Sessions: Alito and Roberts answered the questions with more clarity than this Puerto Rican lady

[marmar]

from THinkProgress:



Sessions claims Roberts and Alito answered questions more ‘crisply’ and with more ‘clarity’ than Sotomayor.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who has been searching for excuses to vote against Judge Sonia Sotomayor, said on CNN today that Sotomayor’s testimony was “muddled” and lacked clarity. “I do think Roberts and Alito are far superior in terms of answering questions crisply and with clarity and having very little inconsistencies in what they said,” Sessions claimed. The Senate Democratic Leadership office quickly assembled a video reminding Sessions of how “crisply” Roberts and Alito dodged questions that they didn’t want to answer: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/15/sessions-roberts-alito/


Ian Millhiser writes that Sessions clearly “doesn’t remember the Roberts and Alito hearings very well.”


http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/15/sessions-roberts-alito/

[NewJeffCT]

1. Nobody seems to remember Alito bringing up his ethnic & family background

and how it played a role in his being a judge, either.

[aquart]

2. She is a New York lady, thank you.

We have magnificent women.

[marmar]

3. Yeah, I noticed.....I used Puerto Rican lady for effect. .......

It's the unspoken adjective Sessions is trying to dogwhistle out to the rightwing minions.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. From what I can recall, Roberts and Alito acted like complete "ciphers" when they were questioned

So much so, in fact, I think it was Biden(?) who made some comment questioning why they should even bother having confirmation hearings anymore since they weren't getting any substantive answers. I think that most of the time Roberts and the Alito dodged questions by claiming that they couldn't because they might rule on them in the future- or something like that.

[DaveinJapan]

25. I notice that Judge Sotomayor used this excuse as well

but it doesn't make sense to me.

It's the Supreme Court, they might rule on just about anything in the future (and what does giving answers about your way of thinking on such issues matter anyway..that wouldn't make you bound to rule a certain way so long as you explained your opinion change/reversal and the reasons behind it).

[Skink]

5. Sessions used to run with theJets.

He was Meanly Meanly.

[lunatica]

6. Sessions seems to have a 'little man' complex

Especially with that cute-as-a-button little nose, and chubby cheeks, and that pixie-like, cherubic, round, little boy face, and that sweet boyish little smile, and that funny sparkle in his eyes. Makes you just want to pinch those rosy cheeks don't it... All that and he's short and could pass for a hobbit with those cute sharp little ears sticking so delightfully out of that perfectly round baby like head.

Just makes you want to squeeze him to death, he's so cute. Gosh darn it!

[CTyankee]

7. Did you notice his little hands? They are so precious. He's got a little thumb

and other little fingers. They look really small to me! I don't know about you, but I notice these things in a man...

they really looked small...

[MO_Dem]

9. It all matches perfectly with his tiny little

pea-brain! and his little beady eyes. :rofl:

[Arkana]

15. Squeeze him to death?

You mean that literally, right? Like with a vise or clamp until his brains shoot out his ears and his eyeballs pop from the pressure?

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

8. It was muddled

and lacked clarity because Sessions wasn't listening. He was messing around with whatever was in front of him anxious to get to the next Gotcha question. And also because he was hearing only what he already perceived, not her actual answers.

[Cerridwen]

10. Tell sessions he could have heard better if he'd pulled his head

out of his ass.

[truedelphi]

11. I don't know abt Alito and Roberts - but, damn, Clarence Thomas pretty

Much got chosen just for being a black conservative!

Not tremendousy articluate, not with a very good judicial background, but how the Repugs loved to seize on the fact that he would be the first black man to be on the Supreme Court.

Now they are trying to diss Obama for having the first woman Hispanic.

[marmar]

12. I think Thurgood Marshall would disagree that Clarence Thomas was the 1st black man on the SC

nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. One might even wonder

whether Clarence Thomas is actually a black man at all, considering how hard he tries to disadvantage other people of color. In any event, he was the first (allegedly) black *Republican* to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Black Republicans are in short supply, for good reason, but Poppy Bush found Thomas, whose only salient "qualification" was his race (his prior legal career having been undistinguished). But I distinctly remember Poppy announcing proudly that Thomas was "the most qualified" candidate -- a laughable statement. There are many highly qualified black lawyers and judges, but Thomas wasn't one of them -- all the good ones are Democrats.

[truedelphi]

23. Drippy runny egg on face-y. /nt

[charlie]

26. And his stated opinion on abortion

was probably the most weaselly, disingenuous ever in the history of SC hearings. It essentially was -- never gave it much thought, have no legal opinion.

He should've been bagged for that alone. But he was slick enough to use the phrase "high tech lynching", which made Biden's plugs stand on end, and got himself a spiff new job.

[undeterred]

13. The view from a racist misogynist pig.

[Arkana]

14. Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions III is a relic of the antebellum South

and should get in a fucking time machine and go back there.

Also he's an idiot if he thinks Sotomayor's been anything but forthcoming.

[Fire1]

16. He's just pissed cause she dodged his traps!! LOL!!

[ControlledDemolition]

18. She finds it easy to outsmart a Smurf! n/t

[Fire1]

27. Good one!! LOL!! "Smurf" Sessions!! I gotta use that!!! LOL!! n/t

[madrchsod]

21. she`s amazing..

everything she said just goes right over their tiny heads...

[madrchsod]

19. well jeffy has`t called her a spic yet....but you know he wants to.

she has more experience than any supreme court nominee in 100 yrs and he treats her like his maid.

the republican party just keeps digging themselves into the "...well,well,well..."

[HughMoran]

20. Why doesn't he just say that he "Doesn't like the way these sp!^& talk"

Fucking Republican bigots; there's always a troll on hand.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

22. He asked her if she would go to the fields and chop down some sugarcane and brew him up a keg of rum

while singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot, but Sotomayor dodged the question and wouldn't honor it with a crisp response.

[PretzelWarrior]

24. click on the Thinkprogress video link. great one liner from Biden at the end

"Go ahead and continue not to answer..."

[Cha]

28. And roberts gave the oath of office to

Pres Obama correctly the first time so they wouldn't have to do it over again..uh huh.