The conservative punditry mounted a concerted campaign against the President to force the withdrawal of Harriet Miers from consideration for the Supreme Court. Now that they have the type of nominee they fervently hoped for in Judge Alito, do they man the guns and target the lame Senate for quick approval? Hardly.
David Frum of the National Review Online, who was one of the most vocal opponents of Miers, makes optimistic predictions on Alito's confirmation, but little else. Frum bounces around the politics of the confirmation process while suggesting some off—the—wall negative consequences should Democrats in the Senate attempt to demonize Alito:
Nor will a campaign of character—assassination like that practiced against Clarence Thomas be practical here. Not only is Alito's record clean, but there are a lot of Italian—American voters in up—for—grabs Pennsylvania who will resent it.
Oh, yeah... I forgot about those Italian guys in Pennsylvania that will help the judge gain Senate approval. Speaking of the Senate, Frum places the burden entirely on Alito's shoulders to convince the so—called moderates to avoid a filibuster.
Besides which, in event of filibuster, personable, brilliant Judge Alito is exactly the kind of candidate who will embolden Republican moderates to join the rest of the party to vote for the constitutional option, a filibuster—override.
We don't need to be betting that Senate moderates will be emboldened by Alito's personality. We need the Gang of 14's legislative history, school term papers, voting patterns, and political philosophies to be broadcast in daily editorials and opinion pieces. In other words, we need conservative columnists to doggedly fight for Alito, just as they single—mindedly fought to sink Miers' nomination.
Puff pieces like this will not get it done. Battle stations, indeed.
Doug Hanson 11 01 05
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