Posted by Andy
It’s not that the Democrats don’t like Judge Alito. They like him a lot. As Senator Schumer so accurately observed, they went into the hearings with completely open minds, no idea how they would end up voting. But now they are “troubled.” Judge Alito’s views are “disturbing,” and they find that they have many, many “concerns.” The New York Times is troubled too. Judge Alito subscribes to “troubling views” about executive powers. He has said “some truly disturbing things about his view of the law.” His “extraodinary praise of Judge Bork” is “unsettling,” given Judge Bork’s “radical legal views.” His membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton “is also deeply troubling.” His dissent from a ruling “by two Reagan-appointed judges” in a mine safety case “is especially troubling.” And his over-all testimony “should trouble moderate Republicans as well.”
The health of the body politic is not well served when its great newspaper of record and almost half the Senate, not counting frightened moderate Republicans, are effectively disabled by seriously troubled minds. Looking ahead to Judge Alito’s confirmation, which seems quite possible, a bunch of us political care-givers are organizing a volunteer corps of trouble counselors, with the aim of providing at least some measure of closure (not cloture). Contributions may be sent to savethementalhealthof thesenateandthenewyorktimes.org. In the words of the old African-American song, which Judge Alito has not yet succeeded in suppressing, Trouble in mind, I’m blue, but I won’t be always. Sun’s gonna shine in my back door some day….