Alito Shuffle

[ans]

The midterm elections begin today, or so the Democratic Party hopes. And party activists might be right about that. The Alito nomination might crystallize public unease with the Bush administration and give Democrats a rare consistent theme to campaign on in the fall. But don't bet on it.



Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has already demonstrated the problem for Democrats: She sounded like Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) in making the case that government is too untrustworthy to let one party control the House, Senate, and White House. She does not really believe that, and voters know it. And even thought Democrats are trying to broaden their differences with Sam Alito and the Bush administration beyond abortion and to the domestic spying scandal, that does quite ring true either. It was some career government official who blew the whistle on the warrantless searches by the NSA, not the loyal Democratic opposition.



Most of all, the focus on the question of presidential power gives Alito the opportunity to draw a distinction between his position and that of the lawyers in the Bush Justice Department--assuming there is one. That could leave him essentially agreeing with Democrats on some points, thereby disarming the issue and showing his independence. But that remains to be seen. The actual questioning of Alito, as opposed to the boilerplate opening statements, will have to tease that out, not to mention comprise the first big political fight of the new year.



www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne...E&refer=us

[DreamTone7]

...anything but the mudsling-fest of Bush and Kerry.

[ans]

I honestly don't know where the dems can go from here.







Dude seems a shoo-in