Mark A. Kilmer (the weblog)

Mr. Justice Alito walked down the aisle in a black robe. No matter what was said or wasn’t by the President or anyone else, this will be remembered as a great night.

And Brit noted that Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nichols was absent for catastrophic succession purposes.

Cindy Sheehan was there, invited by Congressperson Lynn Woolsey (D-California). She tried to unfurl a banner in the gallery and she was forcibly removed in cuffs.

Faced with what I see happening with the various sects of wingnuts and moonbats, I was whistful when President Bush intoned: “In a system of two parties, two chambers, and two elected branches, there will always be differences and debate. But even tough debates can be conducted in a civil tone, and our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger.” The Democrats’ constituency demands, and the Democrats love to offer, hatred. We called it BushLied™ sometimes, but it is abhorrent hatred.

It’s about ending global tyranny, America’s great call, etc.

“Americans love our freedom, and we will fight to protect it.” “There is no peace in retreat, and there is no honor in retreat.”

And even some Dems – Kerry amongst them – afraid of the lilly-livered label, stood an politely applauded.

This could have been spoken to Jack Murtha:

With so much in the balance, those of us in public office have a duty to speak with candor. A sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq would abandon our Iraqi allies to death and prison … put men like bin Laden and Zarqawi in charge of a strategic country … and show that a pledge from America means little. Members of Congress: however we feel about the decisions and debates of the past, our Nation has only one option: We must keep our word, defeat our enemies, and stand behind the American military in its vital mission.

These words received a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle.

“America rejects the false comfort of isolationism. We are the Nation that saved liberty in Europe, and liberated death camps, and helped raise up democracies, and faced down an evil empire. Once again, we accept the call of history to deliver the oppressed, and move this world toward peace.

Liberating the death camps. That is a powerful image, and it does relate to the goals in the speech, but it is not a “date certain” statement, a precise goal to be achieved then we go about our business. That doesn’t play on the ears of the moral tone deaf.

We remain on the offensive against terror networks. We have killed or captured many of their leaders – and for the others, their day will come.

JFK promised the moon. President Reagan promised the end of communism.

Nothing new on Iraq, but he got in a good shot at the BushLied crowd: “Yet there is a difference between responsible criticism that aims for success, and defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure. Hindsight alone is not wisdom. And second-guessing is not a strategy.”

The tale of Marine Staff Sergeant Dan Clay, who died in Fallujah, was a powerful one, especially with his wife and parents on hand:

Marine Staff Sergeant Dan Clay was killed last month fighting the enemy in Fallujah. He left behind a letter to his family, but his words could just as well be addressed to every American. Here is what Dan wrote: “I know what honor is. It has been an honor to protect and serve all of you. I faced death with the secure knowledge that you would not have to…. Never falter! Don’t hesitate to honor and support those of us who have the honor of protecting that which is worth protecting.”

That is a response to Cindy Sheehan and those who would support her. And on the night when Cindy Sheehan disgraced herself and her son’s memory, Dan Clay’s family received the gratitude of the chamber. Sustained gratitude.

The rest of this was fine as far as he went, but he had to call these people out. Identify and isolate them. If he managed that, the speech will be a success.

He should have been stronger on Iran. And his spending promises, “federal commitments,” are what we can expect from this not-so-fiscally-conservative President.

All in all, it was a better speech than I expected. For a SOTU, I thought it very good.

I’ve liveblogged it in the past, but not tonight. The expectations among several Republicans from I’ve heard have been low, and I’ve seen nothing to convince me otherwise. We’ll be looking for a memorable line, while the Dems will be looking for something they can take out of context and use against him, a la 1987’s “Sixteen Words.”

We have not had a decent State of the Union address since 1988, (Read it and remember.)

Great news! Former House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas) has risen from the political grave to lecture the GOP on payola and ethics:

Great news! Former House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas) has risen from the political grave to lecture the GOP on payola and ethics: “This business of buying elections by getting our clients to pay for access is, I think, absolutely contrary to the fundamental precepts of democracy.”

Mr. Wright should know. It was only a few years after he resigned his post in 1989 under accusations of ethical violations, which included getting lobbyists to buy his memoir, that the GOP regained the majority.

At that time, the Democrat-controlled Congress was rocked with more scandals – including the embezzlement conviction of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski.

The Republicans, Mr. Wright said, played on those Democratic troubles but paired their criticisms with the “Contract With America” to regain the majority in 1994.

“I don’t think it was very substantial,” Mr. Wright said of the contract, “but it was effective.”

Influence-peddling in Washington is “very much worse” now than it has ever been, he said. And he added that Democrats should use the national attention on lobbyist Jack Abramoff – who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion and admitted lavishing gifts on lawmakers – as a springboard for campaign-finance reform that would give moderate-income candidates a chance to win congressional campaigns.

It would also take away the need for politicians to spend time on the “demeaning” business of raising money when they could be working for their constituents, he said.

