The Daily Background

Background: Alito Confirmation Hearings Day 2 Megaroundup
In case you’re lost as to this “Alito thing,” check out the AP’s Alito on the Issues.
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Last night I started off with a look at the polls, as they related to Alito. I wrote:

Anyone who has been following public opinion related to Alito knows that he’s in good standing. Carpetbagger wonders if the polls actually matter in this case, and MyDD says “No”
(one poll in December said that 38% of the population hadn’t heard of Alito for example).

Let’s start with some more on polls tonight as well. Wonkette deconstructs some polls, as does AMERICAblog:

The GOPers read the polls…they know that the American people are not with Bush on this one, not even close:

“As congressional hearings begin for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, a CBS News poll reveals that most Americans have yet to form an opinion of Alito and most don’t know whether he should be confirmed.

Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed said they are “undecided” or “haven’t heard enough” to form an opinion about Alito, and 70 percent said they “can’t say” whether Alito should be confirmed by the Senate. ”

Next, DailyKos brings us several interesting items, included are GOP witness’ organization gave Alito “not qualified” rating, Alito Testifies That He Believed Roe Was Wrongly Decided, and mcjoan wonders about Balance of Power issues. In addition, Democratic House Representative (and active DKos Diaryist) Louise Slaughter offers a post entitled “Judge Alito Poses a Direct Threat to Women’s Right in America“.

ThinkProgress brings us speculation on how Alito Hides His Plan To Push Executive Immunity In Wiretapping, as well as a very interesting post entitled “Graham’s Behind-the-Scenes Coaching of Alito Could Violate Senate Ethics Rules,” “Graham” of course refers to the Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham- not the oh so delicious crackers of the same name, which were created in the 1800s by a Presbyterian reverend, in hopes that they would suppress lust.

MyDD brings us an interesting story. It seems that Alito was involved with a Princeton campus group which tried to keep out women and minorities from attending the elite private school. The issue is now about him lying about his involvement. Background for that scoop can be found at at Senate Fact Check, and after you’ve read that, the MyDD post can be found here. A bit more on this angle here. TalkLeft is also interested in this angle.

Steven Clemons, over at The Washington Note has some thoughts about Alito-stopping-strategy.

Recently The Nation’s blog sneakily suggested questioning Alito on the 2000 Bush v. Gore ballot counting case. Well, it happened! Alito was asked today, and here’s what happened.

Finally, Rox has some Alito write-your-own-caption fun.

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You can catch our ongoing coverage of the Alito nomination process here.

Filed under: Polls, Z-TDB Blog, Uncategorized