No doubt about it: I am a cynic among cynics, even amidst the rarified cynicism of the Reform Club atmosphere. Nonetheless, the argument that the Dem memo on Alito and the Mob implies only ineffectiveness on the part of Alito the prosecutor, and not friendliness toward those Italians whose professional pursuits are encased in euphemism is---how can I say this gently?---a lot of blarney. Why even discuss such an issue if "competence" is the focus; except for the Chief Justice (and even for him a minor matter), administrative skills are far below sea level on the importance priority list for Court Justices. No, it is obvious that the central purpose of this memo was to imply a certain degree of corruption on the part of Alito, a corruption perhaps tribal rather than financial in its orientation. That this could not be said directly also is obvious, but what is equally true is that the intellectual corruption of the Democratic Left is so consuming that the adverse political effects of such amateurish "arguments" remain obscured by the Pavlovian impulse to sling mud. And so please forgive me, but I stand by my earlier argument to the effect that this memo was a (draft) attempt to shower wet manure on Alito; that it was dumb and certain to backfire implies stupidity rather than an absence of malice.
3 comments:
One thing I've never understood about this case or Estrada...why do the Republicans pre-empt stupidity on the part of the Democrats?
I thought the first rule of politics was that if the other guy was trying to commit suicide, get out of the way.
Dr. Zycher, I hope you don't take this as rude, because it's not intended to be such: I really don't see how a reading of the memo can lead to such a conclusion without personal projection of desire and ill-will on your part. There are plenty of dishonest characterizations of Alito's record - particularly on abortion - coming from the Left. I would recommend focusing on those; the above post appears completely out to lunch.
we can argue whether the intent of the passage is to play up incompetence or to paint a racist picture of Italians as all made men. Arguments can be made either way.
I've gone back and forth on this. When I read the whole memo, my inclination was that the ethnic slur charges were overdone, but now I think it's impossible to evaluate the impact of such statements without considering the subtext of Mob prosecutions in the Northeast over the past thirty years. This claim isn't made in isolation, it's a member of an entire set of federal prosecutions of the mob and accusations of Mafia political influence peddling that has a long history.
Capice?
Even a mobster has better manners than that, when addressing a group of non-intimates. Try capite? (or even capiscono?, although that's over-the-top formality) next time, or at least ask "Possiamo darci del voi?"
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