Alito made several joking references to Vice President-elect Joseph Biden... including Biden's withdrawal from the 1988 presidential campaign over plagiarizing parts of a speech from a British politician.AP surmises that he's still pissed about questions Biden asked at Alito's confirmation hearings.
"To coin a phrase, in the spirit of the vice president-elect, you can't always get what you want, but you get what you need," Alito said, an imperfect rendering of a Rolling Stones lyric.
Then, he added, "Did someone say that before?"
A bit later in his talk... Alito said he was about to quote liberally from a magazine article. "In the spirit of the vice president-elect, I want to honor the copyright laws," Alito said.
In case you've forgotten, here's how Biden acted back then:
"I understand, Judge, I am the only one standing between you and lunch, so I'll try to make this painless," he began, with some promise.But I don't think it's necessary to infer that Alito's still pissed about that and getting back at the garrulous old VP-elect. We all make fun of Biden whenever we feel like it.
Mr. Biden then dived into a soliloquy on Judge Alito's failure to recuse himself from cases involving the Vanguard mutual fund company, which managed the judge's investments. After 2 minutes 50 seconds - short for the senator - Mr. Biden did appear to veer toward a question, but abandoned it to cite Judge Alito's membership in a conservative Princeton alumni group. Mr. Biden discoursed on that for a moment, then interrupted himself with an aside about his son who "ended up going to that other university, the University of Pennsylvania."
Judge Alito, who had been sitting without expression through Mr. Biden's musings, interrupted the senator midword, got out three sentences, then settled in for nearly 26 minutes more of Mr. Biden, with the senator doing most of the talking. With less than a minute to spare, Mr. Biden concluded, thanked Judge Alito for "being responsive," then said to Mr. Specter that "I want to note that for maybe the first time in history, Biden is 40 seconds under his time."
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49 comments:
We all make fun of Biden whenever we feel like it.
Racist!
We all make fun of Biden whenever we feel like it.
And some of us even choose to not vote for him.
LOL. *hearts Alito*
Can we put the Alito-Biden Smackdown on pay per view? With the Condi-Pelosi undercard? (Hillary-Palin, that one I'm saving for sweeps!) You know, just to lower the deficit a bit...
AP surmises that he's still pissed about questions Biden asked at Alito's confirmation hearings.
Or he could just be pissed that the pompous idiot got the freest pass in the history of free passes.
Or maybe that's just me.
AP surmises that he's still pissed about questions Biden asked at Alito's confirmation hearings.
The AP surmises that Biden actually asked a question somewhere in that diatribe.
Alito is the only one of the pair who will make decisions that actually matter. Biden just collects his pay on the way to the next funeral while everyone in the church says a prayer for Obama's health.
If he is harboring a grudge it's pathetic.
I don't think it is fair to call it a grudge when Alito may resent the fact that The Senator From MBNA is an imbecile and proves he is an imbecile during your confirmation hearing but the imbecile gets a free pass from the MSM.
No that is not a grudge. That is fair play.
Personally, I am happy that Joe Biden is now in a position where it is likely that very little will be heard from him.
VERY little, hopefully.
Condi - Pelosi Smackdown!
YES, MAMA!
They should hold it Stanford!
Where do I sign up?
Palin takes Hillary in less than 4 minutes.
Condi takes Pelosi in less than 90 seconds
And by the way,
Condi and Palin will win, not because it's an "age" thing, but because it's a "balls" thing.
Making fun of Biden is a time honored tradition.
Clearly, Alito wasn't standing between Biden and a microphone.
Unfortunately for all concerned.
If you can make fun of Biden, some states will consider it as prima facia towards US citizenship.
Come to think of it, maybe that's why Obama picked him.
To help him become a citizen ;)
(1) The most intelligent thing ever said, ever, in the entire history of intelligent people, anywhere, saying intelligent things in a confessional, ever, is this, from “Seinfeld”:
PRIEST: Tell me your sins, my son.
JERRY: Well I should tell you that I'm Jewish.
PRIEST: That's no sin.
JERRY: Oh good. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Dr. Whatley. I have a suspicion that he's converted to Judaism just for the jokes.
PRIEST: And this offends you as a Jewish person?
JERRY: No, it offends me as a comedian.
(2) Thinking of that, I was compelled by God, Himself, to create (1), supra, the red-hot instant I read that little bit of Associated Press-My-Hairy-Grapes pedantry about how Justice Alito’s allusion was “an imperfect rendering of a Rolling Stones lyric.”
