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Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (17116)	1/12/2006 10:34:38 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35834

Kennedy has long been a public disgrace. Yesterday he was just more of a disgrace than usual.... J.

To: Sully- who wrote (17116)	1/12/2006 10:58:34 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

SHAME OF THE SENATE NEW YORK POST Editorial January 12, 2006 Maybe now Americans will under stand what a ruthless, partisan bunch of bullies walks the halls of Congress — pretending to statesman status. If they don't, they should talk to Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Bomgardner. After relentless attacks on her husband's character and decisions he made in his personal life decades ago, Alito's wife left the confirmation hearings yesterday in tears. Who can blame her? Much of the hearings have had nothing at all to do with Alito's judicial qualifications — and everything to do with Democrats looking for ways to smear him. And to make themselves look "tough." Over and over, they sought to portray the judge as a bigot by referencing his 1970s membership in a Princeton University alumni group that opposed lowering admissions standards to fill affirmative-action quotas. They hectored Alito relentlessly, calling him a closed-minded extremist. At the time she felt compelled to leave, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham was in the process of apologizing for the outrageous behavior of his Democratic colleagues. "Are you really a closet bigot?" Graham asked Alito. The nominee said no, and Graham said, "No sir, you're not." Earlier, Sen. Arlen Specter and Sen. Ted Kennedy seemed near blows over Kennedy's demand that the committee go into executive session to vote on whether to subpoena documents. "We're going to have votes of this committee again and again and again until we have a resolution," Kennedy thundered pompously. "I'm not concerned about your threats," Specter replied. "And I'm the chairman of this committee . . . And I'm not going to have you run this committee." Meanwhile, the senators seem to be devoting far more time to hearing themselves talk than to Alito. Is this a hearing to learn about the nominee? Or a kangaroo court — meant to skewer him? Ask Alito's wife. What a shameful episode. nypost.com

To: Sully- who wrote (17116)	1/12/2006 12:01:42 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35834

Who Caused Alito's Wife to Cry? by Robert B. Bluey HUMAN EVENTS Posted Jan 11, 2006 A group cleverly called People for the Alito Way says the Associated Press wrongly characterized an incident at Samuel Alito's hearing today that left his wife in tears. The AP story, which followed an exclusive from the Drudge Report, placed the blame on a Republican senator rather than committee Democrats -- a fact the conservative group says is just plain wrong. After taking a steady beating from Senate Democrats today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.-S.C.) offered an apology to Alito. (Read the full transcript.) washingtonpost.com "Judge Alito, I am sorry that you've had to go through this," Graham said. "I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this." Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Bomgardner, at this point had begun to choke up. She exited the hearing room and returned after a break holding her husband's hand. But, according to the AP's account, it was a comment Graham made moments earlier that triggered Bomgardner's emotions. "And really what I would look at to believe you're not -- and I'm going to be very honest with you -- is: How have you lived your life? Are you really a closet bigot?" Graham asked rhetorically. The AP story reports: <<< "Martha-Ann Bomgardner, who had sat behind her husband for hours of questioning over several days, left as her husband was being questioned by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "'Are you really a closet bigot?' Graham asked Alito. The nominee said no, and Graham said, "No sir, you’re not." >>> Commenting on the AP story, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary President Kay Daly said: “Mrs. Alito has shown grace under pressure after months of abuse at the hands of well-funded, left wing organizations and their Democratic minions on the Senate Judiciary Committee. For the Associated Press to misrepresent these events in an attempt to smear Republican Senator Lindsey Graham sets a new low in the already subterranean level of journalistic standards on display in Judge Alito’s confirmation process.” http://www.humaneventsonline.com/blog-detail.php?id=11521 washingtonpost.com drudgereport.com

To: Sully- who wrote (17116)	1/12/2006 1:15:46 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

AP, Milbank Portray Graham as the Bad Guy Media Blog Stephen Spruiell Reporting Via Human Events, the AP report on the events that led Sam Alito's wife to leave the hearing room in tears got it all wrong, making it seem as though Sen. Lindsey Graham was responsible: <<< Martha-Ann Bomgardner, who had sat behind her husband for hours of questioning over several days, left as her husband was being questioned by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "Judge Alito, I am sorry that you've had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this," said Graham. Moments earlier, the senator had asked Alito, "Are you really a closet bigot?" The nominee said no, and Graham said, "No sir, you're not." >>> MB reader Jeff H. points out that the Washington Post's Dana Milbank did the same thing: <<< As several more Democrats joined Kennedy's assault — Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) donned a Princeton baseball cap for the occasion — Alito's replies grew more frantic. "I disavow them. I deplore them. They represent things that I have always stood against and I can't express too strongly," he told Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). "If you don't mind the suspicious nature that I have, it's that you may be saying that because you want to get on the Supreme Court, that you're disavowing this now because it doesn't look too good," said Graham, trying to help Alito. "I'm going to be very honest with you," Graham continued. "Are you really a closet bigot?" Alito's ears turned scarlet. "I'm not any kind of bigot," he said, emotionally. "I'm not." Behind him, Martha Alito had had enough. She stood up, tissue in hand, and rushed to the back of the room, where Capitol Police whisked away the tearful woman. She didn't return for an hour. >>> As is clear to anyone who watches the video or reads the transcript, it was not any hostile questioning from Graham but rather his impassioned defense of Judge Alito's character that brought his wife to tears after a day of listening to her husband maligned by the likes of Ted Kennedy. This is the point in the transcript at which Alito's wife began to cry: <<< GRAHAM: You know why I believe you when you say that you disavow those quotes? Because the way you have lived your life and the way you and your wife are raising your children. Let me tell you this: Guilt by association is going to drive good men and women away from wanting to sit where you're sitting. And we're going to go through a bit of this ourselves as congressmen and senators. People are going to take a fact that we got a campaign donation from somebody who's found out to be a little different than we thought they were — and our political opponent's going to say, "Aha, I got you!" And we're going to say, "Wait a minute. I didn't know that. I didn't take the money for that reason." And you know what? I'm going to believe these senators and congressmen for the most part, because that's the way we do our business. We meet people here every day. We have photos taken with people — and sometimes you wish you didn't have your photo taken. But that doesn't mean that you're a bad person because of that association. [It was at this point, and not before, that Mrs. Alito left the hearing room] Judge Alito, I am sorry that you've had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this. >>> Not as sorry as he is, I'm sure. media.nationalreview.com humaneventsonline.com washingtonpost.com washingtonpost.com media.nationalreview.com washingtonpost.com