Pull the Other One, Leahy
Democrat Senator Leahy, along with Senators Durbin and Kennedy, and a few others, are saying they oppose Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States because they are worried about his views on the power of the executive branch.
I watched almost all of the hearings. OK, half-watched. But my ears perked up for most of when they discussed this topic, and Alito gave the best answers possible: while refusing to comment on specifics of what Bush has done (as required by judicial ethics), he said he would use the Constitution as his guide, and if the President had a power granted by the Constitution, he wouldn't prevent him from exercising it, but that otherwise, Congress had the authority to limit the executive's power. What better answer can there be?
And it's not inconsistent with his record, either, as he has shown time and again he is willing to check the power of the executive.
I can't help but think there is simply no way the Democrats giving this line actually believe it. They are merely trying to score political points by lying about what they really think. And the ill-informed citizenry we have will buy it, hook, line, and sinker.
I watched almost all of the hearings. OK, half-watched. But my ears perked up for most of when they discussed this topic, and Alito gave the best answers possible: while refusing to comment on specifics of what Bush has done (as required by judicial ethics), he said he would use the Constitution as his guide, and if the President had a power granted by the Constitution, he wouldn't prevent him from exercising it, but that otherwise, Congress had the authority to limit the executive's power. What better answer can there be?
And it's not inconsistent with his record, either, as he has shown time and again he is willing to check the power of the executive.
I can't help but think there is simply no way the Democrats giving this line actually believe it. They are merely trying to score political points by lying about what they really think. And the ill-informed citizenry we have will buy it, hook, line, and sinker.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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