Graham Voiced fear Alito is a bigot. He Made Mrs. Alito Cry!

[Catrina]

I had not seen the Alito hearings but I heard the exchange between Sen. L. Graham and Judge Alito on the radio, and decided that when he, Graham, asked Judge Alito 'are you a bigot', he was voicing his own concerns, and it was that, that caused Mrs. Alito to break down in tears and to leave the room.

Democrats should have leapt to their feet, and indeed Republicans also, to object to the question since the question itself, seen in soundbites on television news without the context of the hearings, created an impression that had in no way been established.

That's how it sounded on the radio. That's how I decided to interpret what I heard.

It was Lindsey Graham who made Mrs. Alito cry!!

I know, however, that it is more than likely that the whole display was staged. A dirty trick that was risky and could easily have backfired had Democratic operatives (are there any) had immediately reacted and framed it as I described above. Instead, rightwing operatives (and we know they exist) were prepared, together with their collaborators in the media to frame it as planned.

When will Democrats learn to watch every move of these people? And be ready to take their own tricks and turn them against them?

Deception has no place in the people's business, but it has become par for the course on a daily basis since this criminal administration took over the country in 2000. Which is why, the minute the leering Sen. Graham uttered the word 'bigot' in his address to Judge Alito, it should have set off alarm bells immediately.

It is reminiscent of the CBS AWOL conspiracy to cover up George Bush's desertion from the TANG. Their MO is always the same. Create confusion around an issue they want to blur in the minds of the American people, then fake outrage at the 'crime' they create, and of course, enlist the help of their collaborators at CNN, MSNBC, FOX, et al, along with the various rabidly rightwing Internet boards and sleazy political groups who are ready and waiting to get the word out as fast as possible.

None of it would succeed without a compicit media. Therefore, the opposition party has to be always ready. Their tricks are childish, for the most part. They're not all that difficult to detect. But it takes a rapid response to foil them, and had Dems jumped up and pointed fingers of shame at Lindsey Graham, this whole incident would have backfired.

Maybe having spent a few years engaging the rabid right online, gives us an edge and has taught us to be always on the lookout for their childish tricks and ready to slap them down immediately.

One such successful incident occurred when rabid, hatemonger Jeanne Schmidt volunteered to be the 'outraged patriot' during the Murtha hearings. This was the same MO, but it backfired, when Obama jumped up and voices of outrage were heard over the air, Schmidt will forever be remembered as the dupe who volunteered for one of their more sleazy dirty tricks, the sliming of another US veteran. That is how Democrats should always react, imo.



The opposition needs to be ready to POUNCE when they try their dirty tricks.

[pacalo]

1. Too much is being made of Mrs. Alito’s tears

& too little is being said about the fact that she shouldn’t have been sitting there while her husband was being rightfully scrutinized (but not nearly enough) for a lifetime appointment that could affect not only right-wing fundamentals, bigots, & CEOs, but every American’s lives.

She sat there the first day, in every camera shot of her husband, with that silly smile on her face as examples of her husband’s decisions were being questioned: the strip search of a 10-year-old girl & the eviction of an unarmed family of dairy farmers from their home by armed federal marshals. I didn’t see any tears of compassion for them from Mrs. Alito -- I only saw that ridiculous fixed smile on her face.

Alito’s wife shouldn’t have been there. We all have a right to know everything about a man who could be in a position to change our lives for better or worse.

From what I’ve heard, the Democrats had better filibuster.

[flordehinojos]

2. if you watch the CNN video of the martha's tears, you'll see her lips

saying YES to graham's question, "are you a closet bigot?" -- it happens in the first four seconds of the video.

[pacalo]

3. Do you have a link?

It wasn't included on the CNN video page. Thanks.

[flordehinojos]

6. here is a link ...

i hope it works ...
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/politics/2006/01/11/sot.graham.alito.wife.crying.cnn

:)

[Catrina]

5. I haven't seen any video but would love to see that

It wouldn't surprise me at all. I remember, after the Abu Ghraib hearings, I had a little hope that Lindsey Graham was beginning to see what he was a part of. He saw the pictures that we didn't see yet. He told Cheney to let 'the committee do its job. We are talking about rape, and murder here' he said, when Cheney tried to dismiss the torture. He seemed to have found his conscience, he appeared to be horrified and we know that children were tortured, on film, and he saw that.

