Loathsome

Loathsome, abhorrent, disgusting, hateful, indecent are apt descriptors of Democrats treatment of Judge Samuel Alito during the Senate’s advise-and- consent hearings.

Willisms noted that Senator Ted Kennedy's technique of guilt-by-association against Samuel Alito evokes a valid analogy to Joseph McCarthy, and quoted Robert Welch's famous rebuke to Joseph McCarthy in 1954:

Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

Completely in character, Ted Kennedy loathfully attempted to assassinate Sam Alito's character by charging him with responsibility for every statement made by Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP).

KENNEDY: You had indicated in your '85 job application that you were a member of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy and a member of the Concerned Alumni at Princeton University. And you said yesterday that you wracked your memory about the issue and really had no specific recollection of the organization; is that correct?

ALITO: I have no specific recollection of joining the organization.

KENNEDY: You called CAP a "conservative alumni group." It also published a publication called Prospect, which includes articles by CAP members about the policies that the organization promoted. You're familiar with that?

ALITO: I don't recall seeing the magazine. I might have seen...

KENNEDY: So a 1983 Prospect essay titled "In Defense of Elitism," stated, quote, "People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns, blacks and Hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and Hispanic. The physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports. And homosexuals are demanding the government vouchsafe them the right to bear children." Did you read that article?

But before Alito could respond Senator Feinstein loudly whispered to Kennedy:

FEINSTEIN: Finish the last line.

KENNEDY: "and homosexuals are...

FEINSTEIN: No, "And now here come women."

Having been straightened out by the Demo Diva, Kennedy continued.

KENNEDY: You didn't read that article?

ALITO: I feel confident that I didn't, Senator, because I would not have anything to do with statements of that nature.

KENNEDY: Well, I have to say that Judge Alito -- that his explanations about the membership in this, sort of, radical group, and why you listed it on your job application, are extremely troubling.

So what about that “radical group” that Kennedy finds so troubling? National Review Online editor Kathy Lopez interviewed former CAP board member and National Review editor William Rusher.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What was your involvement in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton?

William A. Rusher: In or about 1972, I was asked to be on the board of the newly formed CAP. I remained on it for a few years.

Lopez: What was Concerned Alumni of Princeton?

Rusher: CAP was exactly what its name implied: a group of alumni who were concerned over various liberal tendencies that had developed in the Princeton administration in recent years. Naturally, the University administration wasn't happy about our existence.

Lopez: Was it racist and or sexist? Anti-gay? Ted Kennedy read a pretty bad-sounding quote from its publication today.

Rusher: CAP was none of the things Senator Kennedy is smearing it as being: anti-black, etc. Since Alito apparently had next to no involvement with CAP, Kennedy is trying to give CAP the worst possible reputation, in the hope that some of that will rub off on Judge Alito.

Back at the hearings, several Democrats in Kennedyesque style continued the character assassination of Judge Alito until Senator Lindsey Graham could stand it no longer.

GRAHAM: Now, this organization (CAP) that was mentioned very prominently earlier in the day, did you ever write an article for this organization?

ALITO: No, I did not.

GRAHAM: OK. And some quotes were shown, from people who did write for this organization, that you disavowed. Do you remember that exchange?

ALITO: I disavow them. I deplore them. They represent things that I have always stood against and I can't express too strongly...

GRAHAM: I'm going to be very honest with you. How have you lived your life? Are you really a closet bigot?

ALITO: I'm not any kind of a bigot, I'm not.

GRAHAM: No, sir, you're not. And you know why I believe that? Because you seem to be a decent, honorable man. I have got reams of quotes from people who have worked with you. Glowing quotes about who you are, the way you've lived your life; law clerks, men and women, black and white, your colleagues who say that Sam Alito, whether I agree with him or not, is a really good man.

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.

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.

Sitting behind her husband, Mrs. Alito began to cry quietly and soon had to leave the room.

Senator Graham continued.

GRAHAM: The last thing I'm going to read -- do you know Cathy Fleming?

ALITO: I do. She was an attorney and supervisor in the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey.

Cathy Fleming wrote:

I'm a lifelong Democrat. I am the president-elect of a national women's bar association. I chaired the corporate integrity and the white collar crime group at a national law firm.I do not speak on behalf of either my law firm or the women's bar association. I speak for myself only. But, by providing my credentials as an outspoken women's rights advocate and liberal-minded criminal defense attorney, I hope you will appreciate the significance of my unqualified and enthusiastic recommendation of Sam Alito for the Supreme Court.Sam possesses the best qualities for judges. He's thoughtful; he's brilliant; he's measured; he's serious; and he's conscious of the awesome responsibilities imposed by his position.I cannot think of better qualities for a Supreme Court justice. It is my fervent hope that politics will not prevent this extraordinary, capable candidate from serving as associate justice on the United States Supreme Court.

GRAHAM: I share her hope.

Senator Kennedy, Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?