The nomination of Judge Samuel Alito by President Bush is seen as Bush “caving into the radical right wing” as some journalists have faithfully stuck with reporting facts instead of opinionating a news story. What though is radical about a judge who was unanimously supported in 1980 by a Democratic Senate? I suppose things have changed in 25 years, and we the American public are led to believe Alito is the only one who has changed and not the lifeblood of the Democratic Party.

Nevertheless, below are some quotes from top Democratic leaders regarding the nomination of Alito. For the record, I don’t exactly share Mac’s excitement over this nomination, but that’s because I don’t know him and I don’t see the role of a Supreme Court Justice as a politica role unlike both political parties do today.

Washington Post -

“Immediately after the announcement, the liberal activist organization People for the American Way announced the launch of a “massive national effort” to prevent Alito’s confirmation.”

Senator Harry Reid -

“The Senate needs to find out if the man replacing Miers is too radical for the American people,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. He chided Bush for not nominating the first Hispanic to the court.

“President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club,” Reid said (source)

Senator Schumer’s odd remarks drawing comparisons with the late Rosa Parks -

A preliminary review of his record raises real questions about Judge Alito’s judicial philosophy and his commitment to civil rights, workers’ rights, women’s rights, the rights of average Americans which the courts have always looked out for.

Now, it’s sad that the president felt he had to pick a nominee likely to divide America instead of choosing a nominee in the mold of Sandra Day O’Connor who would unify us.

America needs unity now. America needs reaching out to one another more than ever. But the president seems to want to hunker down in his bunker and is more concerned about smoothing the ruffled feathers of the extreme wing of his party than about governing all of America and changing history for the better (source)

Senator Ted Kennedy -

“Rather than selecting a nominee for the good of the nation and the court, President Bush has picked a nominee whom he hopes will stop the massive hemorrhaging of support on his right wing. This is a nomination based on weakness, not strength.” — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass. [ed. ]

Did anyone expect Teddy to support anyone Bush nominated? Furthermore, I’ve seen no hemorrhaging other than the veins on Kennedy’s forehead responding to his fury.

Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL-Pro Choice America -

“Now the gauntlet has been, I think, thrown down. It was humiliating, it was degrading and it’s a profound and distributing view of Judge Alito that he would uphold spousal notification as he did in the Pennsylvania case, and it raises concerns about his views of women.” —

The spousal notification was in the 1990 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey where Alito was the only dissenter on the court. Alito argued at the time “[t]he Pennsylvania legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands’ knowledge because of perceived problems–such as economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands’ previously expressed opposition–that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion.” Expect this case to be the rallying cry among the opposition saying simple notification to a husband is an attack on women’s rights but not on men’s rights, as if the millions of men in the United States feel we should just be ejectors and nothing more when it comes to parenting.

I was not going to comment on blogger reactions, but a post by Josh Silver at The Huffington Post is too good to pass up.

The dog is being wagged…. again. During last week’s White House tailspin, Karl Rove knew he had to regain control of the media and turn the discussion away from 2,000 dead soldiers, Miers, Libby and Rove himself.

Today’s nomination of Judge Samuel Alito is another well-timed volley in Rove’s five-year effort to turn the mainstream media agenda to Bush’s favor.

Now what’s even more funny is that Silver is the Executive Editor of Free Press, a so-called “national, nonpartisan organization . . . to engage citizens in media policy debates and create a more democratic and diverse media system.” In other words, he should actually know something about both politics and the media unlike the bulk of the Huffpo celebrities. Someone needs to send Silver, for that matter just about every single media organization, the indictment again to show Rove was not mentioned nor was there even a crime before the investigation started. No outing of a covert agent ever occured, and thanks to the brave media, Rove hasn’t been able to persuade the institution to follow his agenda. Heh.

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator linked with Bush Picks Alito for Supreme Court
Wizbang linked with The Alito Nomination In Quotes