(3) Imperfect rendering?!?!?!
(4) IMPERFECT RENDERING?!?!?!
(5) IMPERFECT RENDERING?!?!?!
(6) WTF!!!1!!!
(7) To that little bit of top-notch Mister Smarty Boots lame-itudinousness . . . the only mostest intelligentest response is: “Bite me.” Chavez v. New Mexico, 397 F.3d 826, 834 (10th Cir. 2005). See also Maher v. Associated Services for the Blind, 929 F.Supp. 809, 812 (E.D.Pa. 1996).
Remember, Biden isn't just Obama's bitch, he's everyone's bitch.
Biden and Kennedy would have made competent, agreeable bartenders. Useful work.
Carmen Electra as the blindfolded Justizia Ring Card Girl!
"AP surmises that he's still pissed about questions Biden asked at Alito's confirmation hearings."
Biden asked questions? So far as I could tell, at both the Roberts and Alito hearings, he contended himself by grinning like an idiot and hamming it up, monologuing like the supervillains mocked by Mr. Incredible.
Not that Biden is smart enough to be a supervillain. He has an incredibly high opinion of himself even though he's as obnoxious as Chuck Schumer and as dumb as Dick Durbin.
I remember that Vanguard case. It was unbelievably lame of Biden to make anything out of it and proved, yet again, that he is just a partisan hack ("Here you go Joe, we got crap for oppo research, but make the best of it")
Making fun of Biden is so common, it has is own About page.
Have you watched any of these confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito? Senators are given thirty minutes to question the guy: thirty minutes exactly. Senator Joe Biden’s question took 23 1/2 minutes. His question took 24 minutes. And Alito is smart. He’s brilliant. Do you know what he said?
'I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?'"
--Jay Leno
http://tinyurl.com/5uqncn
Joe Biden is the absolute worst vice-president elect this country has ever had.
Not to change the subject or anything, but did anyone notice that Eliot Spitzer, everyone's favorite disgraced former Governor, is back??
I make it a rule not to enter a discussion with someone about whether Sarah Palin is smart or not until they admit that Biden is a moron. If they are, I know I'm dealing with a possibly good faith discussion partner. Kind of a litmus test. It's intellectually defensible - not necessarily correct - but intellectually defensible to believe both Biden and Palin are morons. It's just not defensible to believe Palin is but Biden isn't.
Biden was probably just denying Alito the chance to recite the same canned talking points no matter the question.
Or he decided it's useless to ask Alito any questions because he'll just say he can't show any opinions because he might have to rule on something.
Actually, that's probably spot-on.
AlphaLiberal said...
"Biden was probably just denying Alito the chance to recite the same canned talking points no matter the question"
That's so utterly disconnected from Alito's conduct at the hearings that one is forced to wonder if you even watched them. Indeed, the nature of the proceedings make such a strategy implausible. So I think you're doing your usual schtick here: you're playing the blowhard liar who makes up convenient canned talking points as a poor substitute for actual thought. Back your allegations up: You said points, plural, so I want at least two examples from you of "canned talking points" given by Alito in response to any Senator's questions.
Simon, they have operations to get a stick out of one's ass. You don't have to live like that any more.
As if you've ever backed up an argument. To keep up my solid record, solid as a mighty oak:
The hearings were less illuminating than one might have hoped. Democratic senators often seemed more interested in attacking the nominee -- sometimes scurrilously -- than in probing what sort of a justice he would be. Even when they tried, their questioning was often so ineffectual as to elicit little useful information. Republican senators, meanwhile, acted more as fatuous counsels for the defense than as sober evaluators of a nominee to serve on the Supreme Court. On both sides, pious, meandering speeches outnumbered thoughtful questions. And the nominee himself was careful, as most nominees are, not to give much away. The result is that Americans don't know all that much more about Judge Alito than they did before.
And there were the fake waterworks from his wife in response to a Linsey Graham setup.
From the Bush-loving Wash Post ed Board.
You could get a new handle, "PerpetuallyOutragedConservative," or POC.
You're trying to buy your way out of your bluff with snark, Alpha. No one's fooled.
"Gotchya."
You're no match for my wit and cunning.
AlphaLiberal said...
