here comes your man

The Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito were a complete charade. This week, the Republican Senators found new ways to lick Alito's asshole while the Democrats nit-picked on minutia from Alito's 20-year old resume.

Both parties missed the entire point of the hearings by turning it into a dramatic episode filled with arguing Senators (Kennedy vs. Spector), crying spouses (Martha-Ann Bomgardner) and long-winded diatribes posing as questions (Biden and DeWine).

Of course these hearings always come down to the abortion issue. Somehow I don't think the Supreme Court will overturn Roe. But if they do, count on massive protests in the streets. Look, I'm not saying Roe is not important. But I think liberals for the most part use that issue as a scare tactic. Just look how desperate Schumer and Feinstein are to get Alito to say "I will not overturn Roe". He won't do it. Lost cause. Move on.

But there is a lot more at stake than just abortion. I'm more concerned about Alito's views on executive power and the Constitution. Especially with a president who says things like this:

If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator. -- December 18, 2000

As much as I think the Senate & the House are a bunch of pork-addicted old farts who need to be put out to pasture, I’m not going to relinquish their power to a guy who gets his foreign policy advice from "God"...for all we know it could be Zeus or even Satan.

Alito will rubber stamp Bush's authority to do whatever he wants. Want to invade Iran without Congressional approval? Sure! Want to use your wartime powers to spy on citizens without a warrant? Sure. Want to torture detainees even though you signed the anti-torture statute? No problem!

Alito has espoused a liking of unitary executive theory, here explained by Justice Clarence Thomas in his dissent in the Hamdi case:

Congress, to be sure, has a substantial and essential role in both foreign affairs and national security. But it is crucial to recognize that judicial interference in these domains destroys the purpose of vesting primary responsibility in a unitary Executive.

Unitary executive theory would allow Bush to play all three branches of government at once:

The unitary executive doctrine, in its mildest form, claims only that the President has the power to appoint, control, and remove executive officers, as well as the duty to interpret the law as it applies to his office.

Father knows best, always.

So to recap, the Supreme Court confirmation hearings don't mean a damn thing. If a guy who sexually harassed his subordinates and placed his pubic hairs on their cola cans was confirmed, then basically anyone can be a Supreme Court Justice.