Hoo boy...oh, for the love of god

Update in Firedoglake:

President Bush has nominated Samuel Alito, judge of the 3rd Circuit, to the US Supreme Court. Alito is the third nominee to be named to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Alito is 55, was a selection for the Federal bench from Bush I, and had previously served as a US Attorney in New Jersey. He also previously served as assistant to the Solicitor General, Rex Lee, during the early years of the Regan Administration and (this should give you a cold shiver) was deputy assitant Attorney General to Edwin Meese.

He is a Princeton undergrad, and a Yale Law grad, and a proud member of the Federalist Society. His nickname is "Scalito," because of his similarity in approach to the law to Justice Antonin Scalito. (Yep, more cold shivers here.)

AmericaBlog:

White House, Frist politicizing Rosa Parks Tribute with Alito
by Joe in DC - 10/31/2005 08:46:00 AM


AP reports that Alito is being taken to the Capitol for a photo op at the casket of Rosa Parks:

Wasting no time, the White House arranged for Alito to go to the Capitol after the announcement.The schedule called for Senate Majority Leader Bill First to greet him and accompany the nominee to the Capitol Rotunda to go to the coffin of the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

That is especially callous given Alito's record on the bench, via Think Progress:

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers...

And so it begins, anew...

ETA: Shakespeare's Sister has a point.

You know, the thing that makes me angriest about this is that Bush is still playing to his base, that 30% or so who think that Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church, as if he’s still running for something. It’s always, always politics; it’s all they know how to do. Never has there come a time when he has seemed to recognize that he needs to govern instead of campaign, or that he’s president of the entire United States. He has never even remotely acknowledged that he is supposed to be a steward of this country for all of us, instead of turning the country into a utopian paradise for its cruelest and most self-interested elements. Prick.

ETA, again, off of Taegan's Political Wire:

...with the Bush administration operating in crisis mode -- and midterm elections just one year away -- it's not clear Bush has much ability to force fence sitters to vote for Alito. As we noted before, the reaction to a new nominee during the first few hours are the most important predictor of confirmation. Initial reaction is that Democrats will fight hard.