"As if you've ever backed up an argument. To keep up my solid record, solid as a mighty oak"
Well, your lame attempt at a counterpoint is certainly consistent with your record: asked to cite an example of Alito falling back on canned talking points, you entirely fail to do so, instead presenting a secondary source that talks about something else entirely. The transcript of the hearings is readily available, and since you're hard of comprehension - about as much brains as a "mighty oak," to be sure - I'll repeat: I want at least two examples from you of 'canned talking points' given by Alito in response to any Senator's questions. If your response fails to include a direct quotation from the transcript backed up by a link, your response is a failure.
Tell, ya what, wish in one hand...
Shorter SImon: "Do as I say, not as I do."
The quote says he shed no light. That's the result of repeating canned talking points and evading questions. Alito is a Bushie, that's what they do. Condi is the worst.
HwtM:
"Personally, I am happy that Joe Biden is now in a position where it is likely that very little will be heard from him."
You mean something like, dispatch him to an undisclosed location and then forget he's there? Works for me...
Alito's just another right wing dick.
Biden's spent his entire career working for regular Americans.
Fuck Alito.
This site is like some kind of bizarre, twilight zone of uninformed, uneducated, bigoted and incredibly right wing dumbshits.
No matter who the individual is, if they're the least bit liberal, a Democrat or support any form of thought or policy that runs contrary to what most here already believe...they're trashed.
And you wonder why Obama kicked McCain and Princess Palin's asses?
And why Bush lugs around a 24% approval rating from real thinking Americans?
Just read the tripe posted here by the regular crew.
Little people with very little minds...most of whom have never done a fucking thing in their lives to help the country.
Harsh Dolt: "Biden is a moron."
Could you list your many accomplishments so we have a point of comparison?
"Biden and Kennedy would have made competent, agreeable bartenders." ricpic
Kennedy mixes the first drink, Biden copies it, then you drive off the bridge on the way home.
Bush lugs around a 24% approval rating from real thinking Americans?
By your own words, Michael, you are not a real thinking American.
Thank you, from one who is.
Hey Alpha Liberal--I thought you told us you were through with this blog--Why are you back? You are either very indecisive or simply a liar. You choose.
Michael: when you post your numerous accomplishments then we might have a point of comparison.
Luckyoldson said...
Bush lugs around a 24% approval rating from real thinking Americans?
Host with the Most replied...
By your own words, Michael, you are not a real thinking American.
Thank you, from one who is.
Man I love some good troll-on-troll action!
AlphaLiberal said...
"The quote says he shed no light. That's the result of repeating canned talking points and evading questions."
In other words, you can't offer a single example from several days' worth of transcripts to back up your claim. If the technique you allege were remotely prevalent, the transcript would be repleat with examples, but you can't find any. As usual, and as I expected, you're revealed as an insubstantial liar, making noise for attention but without anything to back it up. No wonder you like Biden - with your attitude, you could be Biden!
Sounds like Alito had a canned joke about a famous person, the vice president elect, and used it once too often.
That's why he's a judge and not a comedian.
Man I love some good troll-on-troll action!
Okay, that IS funny!
But Justin, Dear, I am no troll, and certainly not because you dislike my comments. I have been here since 2004, pretty much like you, my friend.
BTW - and seriously - how's that first home you bought last year?
"Biden's spent his entire career working for regular Americans."
Biden? From corporate friendly Delaware, Joe biden? MBNA's man in the Senate? The one who opposes bankruptcy reform (that most other Dems including Obama supported) because his corporate masters demanded it? The one's who's son was on MBNA's payroll as a highly paid 'consultant' when the reform bill was before Congress? The one who deosn't know his favorite restaurant closed thirty years ago? That Joe Biden?
Let's give Biden a little credit here. He proposed and passed the RAVE Act that saved civilization from crappy music and stinking stinkers that listened to that music, and doing drugs at the same time.
Host with the Most said...
But Justin, Dear, I am no troll, and certainly not because you dislike my comments. I have been here since 2004, pretty much like you, my friend.
You don't troll relentlessly, like Lucky, but you do troll. And it has nothing to do with me disliking your comments. In fact, I thought your response to Lucky upthread was awesome. Time served doesn't get you out of it either. Some trolls have been around longer than both of us. :)
BTW - and seriously - how's that first home you bought last year?
The house is great. Thanks for asking. We put on a new roof two days before Hurricane Ike. After Ike we had to remove a tree that almost fell on the new roof. It's definintely more expensive to own a home than to rent an apartment, but I wouldn't go back for anything.
I don't mean to challenge your forensic skills, but I have seen more than one commenter here use the id "Justin". That you chose one of my old comments and not another Justin shows either stellar sleuthing or good luck.
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