“This business of buying elections by getting our clients to pay for access is, I think, absolutely contrary to the fundamental precepts of democracy,” said Mr. Wright, who was in Austin to give a presentation on his book about his experience in World War II, The Flying Circus: Pacific War, 1943, As Seen Through a Bombsight.

If it’s anything like his last book, it will 400 pages long, with ten words printed on every other page, sell for $4-skillion a copy and be purchased by special interests in groups of 500.

Someone. Pinch. Me.

Sam Alito has been confirmed as the 118th Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, by a vote of 58-42. Democrats voting in the affirmative were Bob Byrd of West Virginia, Ken Conrad of North Dakota, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Nay-saying Republicans… well, I count only one: Linc Chafee.

The filibuster was a joke, of course, but it was the dance Kerry had to do. He’s a miserable little worm of a Senator doing the bidding of the out-of-the-mainstream left.

Congratulations, Justice Alito (pending the oath).

The Senate has voted cloture, closing debate on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito. The final vote was 72-25, giving rest to the notion of the seriousness with which the MSM treated this Kerry-Kennedy-Hillary tantrum. They now look as foolish as the desperate Dems who put on the show for the special interests.

Everyone but some in the MSM knew that this filibuster would go nowhere.

Break this down:

Republicans: 53-0 (2 not voting)
Democrats: 19-24 (1 not voting)
Jeffords: 0-1 (1 clueless)

Now that Alito will be confirmed on the morrow, the country is sure to return to the days when renegade drunk U.S. Senators drove off of bridges with victimized young ladies.

Lynn Swann has become almost a lock to win the Republican nomination to face Democrat Governor Ed Rendell in the General Election this November. Meanwhile, the Columbus Dispatch has Ohio attorney general Ken Blackwell opening a “10-point lead over Attorney General Jim Petro among likely GOP primary-election voters.”

This is great news for both States, both men, and for Republicans.

Rhode Island Senator Linc Chafee is a Republican because his daddy, the late Rhode Island Senator John Chafee, was a Republican. It’s a political convenience, a cute costume, not based on any sort of personal conviction.

The Providence Journal reports this morning that Linc Chafee will vote against the confirmation of Judge Sam Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement issued at a press conference this morning, the Rhode Island Republican said he was “greatly concerned” about some of Alito’s philosophies.

Chafee described himself as a “pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-Bill of Rights Republican,” in explaining his decision against Alito, the choice of fellow GOP President Bush.

Chafee noted that while Alito had “outstanding legal credentials,” the judge’s philosophy on certain issues, including executive power and women’s reproductive rights, influenced his decision.

The senator had said during his 2000 campaign that he would not vote for a nominee who did not pledge to affirm the landmark Supreme Court decision — Roe v. Wade — that legalized abortion.

Chafee’s litmus test.

Look, he is not a Republican other than by his prissy little costume. He’s not the statesman his father was, and he’s not the intellect that Jim Jeffords is. For what that’s worth.

Chafee did, however, say that he will vote with the Republicans to invoke cloture, stopping the little Kerry-Kennedy-Biden-Clinton filibuster.

This leaves Republicans to whom I’ve spoken with a mixed mind, with some saying keep Chafee because he sided with the GOP on the procedural vote. I used to be of that mind as well, but I realized that it was a tough thing to wait on his word like this.

For what it’s worth, Chafee also supported John Bolton.

He’s running against Conservative former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey in the GOP primary.

I did not report this in the review of the Sunday Morning Talk Shows at RedState.com because it’s not political news and appeared on my radar screen briefly before being blocks, but Reuters informs us that former President George Bush the elder has adopted former President Bill Clinton:

Asked about his father and Clinton, [President George W.] Bush quipped, “Yes, he and my new brother.”

“That’s a good relationship. It’s a fun relationship to watch,” Bush said in an interview with CBS News broadcast on Sunday.

Now if Clinton’s new dad could only teach the kid to behave.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Leading off each show, especially ABC’s program, was word on ABC co-anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt, who suffered head injuries when the Iraqi vehicle in which they were riding was struck by an IED in Iraq today. It is so right to stop the terrorists who do these things.
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A few themes caught my ear this morning. The hosts wanted to know if the Administration, given the recent election of Hamas to the Palestinian Authority, now regrets urging democracy in the Middle East. It’s not a solid point for gotcha, but it had to do. They also wanted to know about the President ignoring laws he considered to be outdated. They want Katrina docs and Abramoff docs. And there’s the thought that the tedium of day-day-day governance might transform Hamas from an angry gang of masked gunmen into a peace-loving political force.

Frist wasn’t convincing on MTP, but he did manage that the President governed more along the lines of “pro-growth” rather than as a conservative. Mike Pence on FNS reiterated a previous statement that the President was a conservative guy who “has not practiced a conservative agenda at home.”

