aps said:
You all are so unbelievable! I know that if one of the liberal justices did something like that, you all would be all over him. But guess what? They would never stoop to such a level, so I guess we'll never know how you all would react if they did.
Oh, no, I really honestly wouldn't. We're all hypocritical sometimes, no matter how hard we try not to be, but I make every effort to avoid it when it comes to the SC. I have no problem admitting that Scalia's sometimes stretchs his arguments to fit the cases so as to keep his "originalist" credentials, nor that the court is slightly right-leaning right now, and will possibly/probably move more in that direction when Stevens or Ginsburg drops.
But the fact is, I just don't think this was a big deal, even if Scalia did give the guy the vaffanculo, which he says he didn't. People are people. Scalia more than any of the other justices is attacked constantly by people wherever he goes, hoping to goad him into reacting. He's usually very even tempered. Everyone's human.
talloulou says the question was stupid. Asking a justice on the Supreme Court about whether his religion has any impact on his decision-making is stupid? Okaaaaaaaaaaay. It's totally relevant. It would be one thing if the person asked, "So what kind of birth control do you and your wife use?" This question was related to his work, for Christ's sake.
I'd bet that it wasnt so much the question as the way it was asked.
NYU, I have a hard time believing that the picture you posted of Bush is authentic. I wasn't being sarcastic.
It's actually real. Some backstory:
Before the election, video was leaked of Bush preparing for a video test before a commercial spot when running for Gov. During the test, he gave the camera the finger. It got some play on the internet, but sort of backfired when another video surfaced of edwards getting primped for a commercial. In edwards video, he and a stylist spend 5 minutes getting him ready, primping the hair, etc etc. It's actually incredibly painful to watch. Someone took the two videos and put them together, comparing Bush and Edwards unfavorably. It's quite hilarious.
Bush original video
"The Choice" - This is probably one of the funniest videos I've seen, comparing Bush and Edwards.
And just so you don't think that the vulgarity comes only from one side, read these choice quotes from John Kerry that Newsweek didn't publish until after the election (of course).
The morning after the Feb. 3 primaries, which vaulted Kerry into a virtual-ly insurmountable lead, the candidate was fuming over his missing hairbrush. He and his aides were riding in a van on the way to a Time magazine cover-photo shoot. Nicholson had left the hairbrush behind. "Sir, I don't have it," he said, after rummaging in the bags. "Marvin, f---!" Kerry said. The press secretary, David Wade, offered his brush. "I'm not using Wade's brush," the long-faced senator pouted. "Marvin, f---, it's my Time photo shoot."
Nicholson was having a bad day. Breakfast had been late and rushed and not quite right for the senator. In the van, Kerry was working his cell phone and heard the beep signaling that the phone was running out of juice. "Marvin, charger," he said without turning around. "Sorry, I don't have it," said Nicholson, who was sitting in the rear of the van. Now Kerry turned around. "I'm running this campaign myself," he said, looking at Nicholson and the other aides. "I get myself breakfast. I get myself hairbrushes. I get myself my cell-phone charger. It's pretty amazing." In silent frustration, Nicholson helplessly punched the car seat.
In the biggest fight of his charmed life, John Kerry swung between bewilderment and anger when things didn't go his way on the campaign trial. "I can't believe I'm losing to this idiot," the Massachusetts Democrat sighed to a staffer when President Bush's poll numbers surged in April.
"Why the **** didn't he take it?" he wondered when Republican Sen. John McCain refused to be his running mate a half-dozen times. "It's a pack of ****ing lies, what they're saying about me," he shouted at an adviser as a group of Swift boat veterans stepped up attacks on his Vietnam War record while his team refused to let him respond...
I don't think these had any effect on Kerry's ability to govern, nor should they have influenced people either way. But it just proves that when it comes down to it, everyone, on both sides of the aisle, is human.