17. Let's get it on. For the first five years of his presidency, President Bush has avoided fights at all costs. He hasn't vetoed a single bill, he's one-upped liberals on disaster relief spending after 9/11 and Katrina, and he's caved to Democrat demands on the No Child Left Behind Act, McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, and the creation of a Department of Homeland Security. Now, conservatives, who have had his back throughout his presidency, have pushed George W. Bush into his opponents after he had sought to flee the scrum by nominating a consensus candidate.

16. Do you think Hugh Hewitt still believes conservatives were wrong to oppose the nomination of Harriet Miers?

15. Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, and Chuck Schumer, so disturbing in their friendliness toward Harriet Miers, are reassuring in their hostility to Alito.

14. The downside of experienced nominees is the paper trail of opinions that serve to alienate senators. The upside of experienced nominees is the paper trail of endorsements from senators who voted to confirm in the previous round of hearings. In 1990, Ted Kennedy believed Alito had "very distinguished record," while Frank Lautenberg dubbed him "impartial, thoughtful, and fair." Don't their 1990 endorsements make it hard to take their 2005 criticisms seriously? At the least, the Senators who once praised Alito but now oppose him indict their own judgment.

13. President Bush vetted past candidates for the Supreme Court by inquiring about their exercise habits. Did he drop this line of questioning for Judge Alito? How much, really, can Alito bench? Squat? Can he run a mile under seven minutes? What's his forty time?

12. It's easier to have a fight with liberals than it is to have a fight with conservatives: there are more of us than there are of them.

11. The new nomination transformed a political problem (Miers) into a political opportunity (Alito). It knocks an embarrassment off the front page (Scooter who?). It sets up a fight with unpopular opponents. Well played.

10. When you take time to fight your friends instead of your enemies, your enemies either get rest or join your friends in beating you up. Either way, taking on your friends is generally not a good idea.

9. Time will tell, but its opposition to Harriet Miers may turn out to be the conservative movement's finest hour. Coming as it did after conservatives slept through continued assaults on their principles, the Miers reaction startled--in a good, adrenaline-injection way. It certainly reflected a movement that knows its own strength and a political sophistication that it has rarely shown in the past.

8. If Harriet Miers was the most qualified person to fill an empty seat on the Supreme Court, does this make Sam Alito the second most qualified?

7. Hamilton wrote that the Senate provided "an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity." Which Bush high-court nominee do you suppose he anticipated?

6. Given that President Bush originally chose John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, Samuel Alito makes the third person selected to replace O'Connor. Third time was also a charm in replacing Lewis Powell in 1988 and Abe Fortas in 1971.

5. Am I the only one grossed out by Alito, in his press greeting flanked by four GOP senators, noting how he had "faithfully" read precedent in his years as an appellate judge? What about when the Constitution contradicted those precedents? Oh well, America may not be ready for a FlynnFiles Constitutionalist sitting on the high bench.

4. And might this unwarranted respect for precedent have played a role in Alito negating a New Jersey law that banned partial-birth abortion? That decision is certainly scarier--trick or treat?--than any semi-coherent utterance out of Harriet Miers's mouth.

3. Irish have a reputation going into politics, the priesthood, and police work. Germans have made great military men. Will the stereotype for great judges now fixate upon Italians?

2. Leaving aside its ethnic stereotyping, Scalito is a pretty cool nickname for a judge. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be one of those mock nicknames, e.g., dubbing a midget "stretch" or a "D" student in remedial math "Einstein."

1. Now George Bush can say with a straighter face that he didn't break his promise to nominate judges in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. In other words, he believes he fulfilled this promise and his supporters do too. Whether his Supreme Court nominees turn out the way of Scalia and Thomas--his first one really was more of a blank slate than Harriet Miers--is another matter.

If he can't bench his own weight then what's the point? Bush has failed us again.

Interesting read on Alito's role in Casey over at Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2129096/nav/tap1/

From the AP wire story:
"Alito's mother shed some light. 'Of course, he's against abortion,' 90-year-old Rose Alito said of her son, a Catholic."

This confirmation is already fun to watch.

I am not certain that appellate courts are the best place for a judge to buck precedent, or they at least must be careful when doing so. It seems to me that they could be inviting the SC to hear an appeal from the plaintiff that could in fact lead to further entrenching of a bad SC decision. On the other hand, what is unconstitutional IS unconstitutional and the SC, while usually deserving deference from the appelate courts, could conceivably be correctly disregarded in some cases where the appellate court recognizes the higher court precedent as simply a bad one.

