Glum Democrats Can't See Halting Bush on Courts - New York Times

Glum Democrats Can't See Halting Bush on Courts - New York Times:

If this view is representative of the thinking of Democrats when dealing with Supreme Court nominees, that it's all political drama made for media, rather than a concerted effort to seriously question candidates proposed by a President, they deserve to be glum losers.

"Several Democrats expressed frustration over what they saw as the Republicans outmaneuvering them by drawing attention to an episode Wednesday when Judge Alito's wife, Martha-Ann, began crying as her husband was being questioned. That evening, senior convened at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Democratic senate aides stunned at the realization that the pictures of a weeping Mrs. Alito were being broadcast across the nation - as opposed to, for example, images of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, pressing Judge Alito about his membership in an alumni club that resisted affirmative action efforts.

'Had she not cried, we would have won that day,' said one Senate strategist involved in the hearings, who did not want to be quoted by name discussing the Democrats' problems. 'It got front-page attention. It was on every local news show.'"

Here's more drivel from TIME Magazine. I can't believe Democrats think that because Alito's wife cried and left the hearing room is why they lost the confirmation battle. Let them continue to think that way and they will only prove that those who do are consigned to history's dust bin.

"Any points the Dems scored were erased by Alito's wife Martha-Ann, who broke down in tears as the questioning of her husband grew increasingly personal. Her emotional reaction sealed her husband's victory--but the Dems had other reasons to fight on."