The Manchurian Candidate in Real Life

Did anyone else happen to catch Samuel Alito's judicial hearings today? One interesting point was when one of Senator Kennedy's pals, Dianne Feinstein (Dem. California), kept interjecting into Sen. Kennedy's speech insisting that Kennedy read the script of questions exactly as planned.

California Democrat Dianne Feinstein egged Kennedy on from the sideline -- insisting that he read full quotations -- until Kennedy asked her to desist.

Feinstein interjected, urging Kennedy to "finish the last line,"

source

As odd as it sounds reading about this, it was even creepier listening to Feinstein as she kept repeating "finish the last line","finish the last line". If you've ever seen The Manchurian Candidate you'll have a good idea of what it was like. It was as if Feinstein was trying to make sure Kennedy would say the exact thing she wanted. Creepy! Who decides what questions they ask ahead of time and why is it so important to say the question exactly as it reads as if it were a control phrase? Like some sort of trigger statement that had to be read exactly.

It makes you wonder.

The whole process is creepy...he's going to get confirmed (as he should be) and the Dems are just grandstanding giving 30 minute speeches just thinly disguised as questions for apparently no reason other than they like the sound of their own voices.

It makes me feel almost nostalgic for the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings...

[edit on 1/11/2006 by djohnsto77]

The most disturbing part was when Alito's wife started crying and had to leave the room. Ted Kennedy et al should be ashamed of themselves, strange that she did it when a Republican was defending her husband though.

I didn't see that particular clip, but the whole hearings thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I always feel there is some movement afloat amongst the politicos to make us think they are intelligent AND well-read.
They often read their scripts as if it was the first time they had viewed the document.
I find the whole hearing system offensive, phony and useless...except to make the legislature look good

Manchurian Candidate?

I've been lurking on this site for months. I thought it was a legitimate site for conspiracy theories. I discovered however, that the only conspiracies discussed involved events that didn't involve our current adminstration.

For instance, there was no discussion of the NSA spying. No discussion of our government istening in to our phone conversations or our e-mails. It's as if it's OK as long as the Bushies do it.

And certainly no discussion about this admistration leading us into a war on false pretenses.

And now you want to claim that Ted Kennedy and Diane Fienstein are Manchurian Candidates? Do you even know what that means? Have you actually ever seen the movie?

I've spent the last four days actually watching the hearings and let me tell you something: Mrs. Alito left crying while Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican Senator from South Carolina was grilling him Our so-called "liberal media" claimed that it was the democratic senators who caused this. Well, I was watching it and it isn't so. So much for our "liberal media" which is such a popular boogey man on this board.

You want to talk about conspiracy theories? Lindsey Graham was on the "monster board" team that coached Alito on his responses.

I think that Mrs. Alito's tears were staged. I think Lindsey Graham and most Republicans are assholes. And they used this as a photo-op.

As far as Ted Kennedy goes, he's old and he's tired. I think he needs to retire. God knows he's been beat up by the Rethugs long enough. He's an old man who's dedicated his life to this country. I would like to see him retire and let his nephew, Robert Kennedy take his seat.

This might be my one and only post to this board, but you guys need to wake up to the fact that Kennedy and Feinstein aren't our enemies. If Alito is confirmed, and he will be, we will be living in the age of King George I of the USA.

Originally posted by tnorwood
For instance, there was no discussion of the NSA spying. No discussion of our government istening in to our phone conversations or our e-mails. It's as if it's OK as long as the Bushies do it.

Excuse my language, but WTF?

What do you think the (currently 14 pages) of discussion in my ATSNN article here is? WAR: Bush Allowed NSA to Spy on U.S. International Calls

Plus SkepticOverlord's ATSNN thread here: ATS: NSA Whistleblower, Russell Tice, Steps Forward

The most disturbing part was when Alito's wife started crying and had to leave the room. Ted Kennedy et al should be ashamed of themselves, strange that she did it when a Republican was defending her husband though.