I like the case where Alito did not read the Soc Sec Act in a strictly legalistic manner (which Scalia chastised him for) and interpreted the Act as not intending to screw people in certain situations, such as that of the particular disabled ex-elevator operator woman before the court, out of benefits. That was an example of a case which was "precedential," that is, the Appellate Court did not have anything other than the legislation and the Constitution to go on to determine the just ruling to the case. (Read about it here: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1124387,00.html )

The article Ralph links us to above demonstrates how astute Alito is at navigating a case like PP vs. Casey where there already existed much SC precedent that he had to take into account that was itself in violation of the constitution, b/c the precedent in question was Roe.

Set me straight on judicial philosophy and the role of the appellate courts Flynn, Ralph, Skeptic, et. al.

Jeremiah, thanks for sharing that quote from Mama Alito. Hah-ha, that is a great one! God bless that wonderful lady.

Dan, your question #8 is appropriate, but just to show you how far the standards of the MSM have fallen, John Roberts of ABC (I believe it's ABC) posed the same interrogatory to Scott McClellan thusly: “So, Scott, you said that -- or the President said, repeatedly, that Harriet Miers was the best person for the job. So does that mean that Alito is sloppy seconds, or what?”

I guess Mr. Roberts might have considered one or two more creative writing courses prior to entering television journalism!

"12. It's easier to have a fight with liberals than it is to have a fight with conservatives: there are more of us than there are of them"

This is just plain ignorant.

Just because a voice isn't heard, does not mean that no one is there. Let us consider the ole' case of slavery in the south. There were many more slaves than slave masters, they just didn’t have a unified voice... so beware of the day that the oppressed stand up together in the name of freedom.

Bush scraped by two elections by the skin of his (you know what) because of a nation that doesn't know its own voting strength. His approval now is as low as ever, and it is only dropping. And you know why??? Because his lies are catching up with him and people are starting to realize that the wool was pulled over their eyes. The sick part is that he is only a puppet of the greater deceiver.

"The sick part is that he is only a puppet of the greater deceiver."

Could it be, Satan?

#17. Don't forget spending on tsunami relief.

JackO: I believe Flynn meant "IN THE SENATE." But in any case, there ARE more people willing to call themselves 'conservative' in this country than those who are willing call themselves 'liberal'. And how come every time libs lose an election, its impossible that the people disagree with you-- you've got to say they were asleep or deceived?

or the lower class just don't care about the electoral process because they keep getting screwed over and over. Trying to survive is a demanding task for a large chunk of our society.

Jacko-- Since when do you speak for the "lower class"? You probably think that the "lower class" should agree with you, but (and I know this might shock you) the "lower class" is not a monolithic entity and MANY of them think that liberals are evil pansies. You're deluding yourself if you think they they really do agree with libs but they are just too apathetic to vote. I know, I know, it's too bad the lower-class people don't always do what you think they should.

Jacko, not to put you on the spot, but please tell me ONE specific lie George Bush has told; and please, be able to back it up with facts, not feelings. And PLEASE don't tell me he lied about WMDs, as, while the WMD reports may have been wrong, reliance upon them does not constitute lying. After all, Clinton had the same info and came to the same conclusion. He just didn't act upon his "convictions".

Also, you speak of Bush being elected twice "by the skin of his t_eth". I assume you realize that Clinton never even gained a plurality of the electorate in either of his runs; Bush did.

Poor people get "screwed over and over" in the United States? We should expect this sort of nonsense from a mutilated pumpkin. This guy doesn't have any eyes, so he can't see reality: "Poor" people don't stay "poor." And isn't calling a "poor" American in poor taste? In America, people living in poverty own televisions, phones, microwaves and other sophisticated technology. In other truly poor nations, people don't even own food, let alone a fridge to put food in.

Dear Herman and others like you who feel American poverty is not that bad,

You have obviously never worked with non-profit daycare centers or other social work centers, let alone talked to the people that are involved. I'm talking about people who hopefully eat once a day, let alone get their children food. Try and talk to them about politics.

