Does anyone truly believe that Chuck Schumer is unaware of following?
From page two of Alito's job application (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/...):
"Most recently, it has been an honor and source of personal satisfaction for me to serve in the office of the Solicitor General during President Reagan's administration and TO HELP TO ADVANCE LEGAL POSITIONS IN WHICH I PERSONALLY BELIEVE VERY STRONGLY." (caps mine)
Charles Schumers' impersonates Neville Chamberlain below the fold...
From Meet the Press this Sunday transcript:
SEN. SCHUMER: "Not quite, Tim. Don't push it. Not that fast. Let me say this: The bar association is the gold standard for the two things they measure, competence--in other words, their qualifications--and their judicial temperament. Judge Alito certainly has a judicial temperament. He went to I think it is Princeton--Right? -- Yale Law School. Very bright man. That's all the bar association judges. The most important qualification for a judge--and I made this argument in 2001 as well--and that is their judicial philosophy. They have enormous power in this lifetime appointment to be a Supreme Court justice. How are they going to use it? Are they going to follow the law or are they going to impose their views on the American people in a very ideological way? And judges at the extreme far right, far left, tend to do that.
The big outstanding question about Judge Alito is the third question. So no one disputes his legal education, the experience he's had. It's been very good. No one disputes that he has judicial temperament. There's a great deal of question on his judicial philosophy. He has said some very, very, very extreme things throughout his career, both when he worked for Ronald Reagan and as a judge."
"big outstanding question"?
How is this a question at all for Chuck?
This is a man who is obviously afraid of being "tarnished" with a "liberal Democrat" and "partisan politics" label.
He basically says enough to give himself cover for voting either way on confirmation.
This is the essence of why most people feel that the Democrats can't be trusted to defend our country. The desperation to appear reasonable, and avoid conflict doesn't sit well with frightened folks (who, in most cases, want to identify with the aggressor, not the victim).
SEN. CORNYN: "I believe he'll be confirmed unless there's this extraordinary use of the filibuster, abuse of the Senate rules, in order to prevent it, as has happened with a number of President Bush's nominees. But I go back--the gold standard, as Senator Schumer himself said, was the American Bar Association Committee on Judicial Evaluation. They looked not only at temperament and qualifications, but integrity. This is not a person who's outside the mainstream. He may be outside the liberal mainstream, which is the main complaint of some of the outside groups who are pressuring Democrat senators to filibuster and to oppose this nomination. And I hope that we'll have a fair hearing. I hope he'll be allowed to answer the questions. I'm sure there'll be plenty of answers to all the questions. And there's obviously been a lot of information already produced from this nominee. We know much more about this nominee than we knew about John Roberts when he was confirmed by a vote of 78-to-22 as chief justice of the United States."
So Cornyn (from Texas, of course) has no problem defining Blue State American culture as "the liberal mainstream". He also all but makes his "why I vote to confirm" speech on the show, instead of on the Senate floor.
Conservatives apparently don't need to make up their minds after the Judicial Committee hearings, and aren't at all afraid to say what they believe or what they're going to do.
The resolute defender of Texan, I mean American mainstream values also manages to attack Chuck in the same breath for...surprise, surprise, inconsistency!
But Chuck responds immediately and manages to come back with...another question, again for himself:
SEN. SCHUMER: "The key question, Tim, simply put, is: Is he, even if he's conservative, within the mainstream or is he outside that mainstream? We won't know till the hearings."
...and yes, right after that Tim Russert then ends the segement, and goes to commercial.
Hey Senator Schumer! Over here! Yes, it's a constituent of yours (again)...Umm...if you represent New York State, with one of the largest populations in the country, isn't it at incumbent upon you to define mainstream in terms of what's normal for Blue State culture, i.e. constitutional right to privacy/conscience regarding abortion decisions? The conservatives seem to have no problem defining "mainstream" in terms of Kansas (pop. 2,653,454), while consigning us and California to "liberal mainstream" status. Why not simply say it like it is: the overwhelming majority of Americans in the most populous and developed states consider abortion an unfortunate personal decision, and therefore you represent the voice of mainstream America by opposing Alito's confirmation.
Why wouldn't you take the opportunity on national television to call on Alito to set you and the record straight and correct your understanding of his stated goal of overturning Roe?
When, at the hearing, Alito tried to obfuscate and misdirect, he would show himself to be disingenuous and untrustworthy, i.e. a career politician.
People are pretty pissed off at politicians right now, Chuck. If you had forced Alito to play one badly at the confirmation hearing, you might have been a real source of strength for your party...a hero, if you will, in defending the people you represent.
Instead, you yourself play the classic politician, dissembling to justify an obviously crassly considered vote.
Great job defending a nation, Chuck! Thanks again!