Ashamed of themselves? Are you kidding? This guy Alito is a scum bag and a liar. He has no integrity and you want him on the supreme court? Give me a break. When asked about his involvement with Kappa he says "I don't recall being a part of that organization in college." How the hell could he forget?? HOW?? The guy is what....in his forties? And he can't remember being in an organization 20 years ago? Come on...this guy can't be trusted and you want him on the supreme court.....yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

The democrats bashed him to bits because he deserved it. And who cares if his wife cried? What does that have to do with anything? We're talking about a future supreme court justice......he should be put through the ringer.....and this idiot failed MISERABLY and will still probably me appointed. What does that say for our government and our country? It's in bad shape people...bad shape.

Why don't you check out what that Kappa group was into. The one he was a member of. The one he conveniently can't remember.

Originally posted by Excitable_Boy


This guy Alito is a scum bag and a liar. He has no integrity and you want him on the supreme court?

I'm sorry but this is BS. Why may I ask is Mr. Alito a scum bag? Just because President Bush appointed him?

When asked about his involvement with Kappa he says "I don't recall being a part of that organization in college." How the hell could he forget?? HOW?? The guy is what....in his forties? And he can't remember being in an organization 20 years ago? Come on...this guy can't be trusted and you want him on the supreme court.....yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

He joined CAP as he was leaving college. He did not go to meetings its just like a news letter he got. There is nothing wrong with CAP anyway...one member wrote a silly report and you want to blame Alito a man he has never even met??

That is crazy, and dishonest.

The democrats bashed him to bits because he deserved it. And who cares if his wife cried?

Are you kidding? What has his poor man ever done, can you provide any examples of any even small misconduct?

.....and this idiot failed MISERABLY

Excuse me, but by all accounts Mr. Alito did very well.

Why don't you check out what that Kappa group was into. The one he was a member of. The one he conveniently can't remember.

Why don't YOU look into it seeing as you can't even get their name right, but just because someone said something bad about Alito you take it as fact...very sad. The group is called CAP.



-- Boat

[edit on 13-1-2006 by Boatphone]

First Eye Blind

Originally posted by tnorwood
I've been lurking on this site for months. I thought it was a legitimate site for conspiracy theories. I discovered however, that the only conspiracies discussed involved events that didn't involve our current adminstration.

While you're lurking, you might want to try reading, too.

This is the most absurd thing I've read today, and I've been reading a lot of absurd things today. :shk:

Sheesh!

I'm sorry but this is BS. Why may I ask is Mr. Alito a scum bag? Just because President Bush appointed him?

Who said anything about Bush? You brought that up.

Why don't YOU look into it seeing as you can't even get their name right, but just because someone said something bad about Alito you take it as fact...very sad. The group is called CAP.

CAP, Kappa, Crap...whatever it's called. He was a member.

You still have not said why Mr. Alito is a "scum bag". And who cares if he was a member of CAP??

-- Boat

It seems Mr. Alito likes to put people to death even if they don't deserve it....

At a time when America's commitment to due process of law is being closely scrutinized at home and abroad, Alito's record on capital punishment raises serious concerns. It deserves careful attention from the Senate and the American people as a measure of his capacity to interpret the law in pursuit of impartial, humane and equal justice.

It seems the wonderful Mr. Alito likes to put people to death without due process.

Perhaps most telling is a 1997 case involving two men, Clifford Smith and Roland Alston, who robbed a Pennsylvania pharmacy. During the robbery, one of them shot and killed a pharmacist. Smith was charged with capital murder. But instead of showing that he was the shooter, the state alleged that the two men were accomplices, making each liable for the acts of the other under Pennsylvania law.

To convict Smith of murder on this theory, the state had to prove that he intended the killing to occur. But the trial court's instructions to the jury failed to make this clear, suggesting instead that Smith could be found guilty of murder even if he intended only the robbery and never intended the killing. The jury convicted Smith of murder and sentenced him to death.

In the 3rd Circuit, two members of a three-judge panel — both former prosecutors appointed by President Reagan — agreed that the faulty jury instructions denied Smith a fair trial. They concluded that there was "a reasonable likelihood that the jury convicted Smith of first-degree murder without finding beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended that [the victim] be killed."

Alito dissented, calling his colleagues' opinion "shocking" and "far-fetched." He conceded that the instructions were "ambiguous" and "inadvisable." But he nevertheless found them adequate to convict Smith of a capital offense because, he argued, the trial court had properly stated the intent requirement in an earlier part of the instructions. Alito further argued that the court should not have heard Smith's claim at all because Smith's lawyers did not object to the jury instructions at trial or in prior appeals. What is disturbing is that the state itself never made this argument; Alito raised it on his own, violating basic principles of fairness and judicial restraint.

