CNN on-air: Sen. Specter says Alito, Vanguard may "spiral out of control"

[DeepModem Mom]

Specter says Alito needs to get out in front of it. Ed Henry reporting. Said Alito looked "uncomfortable" before meeting with Dems. Jeff Toobin now saying facts are not clear.

ON EDIT: See KoKo01's post #11 for background. Thanks, KoKo!

[LSK]

1. good, i havnt seen much of this story and i hope it gets big

He clearly went against his word about conflicts of interest.

[philb]

23. Clear self interest and should disqualify him from Supreme Court

Seems to be a very clear and straight forward case. so why is he still under consideration? Is the majority of the public not concerned over self interest votes and obvious conflicts of interest?

[ananda]

2. Hehheh

Spiraling outta control...

Now, I wonder who would be a good replacement nominee for Alito...

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Unbelievable!

[ncrainbowgrrl]

3. Oh, pass the popcorn.

I'm gonna put on so much weight from all of this yummy popcorn snacking I've been doing!
:popcorn:

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. it is virtual

:popcorn:, :popcorn:

[ncrainbowgrrl]

16. Ah, good! Virtual calories are good for you, right?!

:popcorn:
:hi:

[KoKo]

5. What's Vanguard? Can you fill those of us in who haven't heard about it?

:shrug:

[tk2kewl]

8. a case he heard that involved a mutual fund in which he had >$300K

he had also promised in writing to the Senate prior to his appointment to the court that he would recuse himself from cases involving Vanguard

[MrBenchley]

14. He also swore under oath that he would recuse himself

for Vanguard cases...but as (I think it's the) Boston Globe found out, he not only didn't recuse himself but fought to stay on the case!

Which would make his earlier testimony perjury.

[shoelace414]

9. he owned vanguard or was on the board of vanguard

and did not recuse himself from hearing a case against vanguard.. and suprprsingly enough ruled on the side of vanguard.

[FSogol]

What a co-winky-dink! n/t

[KoKo]

11. OOP's Never mind....I thought that story was dead....but here are some

links for those who might need memory refreshed like me.

NPR : Questions Arise on Potential Alito Financial Conflicts
The Vanguard case took place in 2002 at a time when Alito's financial ... But,
he says, the contention that Alito participated in the Vanguard case because ...
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4990865 - Similar pages

Judge Participated in 2002 Vanguard Case Despite Promise to Recuse
"It's clear that . . . holdings were substantial" in Vanguard company
investments. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Alito had become ...
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103101686.html - Similar pages

Alito Is Called 'Sensitive' to Executive Power
Alito invested in Vanguard funds and Smith Barney was Alito's brokerage house.
White House spokesman Steve Schmidt said Alito did nothing wrong because he ...
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2005110401861.html?nav=rss_politics - Similar pages

[tk2kewl]

6. yeah... unethical behavior is a bit out of fashion at the moment

:eyes:

[Jacobin]

10. I like the sound of "spiraling out of control"

:woohoo:

[Skidmore]

13. Wonder how many Rs are quietly sabotaging the judge

thing behind the scenes? If all of those social issues disappear, what will they run on since they've pretty much lost the economic and security issues.

[FreedomAngel82]

26. Ooo, this could get good!

Another judge could go down the drain and than if we win back the House and/or Senate in 2006 and than impeach Bush he won't get another judge! Oh I hope and pray!

[leftofthedial]

12. I'm shocked. Shocked!

A repuke "christian" behaving unethically?

Shocked, I tell you.

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. Isn't that just great!

Did he think no one would ask about something like this?

[neverforget]

17. If Alito were to step aside or be pushed aside, Bush will just nominate

another wingnut.

[Don Claybrook]

20. Yes, but that's almost beside the point

Well, not beside the point, but there is a different point: it will take a pretty dense Freeper not to understand that Bush just isn't capable of selecting someone for the court who is both honest AND a sentient human being.

In other words, it's Bush's 147'th consecutive screwup, and it's becoming very difficult not to notice that.

[FreedomAngel82]

27. Yep

And aren't the hearings not supposed to start until January? So if they take a long time for the investigation's and can hold off on any confirmation's until we take back hopefully both the House and Senate we can get rid of this guy for good and than impeach Bush. Of course right now it's just a dream. Hopefully there is enough damage with this guy he won't make it like with Miers. And of course Bush will just find another rightwing judge like him. I think this could be why he didn't nominate the Brown woman. Isn't she the one who had ties to oil companies and ruiling in their favor?

[belle]

22. Yeah, but two failures in a row would *really* suck for him.

[neverforget]

25. Of course it would suck for Bush which is good, but what I'm saying

is that he won't learn anything, he'll just do the same thing again and we'll have another nutcase to fight.

[bluedeminredstate]

18. I hope this isn't too good to be true

I'd love nothing more than to see Alito spiral his ass out of DC and take his Scalia-love with him.

I'm embarassed to say that the morning the national monkey introduced him by reading haltingly while mispronouncing words - much worse than his usual inarticulate manner, I was so mortified by the stupid Chimp's inability to even read a statement, never mind speak extemporaneously, that when I heard Alito open his mouth and sound so damn smart I was ready to vote for him for president.

I have since come to my senses, thank God!

:popcorn:

[xchrom]

19. i hope vanguard falls on alito

like big ol'tornado.

spiral, baby, spiral!

[AlCzervik]

21. Whats going with Spector? He's acting like he's not running again

he's not playing well with Bush these days.

[Poiuyt]

24. Supreme Court justices should be required to take ethics classes