tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post113128820778004415..comments2024-02-02T07:41:55.155-05:00Comments on The Headpiece for the Staff of Ra: Charles Krauthammer makes Kant cry, tooMosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-1131331700552378042005-11-06T21:48:00.000-05:002005-11-06T21:48:00.000-05:00That's true, there are two possibilities here, and...That's true, there are two possibilities here, and I didn't do a good job of separating them. It could "just" be that Alito is incompetent. Or, he could have used his legal knowledge to construct a clever yet ideologically motivated argument that deliberately ignores fundamental principles. An objection based on the second possibility wouldn't exactly be based on his qualifications, but wouldn't be ideological either.Noumenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02442204504120141558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-1131292293531312582005-11-06T10:51:00.000-05:002005-11-06T10:51:00.000-05:00While I agree with your opposition to Alito, I don...While I agree with your opposition to Alito, I don't think anyone is going to believe that the man isn't smart. Scalia writes some pretty horrifying opinions but no one doubts that he is very intelligent and a very sharp jurist. Nicknames aside, everything I've read and heard points to Alito being very ideologically conservative, but hardly so intellectually bankrupt that he doesn't understand the job. I have a professor this semester (a very partisan Dem that was involved in Clinton's appointments) that knows Alito "a little" and said that Alito is an extremely bright guy.<BR/><BR/>Alito was a good pick for the Right. I don't think there's any way to attack his qualifications. The objections people have, seen in his opinions, are ideological. The Right wants this fight and I don't think the Left should run from it. Alito on the Court is going to substantively change the rights of millions of Americans both now and in the future, not because he's dumb or inexperience but because there's a part of the electorate that doesn't like the rights that Americans have. They want the country to be less free and that's exactly what Alito will make it.MosBenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com