Years ago in a bout of the same masochism that once caused me to eat at a Norm's Restaurant, I watched most of the Clarence Thomas hearings. I don't know why I did it...just hoping for a moment of honest candor that never came. Didn't hear it from the Senators of either party, didn't hear it from the nominee. I still don't know about Anita Hill but she wasn't aspiring to a lofty position in our government so she didn't matter as much. What I think I was waiting for was for some Democrat to say, when it was his time to speak, "Judge Thomas, all this crap about what you said to someone about privacy rights in a law lecture twelve years ago is irrelevant. The president nominated you for this position because he thinks you'll advance his Conservative agenda. I intend to vote against you for precisely that reason. Thank you. I'm done." Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and all the rest could say that today to Alito but it wouldn't get them as much camera time.
An AP article on Yahoo! says Alito appears headed for confirmation. Enjoy control over your uterus while you can, ladies. And boy, what a loser Kanye West was with his "George Bush doesn't care about black people." If that were true, would he have nominated somebody who belonged to a bigoted, sexist. homophobic organization to the highest court in the land?
I believe, 30 years from now, the issue that most Democratic Senators of today will have trouble looking people in the eyes about is, of course, the Iraq war. As they have to accept more and more responsibility for allowing themselves to be deceived into a quagmire, they will find themselves unable to justify the loss of thousands of lives and millions of dollars.
But the second is going to be that they allowed the re-ordering of the Supreme Court, leaving the door open for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and ensuring a deaf ear is turned to civil and human rights.
After a war, a Supreme Court justice is a president's most lasting legacy.
As usual, the best blogging on the hearings is to be found in Firedoglake.
ETA: Oh, boy. Bob Geiger picked up on something that I'd missed prior to this.
Ted Kennedy (D-MA) went after Alito primarily on his membership in the ultra-conservative Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) including reading a startling clipping from a 1984 edition of the organization's magazine that commented on AIDS research being done at that time on monkeys and said "Now that the scientists must find humans, or rather homosexuals, to submit themselves to experimental treatment. Perhaps Princeton's Gay Alliance may want to hold an election."
"Humans, or rather homosexuals." In a weird way, I admire them for just coming out and saying it. None of this "loving the sinner but hating the sin" crap. Just: "Humans, or rather homosexuals."
I find myself wanting to test Godwin's Law.
ETA, again: But you can also find some good reporting in Hullabaloo, where Digby wrote:
I think it's time for Ted Kennedy to haul some little girls who were strip searched in to testify. You wanna play? Bring it.
If you don't know to what he's referring, it's about one of Alito's more indefensible votes.
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