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Thursday, November 3, 2024
By Steven L. Taylor

Via WaPo we have the following piece on Alito, The Life of the Party? Only in the ‘Grand Old’ Sense, that includes this photo and caption:

That there is some extra-special analysis!

This in a piece whose general thesis is:

Washington is a town of geeks and misfits who, for the most part, suppress their inner dorks much of the time. But Alito wears this status on his sleeve: Leaving the cloistered courtroom, he emerges, blinking, into the sunlight.

To be honest, the whole thing is harmless and amusing, but does strike one as an odd story in a major paper less than a week after the nomination. It strikes me more as a fluff piece a month into the process after “real” stories had been exhausted. Although when Milbank became the Post fashion reporter, I don’t know:

And President Bush, a frat boy himself, has acquired a taste for the nerdy: His nominee for Federal Reserve Board chairman, Ben Bernanke, is known for wearing tan socks with dark suits.

The horror!

And, pray tell, what’s wrong with this?

Alito looks as if he were in town for a “Star Trek” convention.

In some ways it is a rather positive PR piece–the fellow hardly comes off as a hard-core extremist in this piece. Further, one could hardly see a piece like this written about Scalia…

And, as a side note, the following may help Matthew Shugart make up his mind about Alito:

In recent years, Alito insisted on wearing a baseball uniform while coaching Little League. As an appellate judge, he hung in his chambers a large poster of former Philadelphia Phillies baseball star Mike Schmidt. He went to baseball fantasy camp and had a baseball card made of himself.

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4 Responses to “Hard-Hitting Reporting at WaPo

  • el
  • pt
    1. Matthew Says:

      OK, he likes baseball. But he likes the PHILLIES.

      The stories about him and his son and their love of bbaseball do make me sort of misty-eyed, however.

      I think he would make a spectacular Commissioner of Baseball if Bud steps down. :-)

    2. Matthew Says:

      Oh, one more. Man, there have been a lot of positive stories about Alito.

      Honestly, I do not know how to take these stories (and I am talking about stories with far more substance than whether his ties stick out). Are these themes being fed to reporters who are just gobbling them up? Or is he really this swell a guy, loved by everyone who has ever worked with him in any capacity in life?

      I mean, the press has been laying it on pretty thick the last few days.

    3. Dr. Steven Taylor Says:

      Of course, it wouldn’t take much to improve on Bud….

      In terms of the positive stories–you’re right, they have been plentiful. Once would have expected more criticism, to be honest.

    4. bryan Says:

      Maybe he’s genuinely a nice guy. But the thing about wearing a baseball uniform to coach little league is a little weird, IMHO.


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