The ABCs of Iraq Injuries

"Reporters always have the choice to embed with U.S. troops, but when they do that they are left to cover one dimension of the story in one confined military sector."

Still more pre-SOTU polls: NBC/WSJ has Bush at 39, Time at 41.

"A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows that Americans identify troop reductions and action on health care as their top two priorities for the nation. Fully two-thirds say it's time to reduce troop levels in Iraq, while just 28% support maintaining existing troop levels," the Journal reports.

So . . . what was up with that charade of an Alito filibuster--charade in the sense that the Democrats who backed it knew full well that it was guaranteed to fail?

"Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy begged, cajoled, and thundered in their attempt to persuade colleagues to join them in blocking a vote on the Supreme Court confirmation of Samuel A. Alito Jr., but in the end yesterday they succeeded only in splitting the Democratic caucus," says the Boston Globe .

"Despite the Massachusetts Democrats' efforts, Republicans and moderate Democrats mustered 72 votes yesterday in favor of ending debate on Alito's nomination -- far more than the 60 votes needed to stop the filibuster. . . .

"The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, had argued in a closed Democratic caucus last week against mounting a filibuster, saying that it had no chance of success and that it would only distract from the party's focus on President Bush's domestic spying program, Republican lobbying scandals, and other potential election-year issues. . . .

"Several other Democrats who voted for the filibuster also did so with reluctance, saying that they had doubts about its wisdom but that they would go along with the effort. Kerry and Kennedy, however, were unapologetic."

"As the last obstacles to confirmation faded away Monday, Democratic aides said their party had initially expected Judge Alito to live up to his reputation as 'Scalito,' suggesting a conservative firebrand in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia," says the New York Times . "Failing to adjust to his meekness, Democratic aides admit they searched too hard for scandal in Judge Alito's past. . . .

"Some Republican Senate staff members said they initially worried that Judge Alito might be too nervous to perform well under the pressure of the hearings. In one of his early meetings with a Senate Republican, Judge Alito's hands shook as he compulsively tied and untied the lace of one shoe. . . .

"Judge Alito's political naïveté led to at least one early miscue. Unaccustomed to attention from the news media, Judge Alito looked surprised when White House aides advised him to dispatch a relative to guard his 90-year-old mother from inquiring journalists, one administration official said.

"The next day, The Associated Press quoted his mother saying, 'Of course, he is against abortion,' -- the first chink in his supporters' portrait of him as an impartial jurist with no preconceived views."