This is one of MANY similar situations.

In 2001, Alito sided with the state against a black man, James Riley, convicted of capital murder by an all-white jury in Kent County, Del., whose population is 20% black. Before trial, the prosecutor had struck all three prospective black jurors from the jury pool. Riley challenged this action as racially discriminatory. His evidence included the fact that the prosecution had struck every prospective black juror in the three other capital murder trials in Kent County within the prior year.

Alito refused to infer racial discrimination from this pattern, offering the following analogy: "Although only about 10% of the population is left-handed, left-handers have won five of the last six presidential elections…. But does it follow that the voters cast their ballots based on whether a candidate was right- or left-handed?" A majority of the full court disagreed with Alito, criticizing his logic for "minimiz[ing] the history of discrimination against prospective black jurors and black defendants."

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court granted relief to another black man convicted and sentenced to death by a jury drawn from a panel where the state had struck 10 of 11 qualified black jurors. In an opinion joined by Justice O'Connor, the court said — contrary to Alito's reasoning in the Riley case — that the exclusion of such a large percentage of black jurors cannot be viewed as "happenstance."

More examples of his wonderful history found here:
latimes.com/news

[edit on 13-1-2006 by Excitable_Boy]

mod edit to shorten link


[edit on 17-1-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

And Mr. Alito and CAP.....hmmmm

Some argue that Alito's membership in the organization hardly proves he shared such views. "It would be outrageously inaccurate to say Sam was deeply involved in the group, and he certainly wasn't in charge of choosing the articles," T. Harding Jones, who edited Prospect during the 1970s, told me, adding that CAP's main goals were strengthening the alumni's voice and championing a more ideologically balanced curriculum. Diane Weeks begs to differ. Weeks graduated from Princeton three years after Alito did and went on to work with him as an assistant US Attorney in New Jersey. In an interview she took pains to stress that she considers Alito "a man of integrity" with a first-rate legal mind. But, she added, "when I saw CAP on that 1985 job application, I was flabbergasted. I was totally stunned. I couldn't believe it." CAP, she said, "made it clear to women like me that we were not wanted on campus. And he is touting his membership in this group in 1985, thirteen years after he graduated. He's not a young man by this point, and I don't buy for a second that he was doing it just to get a job. Membership in CAP gives a good sense of what someone's personal beliefs are. I'm very troubled by this, and if I were on the Senate I would want some answers."

source: www.thenation.com...

In 1985 he had on his resume that he was a member of CAP! ....but 20 years later he doesn't remember being a member??

Yeah...this guy is a saint....his poor wife cried! GOOD!

[edit on 13-1-2006 by Excitable_Boy]

[edit on 13-1-2006 by Excitable_Boy]

Yeah your right Mr. Alito sure loves putting people to death.

First, are you a legal expert?

Second, where are these quotes taken from? Because they all are being narrorated (in type) from a negative viewpoint, and seem to leave out the details of each case.

Lastly, so any judge that makes a ruling that you disagree with is a "scum bag" Wow. It seems like all judge Alito did was put away violent killers.

Such a double standard, we have Sam Alito a good man being ripped into by the likes of Ted Kennedy! A guy who did kill someone! Imagine what people on this board would say if Mr. Alito had killed someone like Ted Kennedy! Double Standard.

I do not believe that those cases have shown Mr. Alito to be a "scum bag".

-- Boat

we have Sam Alito a good man being ripped into by the likes of Ted Kennedy! A guy who did kill someone! Imagine what people on this board would say if Mr. Alito had killed someone like Ted Kennedy! Double Standard.

Ted Kennedy wasn't even in the car when it went over the bridge! But that's for another thread isn't it! Ted has been a great senator for going on 44 years and a great politician. All anyone ever talks about is Chappaquidick and his drinking. If all three of my older brothers were murdered by my own country, I'd drink too....who wouldn't??

And...instead of killing Ted...the people that really run this country set him up nicely with Chappaquidick to ruin his chances of becoming president. Three assassinations would be a bit much for the American people to believe, even as gullible as they are...so they had a different plan for Ted!!