Howard Dean on FNS accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden of “lollygagging.” He also suggested that Hamas should be “prodded.”

‘T was a nice interview, Bob Schieffer and President Bush on FTN. The President, not directly, reminded us that he did not design the NSA program; rather, he reviewed it and approved its implementation.

On LE, Dan Bartlett reacted to a clip of an Al Gore speech by suggesting that it is a good thing that Gore was not President. Also on LE, Senators Roberts and Joe Biden agreed that Hamas was a terrorist organization and we should not deal with them. Joe Biden, who has claimed co-authorship of the 1979 FISA law, said that he did not know whether the President had broken that law. And Joe Biden says he will vote against cloture for Sam Alito on Monday, though he admits that this will be entirely symbolic.

On TW, Barack Obama said that the Alito will be confirmed because the Dems failed to convince the American people that their values are under attack. Also on TW, Chuck Hagel declared the President and Congress to be “co-equal” on matters of national security.

You can read the show-by-show review over at RedState.com.

For Sunday, January 29, 2006

Meet the Press (NBC): Host Tim Russert spends the hour with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee to talk about stuff — “including domestic spying, the Jack Abramoff scandal, and Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian elections.” So Tim’s down with the misleading “domestic spying” line.

If you want to watch journalists talk to each other, Byron York will be there for their roundtable thing.

FOX News Sunday: Host Chris Wallace talks to Howard Dean. The show redeems itself when Wallace talks to Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) about the state of the GOP’s agenda.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer sits down with George W. Bush, President of the United States.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos interviews two Senators who have at times fit in with the mindset of his audience: Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) and Barack Obama (D-Illinois).

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer talks with White House counselor Dan Bartlett and Senators Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) and Joe Biden (D-Delaware). (Biden has just returned from Palestine where he was observing the election of Hamas.)
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Thune and Pence on FNC could be insightful, and Joe Biden will prove his own facsimile of cognizance regarding whatever is on Blitzer’s mind. Obama is doubtlessly going to attack “culture of corruption” in the GOP, and the party will have Chuck Hagel to defend it; but that’s Steph’s show.

Now where is John McCain?

He’s gone missing, but I’ll have the review of these shows live over at RedState.com probably a little before 2p ET.

Nancy Pelosi rambled on in an AP inverview, criticsing the President’s contentious surveillance program seemingly only because she doesn’t like it:

Pelosi did not say the NSA’s surveillance program was illegal. But she said the administration should follow the procedures in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows government lawyers to ask a secretive court for warrants for surveillance in the United States during national security investigations.

She likes the outdated law, though — merely, I assume, because it would, if applicable, it would restrict this particular Presdient.

Shriveled shrew with a mind barely functioning.

The President used his Weekly Radio Address [text] to push for a confirmation vote on Judge Sam Alito and to criticized Democrats for their blatant and crass partisanship.

Yeah, those adjectives are my own.

This past week, Judge Alito gained the endorsement of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor, Ed Rendell. Governor Rendell said he was not pleased with the partisan way some of his fellow Democrats have handled Sam Alito’s nomination. Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia announced he was voting for Judge Alito. And he said that many people in his state were calling the treatment of Judge Alito by some Democrats “an outrage and a disgrace.” Another Democratic Senator expressed concern that the Senate confirmation process in recent years has become “overly politicized, to the detriment of the rule of law.”

The Senate has a constitutional responsibility to hold an up-or-down vote on Judge Alito’s nomination. Throughout its 216-year history, the Senate has held an up-or-down vote on every Supreme Court nominee with majority Senate support. Judge Alito has demonstrated that he is eminently qualified to serve on our nation’s highest court, and America is fortunate to have a man of his integrity and intellect willing to serve.

They will. Kerry’s a lightweight, Kennedy is a joke, and Hillary is history.

Good morning.

Reuters tells usthat the Washington Times reports that the latest Pentagon strategy review contains a proposal for a new military unit designed to prevent the transfer of WMD from states like Iran and North Korea to terrorist groups.

“A section on combating weapons of mass destruction said future U.S. military forces will have the capability to interdict and ‘render safe’ weapons of mass destruction before terrorists can use them,” the newspaper reported.

It should have been in place before Saddam transferred his WMD to Syria, if that indeed occured.

I’ve been more elsewhere than AWOL…

Over at RedState.com, John Kerry and his attempted filibuster from Switzerland, on the direct orders of the New York Times. (See especially Blanton’s excellent smackdown of the twit.)

Nick Danger at RedHot links this editorial from the Indiana Statesman. The staff of the paper, no matter their ideology or registration, speak loudly and with one voice: “John Kerry should sit down and shut up.”

And it’s Mozart’s 250th birthday. At 8p Salzburg time, the church bells of Salzburg ring to mark his birth. (His father Leopold noted in a letter that his wife had given birth to a son at that time. That son went on transform the world.)

Happy 250th, Mozart!

Good morning, and TGIF!