Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

-- The radical Progress for America has two sites (UpOrDownVote.com and JudgeAlito.com) and a slew of TV ads touting the activist judge

-- The Family Reseach Council is gleefully supporting him;

-- Christian Fundamentalist James Dobson's Focus on the Family group is in favor of Alito's judicial activism

-- ConfirmThem.com is demanding that Alito receive what it and other right-wing sites denied Harriet Miers: Immediate confirmation.

Alito does not represent mainstream American views; he favors:

-- Allowing police to conduct strip searches at will, even on minors
-- Racial and disability-based discrimination
-- Eliminating the Family and Medical Leave Act
-- Blocking women from making their own medical decisions

Alito ruled on a case that benefited him financially in a blatant conflict of interest:

"Three years ago Alito drew conflict-of-interest accusations after he upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit against the Vanguard Group. Alito had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested with the mutual fund company at the time. He denied doing anything improper..."

By choosing Alito, George Bush is following a pattern of choosing unqualified or untrustworthy nominees for important government positions:

-- Bernard Kerik withdrew his nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security after allegations of tax evasion, shady financial dealings, and adultery surfaced

-- After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, it was learned that five of FEMA's eight top managers had no disaster management experience; on September 12th, FEMA Director Michael Brown resigned in disgrace

-- Julie Myers, a "lawyer with little immigration or customs experience" but close ties to the White House, was nominated to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a division of Homeland Security

-- Lester Crawford resigned as the head of the Food and Drug Administration in October, two months after being confirmed, when it was discovered that he engaged in multiple conflicts of interest with several improper stock transactions

-- When White House officials Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby were implicated in the leaking of a CIA officer's identity, Bush reneged on a promise to fire anyone in his administration connected to the leak

-- Harriet Miers, George Bush's personal lawyer, was nominated to the Supreme Court despite never having been a judge