It was a nice idea dbates, I often refer to W as the halliburton candidate. too bad this thread turned into a pi$$ing contest after about 5 posts.

Originally posted by Boatphone
You still have not said why Mr. Alito is a "scum bag". And who cares if he was a member of CAP??

-- Boat

That CAP business is a big deal to me. How can you be a member of a racist and sexist organization, remember it on a resume when you are trying to work for Ed Meese, but forget it when you are asked about it when you are up for the nomination to the Supreme Court?

It sounds as ridiculous as Clinton saying he smoked but never inhaled. At least with Presidents, lier's get change out after eight years. This racists, sexists, lier will be there for life. Alieto will be making decisions long after Presidents from either party leave.

Shouldn't will support people of moral substance, not just political parties to this position? Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick! This isn't some game between two political parties, our Nation is at stake here!

Originally posted by curme

Originally posted by Boatphone
You still have not said why Mr. Alito is a "scum bag". And who cares if he was a member of CAP??

-- Boat

That CAP business is a big deal to me. How can you be a member of a racist and sexist organization, remember it on a resume when you are trying to work for Ed Meese, but forget it when you are asked about it when you are up for the nomination to the Supreme Court?

It sounds as ridiculous as Clinton saying he smoked but never inhaled. At least with Presidents, lier's get change out after eight years. This racists, sexists, lier will be there for life. Alieto will be making decisions long after Presidents from either party leave.

Shouldn't will support people of moral substance, not just political parties to this position? Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick! This isn't some game between two political parties, our Nation is at stake here!

CAP was for rebuilding the ROTC building, and for keeping the eating clubs at Princeton. They were against affrimitive action, but thats not racist. Also, Alito was not even an active member...the records show this.

-- Boat

Originally posted by Excitable_Boy
Ted Kennedy wasn't even in the car when it went over the bridge!

WHAT? Where on earth did you learn your history?

- In his first statement to police, the Senator claimed that he was taking Miss Kopechne to the ferry when the accident occurred. Since ferry service to Edgartown stopped at midnight, his version of events required that he would have had to leave in time to catch the last ferry.

- Gargan, who was cleaning up after cooking the meal, thought it could have been as late as 11:50 PM when the Senator left the party. Although he wasn't wearing a watch, he said "I made a mental note - no particular reason - that he was going to make the ferry. When he left, the assumption was that he was going to the landing, but I don't know where he went."
- Gargan said "It was very hot, and some people were going for walks. It's possible the Senator went for a walk before getting into the car, or did all kinds of things. I know he still had time to get to the ferry - if he was going to the ferry."

- Kennedy didn't announce he was leaving or say good night to anyone. Neither did Mary Jo.
- Miss Kopeckne left her pocket book behind, and it was found at the cottage the next morning.

- Those close to Ted Kennedy claimed that his chauffeur ( Jack Crimmins ) "drove the Senator everywhere." Since Crimmins was present at the party, some thought it was peculiar that he hadn't driven Kennedy and Miss Kopechne to the ferry.
- Crimmins testified that the Senator had called him out of the cottage to the front yard and asked for the keys to the car. "He told me that he was tired, and that he was going to take Miss Kopechne back." Crimmins claimed that he didn't want to give Kennedy the keys, and that he had offered to drive him to the ferry landing. Kennedy wanted to drive, however, and because "It was his automobile," Crimmins said, "I gave the keys to him. I didn't question him." Crimmins was certain that Kennedy left at 11:15 PM, "Because I looked at my watch."

www.ytedk.com...

(plus you spelled Chappiquiddick incorrectly...just thought I wold point that out.)

- One Man Short

(plus you spelled Chappiquiddick incorrectly...just thought I wold point that out.)

Thank you so much for the spelling lesson!

Regarding Alito. The guy has proven with his ties to CAP and his record as a judge that he is a sexist and a racist. Obviously such a person can't be trusted to be unbiased and therefore has no place being on the supreme court....give me a break!

WHAT? Where on earth did you learn your history?

What difference does it make spelling teacher? Actually, it was on Earth! There is an excellent thread on here regarding the conspiracy behind the Quidachapick incident!! Feel free to search for it if it pleases you!!