Countdown Newsletter -- 1/12/06: Senatorial Song & Dance

[Patsy Stone]

------------------------------------------------------
Tonight on Countdown
------------------------------------------------------

As questioning of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito resumed Thursday following some raw emotion a day earlier - two senators in a testy exchange and Alito's wife bursting into tears - a senior Senate Democrat told NBC News that the hearings serve no purpose and should be replaced with a straight up or down vote on the nominee. "The system's kind of broken," Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., told NBC's "Today" show. He defended the type of questions that apparently unnerved Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Bomgardner, who briefly left the hearings in tears shortly after Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham told Alito, "I am sorry that you've had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10818490/
Honestly, it is so interesting when Republicans and Democrats, both of which abuse the process, then get righteous about it.

President Bush is making his first visit in three months to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, where, his chief of staff says, there is still "great need - indescribable need." Andy Card said the Thursday trip to New Orleans and Mississippi was for Bush to see progress there firsthand and personally restate his commitment to rebuilding. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10816346/

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

James Frey and the publishing world can relax a little: Oprah isn't angry. For days, Frey has been intensely criticized - and defended - over allegations that his best-selling memoir of addiction, "A Million Little Pieces," was far from the candid self-portrait that he, his publisher and Winfrey had claimed it to be. But until she made a surprise call Wednesday night to CNN's "Larry King Live," Winfrey, who selected the book for her book club, had maintained a suspenseful silence. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10809836/

Ultimatum by an Ohio company to its employees: either quit smoking or leave. While that may seem unduly harsh to smokers, it does not to those who support preventive health care and lower medical costs. Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. is not the first employer to try to control rising medical costs by targeting smokers, but it's one of the largest. http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060102/OPINION02/601010302

Meet the latest children's author, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and his Portuguese Water Dog, Splash, his co-protagonist in "My Senator and Me: A Dogs-Eye View of Washington, D.C." Scholastic Inc. will release the book in May. "I am very excited about the opportunity to create a book for young readers and their families that will deepen their understanding of how our American government works," Kennedy said in a statement Monday issued by Scholastic. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10774725/

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
An 11-year-old boy had a lingering headache two days after a pickup truck ran over his head. "All I remember about it was that when the truck ran over my head, I could hear my bones crack," Cameron Schuette said. Cameron, a 5th-grader and his 13-year-old brother Tyler were helping their grandfather chop and load wood on Sunday. The boys were sitting on the tailgate of their grandfather's truck when he began backing down his gravel driveway and Cameron either fell or jumped off. Ron Shurley said he at first thought he ran over a piece of wood until he got out of the truck and saw Cameron lying face down in the gravel. "He didn't look too worse for wear," Shurley said. "He was just saying he had a headache." http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RUN_OVER_SURVIVOR?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
The hard-headed kid is doing fine.

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was held for more than three years as an "enemy combatant," pleaded not guilty Thursday to criminal charges alleging he was part of a secret network that supported violent Muslim extremists around the world. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10821194/

The British, French and German foreign ministers said Thursday that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program had reached a "dead end" and the Islamic republic should be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10803220/

No survivors were found on board a military jet that crashed in northwest Georgia, the Air Force confirmed Thursday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10817600/

The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released from prison Thursday after serving more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10814217/

The Bush administration has opened nearly half a million acres of federal land in northeastern Alaska to oil drilling - a move blasted by environmentalists but praised by industry, which notes the area is in a long-designated petroleum reserve. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10819895/

Bode Miller apologized Thursday for his comments about skiing and drinking during a televised interview, regretting the "confusion and pain" he caused. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10820499/

A South African anthropologist said Thursday his research into the death nearly 2 million years ago of an ape-man shows human ancestors were hunted by birds. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10819471/

[gkhouston]

1. the hearings wouldn't be dysfunctional if the committee

actually expected the nominee to answer the questions. The bullshit I was hearing this morning was along the lines of "if you're a sitting judge you can't answer such questions and if you're a nominee you can't answer such questions". So we're just supposed to buy a pig in a poke and give it a life-time appointment? Bzzt!

[Patsy Stone]

2. Apparently

it used to be that there were no hearings at all. The Senate would debate the nominee and that was that. At least this way, IMHO, you get to look at the person's eyes and face. I don't have a problem with someone not answering the questions, because I don't want a judge who's pre-decided anything.

Question:

If Roberts thinks Roe is settled law, and Alito isn't saying it is or it isn't, isn't that the same as Rehnquist and O'Connor? Or, another way of putting it, I'm not sure if this tips the court against Roe. Wouldn't Alito cancel out Rehnquist and Roberts cancel out O'Connor, putting the court at a 5-4 again?

[SharonRB]

3. I was thinking about that very thing earlier.

We may have Roberts' vote and not need Alito's.

[bunny planet]

4. I think it's a major concern for the Republicans as well. They cannot be

seen as the party that ends Roe v. Wade. Unless they are crazy and don't think they need to win elections anymore....

Oh wait.

[Patsy Stone]

6. That's right.

It's too good a product to sell fear with. They can't afford discontinue it.

[gkhouston]

7. this isn't just about Roe

let's face it, they can keep gutting Roe without explicitly overturning it, and I fully expect Alito would sign up for that. Alito's tendency to favor government and business at the expense of individuals is also Very Bad, and his views on executive privilege are positively terrifying. Roe pales in comparison, ladies, when it comes to the harm he could do vis a vis executive privilege, IMO. And he's an unprincipled little shit with a very narrow and unimaginative view of the world. Roberts is far to the right but does appear to be genuinely thoughtful. I expect that he would understand that an innocent person should have a Constitutional right not to be executed.

[crispini]

8. Yeah, for some reason there was something about Roberts

that I kind of liked. I don't know why. Maybe it's because he seems to be an uber-big-brain with a wicked sense of humor (that memo about the china patterns just cracked me up).

This one, though.... sigh... I hope they at least cough it up and filibuster for awhile.

[gkhouston]

9. what memo about china patterns? n/t

[crispini]

10. From Wonkette...

Queer Eye for the Gipper Guy
An alert Wonkette operative draws our attention to Judge John Roberts' gay-tastic-ness: He was a total snob about china patterns. Confusingly, both the moonbatty NPR's Nina Totenberg and the wingnuttier Washington Times picked up the story. Apparently, Roberts -- in his capacity as guardian of the Reagan legacy against pasty-faced moonwalking freaks (he doth protest too much?) and tacky Branson-bound collector's items -- advised the president's counsel to withhold the endorsement of "a new china pattern that the Boehm Porcelain Co. was selling." Wrote Roberts, "This would not only contravene established White House policy concerning endorsement of commercial products, but also, given this particular pattern, call into serious question the president's taste in dinner service." Roberts then flounced into the President's residence and started throwing out wire hangers. "Don't get me started on the shoulder pads, girlfriend!" he screamed, before making a flying tackle to wipe the rouge off of Nancy's cheeks.

totally made me LOL.....

original at: http://www.wonkette.com/politics/supposedly-gay-republicans/index.php
you'll have to scroll down a bit

[gkhouston]

11. LOL, thanks! n/t

[bunny planet]

5. Gawd, the blivet is such a disgrace. Words are just inadequate to describe

how repulsive and reprehensible he is. 'It's a heck of a place to bring your families,'???????????????
WTF