Sure some people living under the poverty level have ma have a t.v. or a phone, but is the electricity on? is the phone on? is the water on? In some cases yes, but also consider the poverty index is also growing as fast as the inflation rate and if things do get fixed soon...

as for bush lies,,
he has lied through his campaigns and debates, all the way to his daily briefs... how about every time he says the war is going well, or "good" as he says... or the lie that we are going to win the war against terror.

He and his war have the lowest ratings so far, and they are only going down. America will only back up a lunitic for so long.

In America, losers become winners. Those that do not are losers. In other words, they screw themselves. They do not complete their educational careers. “Nearly half of those in the top 20 percent of income earners graduated from college, compared with just 4 percent of people in the bottom 20 percent. Only 2 percent of those in the highest tier dropped out of high school, but a fifth of the lowest income group failed to get a diploma. In 1993, median income of households headed by someone with a professional degree was $87,666. It drops to $51,480 for an undergraduate degree, $28,700 for a high school diploma and $16,067 for dropouts.”

You cheat yourself if you do not have a job and don’t work full-time. “Households in the top income quintile have, on average, 2.1 workers, compared with only 0.6 for the bottom fifth. Among the nonworking poor, only 13 percent say they are unable to find a job. In the lowest fifth of income earners, 84 percent worked part time, worked less than half the year or did not work at all. Four-fifths of the top bracket worked 50 or more weeks of the year. Only 7 percent of part-time workers say they are looking for fulltime work and unable to find it.”

In America’s system, most people move up the economic food chain. Some even rise to the top. The millions of success stories in America feature average people living this nation’s awesome dream. Tell the bottom feeder who climbs to the top that he is screwed. Tell the bottom feeder who is still a bottom feeder 15 years later that he probably screwed himself... and he certainly wasn't screwed in a system where the "rich" pay all of the taxes.

http://www.dallasfed.org/fed/annual/1999p/ar95.pdf

So much for backing those "Bush lies" with facts and figures, huh, Jacko? I've been hearing the same garbage from liberals like you for 5 years now...the problem is the only fuel you people have is hate...and 2004 proved that hate don't win elections...why don't you come up with a decent candidate who SOMEWHAT represents the American people, instead of choosing liberal superstars. Politics is all a game man...radicals don't win...you have to play to the moderates. No way Hillary is ganna be your savior in 08'...you better find someone fast.

do you really believe that things are going well, education is great, the economy is not slipping, the war is going well, Iraq isn't a slaughter house breeding hatred for America, and most of America likes the current administration? If you do, then it's obvious why you think I'm full of hatred. I prefer to look at facts about the status of the world to determine if the president has made mistakes.

It will all be ok if we can just reassess our actions and opinions without being afraid of previously being wrong. People make mistakes. That's natural. All I'm asking is for people to own up and admit mistakes instead of being bull-headed trying twist things beyond repair to make themselves right.

What kind of moralist did America really stand behind?

He lied and murdered for money and friends. This is the worst white collar crime that can be committed.

it's hard to go to college when you have to sell crack to live

Jacko, I feel sorry for you. In this exchange, you have failed miserably. You are a know-it-all but you really do not know a damn thing (prove me wrong!). It shows. You have not and (I suspect) cannot substantiate your points or refute the ones I have made. You assume the truth of your premises and do not bother with an acceptable reasoning process. When others call you on it, you fill in the blanks by begging the question. You come across as nothing more than an illogical, incompetent, leftish idiot with nothing better to do than annoy greater minds with his dumb ideas and boring details from his insignificant personal life.

A good bit of biblical wisdom condemns decrying the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a massive one in your own. In other words, you should not sermonize to others about their little problem when you have a huge problem yourself. This bit of wisdom especially applies to you, since you seem to have only a fraction of the competence of those you take on. This makes disparagement from you not just hypocritical but impossible.

If you want people to take you seriously, you need to seem more intelligent than that high horse you ride on. Maybe you want to show everyone here how smart you are and how dumb the rest of us are, but you only show how dumb you are. How wonderful it would be for a liberal (a dumb one!) to defeat conservatives on their own turf. Perhaps your heart is in the right place. As for your head…

On the behalf of Michael Moore, I gotta hand it to ya for badmouthing the American dream while embracing a pipedream.

Jacko,

Hillary voted for the war.

John Kerry voted for the war.

They had access to the same intelligence
that the President did.

Did they Lie? or is that just a term
you reserve someone you hate-
like President George W. Bush

When you say "bush lied",
you just make yourself
sound uninformed or willfully ignorant.

Try a new mantra.