Politicizing Nomination Spells Future Trouble for Democrats - Yahoo! News:
By Maggie Gallagher [/] Tue Nov 1, 8:11 PM ET
[...]At such a time, analysts say, when he needs to be reaching out to the middle, the president can hardly afford a knock-down, drag-out over the Supreme Court. [/] So why are the early signs on Alito so very promising?
Of course, conservatives are ecstatic. Judge Alito's nomination represents a dramatic breakthrough in terms of Supreme Court politics. No longer will some of the nation's best and brightest legal minds be told that their contributions as judge and scholar disqualify them from serving on the Supreme Court.
In nominating Judge Alito, President Bush took pains to note that with 15 years on the federal bench (and some 200 written opinions), he has more judicial experience than any other nominee to the Supreme Court in recent memory.
But even the prestige liberal press has been remarkably respectful. The New York Times profile was filled with accolades: Charles Cooper, who recruited Sam Alito to be a deputy assistant attorney general, said: "The power of his intellect is the most striking thing about him. I'd imagine there are about six lawyers in the country who are John Roberts' equal, and Sam is one of them."
[...] 'Nobody tagged Sam as a fire-breathing conservative,' said Mark Levy, a Clinton Democrat who worked with Alito in the justice department. In a major op-ed, Professor Ann Althouse of the University of Wisconsin called Judge Alito a man 'of stellar credentials' with a record of respect for the rights of religious minorities. 'To oppose Judge Alito because his record is conservative is to condemn us to a succession of bland nominees and to deprive future presidents of the opportunity to choose from the men and women who have dedicated long years to judicial work,' she warned.
Of course, the usual suspects (Kennedy, Leahy, Schumer) are up to their usual suspect work. '(Conservatives) are shouting from the mountaintops for this Alito,' as Kennedy explained his opposition. Karen Michelman, former head of NARAL, attacked Alito for failing in 1991 to strike down a Pennsylvania law that asked wives to notify their husbands before they have an abortion. (The law contained an escape clause for situations where the wife feared violence as a result.) Abortion fanatics such as Michelman seem unaware that close to three-quarters of Americans support the idea that the husband has a right to know, even if many also believe the wife has the right to choose.
The airwaves will be filled for a while with threats and invectives as some extreme Democrats seek to prove how 'divisive' this nominee is by mouthing angry, unattractive, and unreasonable accusations." [...] [My ellipses and emphasis]
