CAT FIGHT!

Arlen Spector and Teddy Kennedy just had a dust up during the Sam Alito hearing over Kennedy's effort to subpoena documents related to a club that Alito belonged to at Princeton and listed on resumes. Old Arlen was downright pissed and ended up telling Ted that he, Specter, was the chair of the committee and Ted wasn't going to run it.

The club in question, the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, or CAP, sought to exclude
women and minorities (evidently not Italian-Americans) from being accepted into Princeton. (which didn't admit women until 1969 while Alito was attending.)

The reason Ted and the Dems are so steamed is that, as Ted noted, Alito can recall hundreds of the opinions he's written in great detail, yet he steadfastly maintains that he doesn't recall anything about belonging to this club. Try as they might, the Dems get nothing but amnesia from Alito on the subject.

The move to get a subpoena is a bold gambit by the Dems as if they are sucessful at gaining access to the documents, which are currently under seal and the property of the club, they feel it might reveal the racist and sexist views of the club which they could then try to link to Alito by suggesting that he must be at the least insensitive to such views, and imply that he shares them.

Look for the Arlen-Ted grudge match when it's replayed ad nauseum later tonight.

Note: The Washinton Post, literally within minutes, had the video clip of the exchange between Specter and Kennedy posted on their site.

If you don't have enough reason to seriously oppose Alito (there are plenty), this ought to scare the hell ouf of any rational person.

Reuters - Mon Jan 9, 12:12 AM ET Religious leaders, including Rev. Jerry Falwell (L with pasty face), applaud during a ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, November 4, 2003. Falwell said on Sunday that confirming Federal Appeals Court judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court would be the biggest victory for his constituency in three decades.