California Conservative

I held off on saying anything regarding this nomination because I knew little about Samuel Alito. What I knew did not inspire me. What I knew came from the MSM.

It seemed everytime I saw Alito, or Alioto as Teddy would have it, on television he reminded me of what young folks used to call a “dweeb.” He has some peculiar mannerisms that the television camera seemed to focus on. There is an odd little twitch he does. There seemed too to be a sort of prissiness about him.

You know, it’s really funny, after watching the better part of two days of confirmation hearings, I saw very little of that. I am sure that it is just a coincidence those behaviors showed up so frequently on television prior to the hearings.

Then there was the membership in CAP, the Vanguard litigation and of course the “strip search of the ten year old girl” matter and much more. All of this got played like it was somehow credible. It was not the sort of thing that made me want to go out and spend a lot of energy doing my bit, insignificant though it may be, to boost this nomination.

Then I watched the hearings.

Samuel Alito has hands down one of the most facile legal minds I have ever seen. He knows the law, and more importantly, he understands its significance and how to apply it. All of this seems to be available at his fingertips. He responds to questions quickly and in depth. He shredded those senators who would try to bring him down. As was said in the movie The Untouchables, they brought knives to a gunfight.

The nominee dispatched their attacks on him with fairness and a sense of honor. He treated them with respect they did not deserve. His temperment was above reproach.

And perhaps above all, he was forthcoming. He answered the questions. Some of the questions were exceedingly stupid questions. Some of the questions were not questions at all but rather meandering pointless speeches like Biden’s. Some were hysterical attacks like Teddy’s (can you believe he named his dog “Splash”? But that’s another story.) Some were smarmy and mean like those of the esteemed Senator from Vermont.

And through it all Samuel Alito soldiered on with knowledge, wisdom, humility and good cheer.

This guy is going to make one hell of a great Supreme Court justice.

Posted by contributing blogger, Monterey John

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 at 11:42 am and is filed under Author: John Wilson, Judiciary, Op-Ed, Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.