Comments on: ODE Watch: Bush Invented Cronyism?

By: Andy D

Andy D — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 05:05:03 +0000

Spare the rod and spoil the child…

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 23:46:42 +0000

I dont know whether or not to always be pissed off at the ODE, or pity them. We all know that they will either be replacing Don on campus one day or selling joke books where Frog wasn did.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 23:57:48 +0000

The headline alone made me shake my head: Having a point of view — as a legal scholar no less — undermines objectivity … Riiiiight.

Note to ODE: Having a point of view, or a political ideology, is not the great ethical lapse you think it is. It also does not mean that a person holds fringe beliefs (unless they do, but that has nothing to do with political labels).

Either the ODE is completely naive or they’re playing a game of gotcha. Either way, their editorial made me roll my eyes so hard I busted a number of capillaries.

By: Olly

Olly — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 22:21:29 +0000

…paid very little and live exreemly stressful lives which will consume them in older years into bitter, mumbling morons…Um, did anyone else get kind of a shudder of recognition reading that, or was it just me?

By: Olly

Olly — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:45:10 +0000

Also, I loveJudges are not supposed to have views that put them on either side of the party line.Yes, they’re supposed to have led distinguished careers and reached positions of prominence in a system based on political appointments without displaying any affiliation to a political party. Not asking too much there, ODE.

By: Olly

Olly — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:40:38 +0000

Wasn’t Ginsburg’s nomination the first time it was expressly made acceptable for a nominee to just duck certain questions?

The issue with Alito isn’t whether or not he’s a conservative; it’s whether or not he’s qualified. There doesn’t seem to be much doubt on that score. (As there wasn’t with Ginsburg, I think.)

By: newguy

newguy — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:53:25 +0000

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I’ve seen this “you got your Ginsburg, why can’t we have our Alito” arguement several times. It’s unfair to Ginsburg, she never hedged about what she believed on abortion (or much of anything else). The anoying thing about Alito is that he won’t say who he is and what he believes and then fight the good fight. Why does every conservative judge hide behind obscure stealth mesages to the conservative base? Aren’t we the majority?

By: Danimal

Danimal — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:47:49 +0000

Seems this is all traceable to Ailee Slater helming the editorial page. Appoint one of your dullard columnists to run the show and this is what you get.

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:53:35 +0000

Alito is not an old friend of George W. Bush.
In my haste I forgot to mention this. From what I understand they had barely known each other before the process began.

By: Casey

Casey — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:21:42 +0000

Hell of a job Brownie.

By: WWB

WWB — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:53:13 +0000

Pardon, ODE? Alito is not an old friend of George W. Bush. And even if the future Texas president and longtime New Jersey judge had crossed paths, he is not a “crony” in the sense of Harriet Miers, or Don Evans, or the McClellan brothers, or many other of his appointed officials.

As for cronyism in U.S. politics, the spoils system goes back to Andrew Jackson. And while it would be foolish to remind the ODE which political party he started, their accounting of cronyism should at least include President Clinton’s importing of his Arkansas pals to the White House (a couple of whom later did prison time, or arguably should have).