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The Alito Battle

Nice column by John Podhoretz on the politics of the Alito confirmation:

No war, but a lot of ugliness. For example, it took only two hours for the anti-Alito rhetoric to overheat, courtesy of New York's own Sen. Chuck Schumer. He decided, in a pretty amazing display of bad taste, to use the late Rosa Parks' corpse as a weapon.

"The real question today is whether Judge Alito would use his seat on the bench, just as Rosa Parks used her seat on the bus, to change history for the better or whether he would use that seat to reverse much of what Rosa Parks and so many others fought so hard and for so long to put in place," Schumer said.

I happened to catch that live, by the way. As disgusting a piece of rhetoric as I've ever seen, wrapped up in some decent acting. Which is to say, Schumer kept a straight face while whinging lying through his teeth speechifying. As Podhoretz concludes:

Barring some shocking revelation, Alito is in by Christmas.

Chuck Schumer, however, will have to wait until next Yom Kippur to seek atonement for the sin he committed yesterday.

Ann Althouse also has a column on Alito today.

Captain Ed provides some background on the smear currently going around, that Alito purposefully lost a case involving some mafioso, which allowed them to be released. It turns out this is Democrat talking points, straight from the DNC, which was proved by the company holding the license for the copy of Word that created the document is -- the DNC. And by the two authors of the piece, both of whom work there.

Here's the transcript of the document.

Meanwhile, Althouse has the story about the rumor going around that Alito is actually Jewish, or of Jewish origin. Seemingly based on the incongruity of an Italian being named Samuel.

posted by Alcibiades @ 8:56 AM