Adieu, Civil Liberties

It looks like, unless someone in the greater Senate grows some balls, we will have Justice Samuel Alito. Adieu, civil liberties. Once again, the brilliant evasion tactic worked to sell America a pig in a poke.

Even more disgusting than the Republican blockers were the Democratic bloviators. Of all the Senators participating in this verbal circle jerk, only two spoke less than the appointee. Enamoured with establishing positions and the sound of their own voices, they never once held Alito to task by asking him to prove with his writings that his opinions over the years have changed.

Yes, I allow for the change of ideas over the years. I was once a Reagan Republican myself before the Party of Lincoln sold its soul to the neocons. To tell the truth, I'm not a great fan of the neolibs, either, the Ted Kennedys and the Hillary Clintons and the Howard Deans, those without a position or a soul or direction. I'm a fan of Ken Salazar, a Democrat who is not ashamed of his positions and who can allow the other side to have a good idea. I'm a fan of John McCain, a Republican who is not ashamed of his position and who can allow the other side to have a good idea. I hope both have the integrity to vote against Alito on one point: He responded to his job interview questions by attempting to evade them. Telling about him are the questions he chose not to answer.

And I'm forced to agree with Joseph Biden: The confirmation process is broken. Committee hearings are useless. The one side runs interference, the other side attempts character asassination and self-agrandizement and the appointee blithely refuses to answer any questions other than those that put him or her in a positive light and neither side has the courage to call the appointee on their evasions. Robert Bork would have been confirmed under the modern process simply because he would have evaded the tough questions using the stock answer, I might have to rule on that. So put the appointee directly on the floor of the Senate, no cameras, no microphones, just the appointee's record, their writings and the evidence of their biases and vote or filibuster or maneuver procedurally but stop the circus called confirmation hearings. They serve no purpose if the appointee doesn't answer questions and the Senators don't call the appointee to task for it.

And let's stop pretending Alito isn't biased. He is, he has been as far back as we have written record of him, he's an arch-conservative, he will vote against Roe v. Wade and for the big guy over the common man every chance he gets. It's his history and I don't expect him to change. He will work to crown the President king, to gut affirmative action, to protect the right of the police to strip-search ten year olds. That's who he is. But then, everyone is biased so let's cut to the chase and identify the biases rather than couching them in legal niceties and Senatorial position statements and brilliant evasions. What we're getting might still suck but at least we'd know what it is we're getting.

Unless some Democrat grows balls or the female equivalent thereof, unless the Democrats stand united and unless a few Republicans are still statesman enough to know that the nuclear option is bad for everyone, say hello to Justice Alito and goodbye to your civil liberties.