How can he now promote this man, after hearing the testimony about that little girl? What kind of country approves of such abuse of children? I was wrong, he may have been appalled by what he saw but it seems he's recovered and he's on board with the torturers and the fascists. And that is NOT hyperbole. The neocons have written about fascism. They have said, Michael Ledeen has said that Fascism is good, it just wasn't 'done right' the last time.

The issue to me, really isn't her, or Alito, it's the propaganda, the way everything is twisted with the help of the media, to make these people, who hate everything that makes this country what it is, look good.

I'd like to ask Mrs. Alito why she didn't cry for that little girl that her husband failed to protect. Worse, he made it possible for other little girls to be similarly abused, and there were no tears from her then. And she has a daughter! These people are despicable.

[flordehinojos]

7. i really think martha a. knows full well the sort of second rate man her

husband is. i have no idea what her life is like, or what her life accomplishments are ... but when she sat there, and sat there, and sat there with that never ending, never changing smile, (except for that brief outburst of tears--which i think had to do more with what her subconscious responses to graham's questioning of her husband had revealed and her own realization of what she had done--)i really thought that she was someone who had nothing very meaningful to offer about her own life, except, perhaps, for basking in the glory of whatever her husband had done with his life. in other words, she seemed to be basking in the republican moment of glory of samuel alito--but seemed to have no glory of her own to bask about in. but for what it is worth, here again is a link to the CNN vide--which i hope works.

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/politics/2006/01/11/sot.graham.alito.wife.crying.cnn

as for lindsey graham ... perhaps it would be good for him to know the words of socrates:
"I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom and observed..he was a politician whom i selected for examination--and the result was as follows: when i began to talk with him, i could not help thinking that he was not really wise,
although he was thought wise by many, and still wiser by himself; and thereupon i tried to explain to him that he thought that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared by several who were present and heard me..."

and i think the above paragraph describes beautifully and to a tee what lindsey graham, sam alito, george, jeb and poppy bush and the rest of the neoconists are all about: ignorance, hot air, and lots of arrogant self admiration...and how could i forget lust for greed, blood, and oil, as well.

you, like so many of the rest of us in the country are on to them, and they don't seem to know or care that we are on to them, and in the instances when they have peered into our knowing what they are about, they hate our collective knowledge of them as being nothing but shams, and in the case of george, jeb and poppy bush they persecute us and now that they have their man alito sitting in the supreme court along with scalia and the rest of those they have seated there, they are going to persecute us even more--just give it a little bit of time--and we will all begin the undeniable hard and harsh iron fist of the bushes' police state.

[Catrina]

8. Great post, and very appropriate Socrates quote

I totally agree with your insight into the minds of these shallow, ignorant, greedy ambitious men. They have always been there, throughout history.

Strange how nothing really changes. Just as Socrates was despised for his wisdom, so are those who exhibit any wisdom today.

What astounds me is that when we read history, we recognize them easily, but when we come face to face with them again, they are not identified immediately and stopped. I suppose I thought we had learned enough from history, that if they should surface again, they would be seen for what they were.

This administration seems to have gathered all the 'evildoers' who escaped justice in the Iran Contra and Watergate affairs and put them back in power. I can't help feeling that they are on a mission to exact revenge for the past.

The country moved on from those scandals, unaware that they were lurking in the shadows, never having given up, just waiting for an oportunity to grab enough power to exact their revenge and at the same time put their mad plans of world domination into effect. George Bush was their choice of puppet, and I firmly believe they cheated, and schemed to get that power, and they will fight furiously to keep it.

You may be right that persecution of those who see them for what they are, is very likely. We can see the signs already ~

Otoh though, it's as though this was necessary to burst the bubble ~ a final confrontation, maybe. People like Michael Ledeen, a truly evil and psychotic man, together with his arms dealer friends, Cheney, Rumsfeld, all can be traced back to either the Nixon administration, or the Iran Contra affair. It's stunning, their arrogance and hubris. You would think that having escaped justice before, they would not tempt fate again.

But as far as them staging an event such as the 'crying on cue' of Alito's wife, that is more than believable when you understand these people.

[raysr]

4. Hey, I'll take the rap

I made her cry, what'd you stupid repukes gonna do about it? That's what I thought, fuck you.