of Bush adviser Karl Rove.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said the video is intended to “remind America of the facts” behind the CIA leak case — and what makes the Libby indictment “so monumentally important.”
There is no violin music in the video, but the press release does contain the following grand pronouncements:
“If there is a silver lining of these events, it may be that, in the future, all will know they cannot abuse their power with impunity while they sit in the White House. It is nothing short of tragic to learn that those sitting there now would sacrifice the safety of an American patriot and mother who risked her life to protect her country from the very threats over which this same administration led us to war.
One word – Desperation.
Joe Wilson: I’m No ‘Commie Liberal Sympathizer’
Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, conducting another round of media appearances related to the leaking of his wife’s CIA cover, used a National Press Club appearance Monday to assert that he is no “commie liberal sympathizer.”
OK, fine then. You’re just a commie liberal.
This is London – Comeback of ‘cocaine Kate’
She is just out of rehab after a drug scandal which has seen her stripped of some of her most lucrative fashion contracts – but Kate Moss is already gracing magazine covers again.
A mere 7 weeks after she was caught snorting coke on video, Kate Moss is suddenly ‘back’ and ready to make money for fashion biz fat-cats throughout the world. Heh.
Let’s hope she lives long enough to really make a comeback, first and foremost, as a mother to her daughter.
MediaDailyNews – The ‘Net is Killing the Paper
IT’S OFFICIAL: 2005 WILL BE the newspaper industry’s worst year since the last ad industry recession. And things aren’t looking much better for next year either, according to a top Wall Street firm’s report on newspaper publishing. “Sadly, 2005 is shaping up as the industry’s worst year from a revenue growth perspective since the recession impacted 2001-2002 period,” says the report from Goldman Sachs, adding a warning that meaningful growth in 2006 is “very unlikely.”
Unfortunately, all of the people who have the power to reinvent the daily newspaper deny its impending death. In their minds, the business is in need of a few strategically placed BandAids. They haven’t yet noticed the many others who are busy measuring the industry for its coffin.
Prince Charles, Camilla Do the Big Apple
AP – Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, paid tribute to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks Tuesday as they began a weeklong tour of the United States — a trip the British press predicted would cause little excitement among Americans.
But, in Greenwich Village and throughout Chelsea, thousands of men have gathered to welcome the royals, as the anthem, ‘It’s Raining Men’ is amplified through the streets. The Village People are on tap to heat the place up tonight.