# World's smallest violin playing for Samuel Alito's wife. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720 "2006-01-12T22:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/61 "2006-01-13T00:38:56Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Y’know, sometimes I read a post by Diogenes and think to myself, “Self, Diogenes isn’t so bad, look at what he’s saying here, it’s very reasonable…you oughta cut the guy a bit more slack.” True. Whenever he posts something unpopular, he seems to only want to escalate shit after people react badly. Why do you do that, **Dio**? Is it because you don’t want to cop out to the man? And **Squink** raised a good point, but that’s for another thread. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/62 "2006-01-13T00:42:05Z")
What I hated was MSNBC interrupting good questions and answers just to show the damn crying over and over. [paraphrasing] BIDEN: Judge, what do you think about stare decisis? ALITO: Well, there’s verticle and horizontal stare decisis … MSNBC: We interrupt this boring diologue on the geometry of stare decisis to show you a clip from yesterday when **ALITO’S WIFE CRIED!!** :rolleyes: HAIL CSPAN! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/63 "2006-01-13T00:43:20Z")
It wasn’t my intention to make a big deal out of the wife, I meant it to be more of a thread about the overcooked reactions to, but of course, that was the one throwaway line that people thought they could score points off and so they’ve focused the thread accordingly. Someone give me one legitimate reason for the wife to think her husand was being treated unfairly. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/64 "2006-01-13T00:51:50Z")
I really don’t have a problem with her crying. She’s probably been under a lot of strain, and her emotions got the best of her. Katie Couric is the fucking cow. “Is enough enough?” What the fuck does that mean. The guy put an organization on his resumé in **1985.** Turns out the organization had a newsletter. One newsletter said that blacks and hispanics “need to know their place.” I would like to know if the man’s a racist. I can understand not resigning form the organization on the spot. I cannot understand continuing to support the organization. That’s not exactly a grilling. I’m not going to have any sympathy for Mrs Alito as long as her tears are a political statement. Get her husband’s handlers to take them off the table. Perhaps she could make a statement to that effect. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/65 "2006-01-13T00:55:01Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > After the WMD plot, “mission accomplished”, “no wiretaps without warrants”, Brownie doing a ‘heck of a job’, and Harriet fucking Meiers being the ‘most qualified candidate’? If fear that your absurdometer is broken **John**. There’s a wealth of evidence pointing to the absurd lengths this administration will go to in order to get their way, and no reason to suspect that supreme court nominations would bring out anomolous ethical behavior on their part. Puh-leeeez. Whatever you think of Bush, you have no reason to project that onto Mrs. Alito. I supose that Rove threatened to torture her unless she cried at the exact right moment. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/66 "2006-01-13T00:58:23Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Puh-leeeez. Whatever you think of Bush, you have no reason to project that onto Mrs. Alito. I supose that Rove threatened to torture her unless she cried at the exact right moment. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! :rolleyes: It could have been manipulated in such a way as to merely take advantage of a rection that the Pubs thought was likely. If they knew ahead of time that she could cry at the drop of a hat and get the vapors at the slightest bit of serious questioning of her husband, then they could have mande sure that she was positioned in a spot for the cameras to catch it. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/67 "2006-01-13T00:58:31Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > I didn’t say Roe was the ONLY litmus test but its one of them. Why should Roe be a litmus test? Legal scholars, inlcuding the likes of Justice Ginsburg, don’t think much of Roe as a legal decision. "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who founded the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, once admitted that the decision “was difficult to justify.” Says Edward Lazarus, a former clerk to the late Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the opinion in Roe, “As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe borders on the indefensible. I say this as someone utterly committed to the right to choose.” [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0601120125jan12,1,6168229.column?coll=chi-news-hed](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0601120125jan12,1,6168229.column?coll=chi-news-hed) (registration required) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/68 "2006-01-13T01:04:57Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > It could have been manipulated in such a way as to merely take advantage of a rection that the Pubs thought was likely. If they knew ahead of time that she could cry at the drop of a hat and get the vapors at the slightest bit of serious questioning of her husband, then they could have mande sure that she was positioned in a spot for the cameras to catch it. I’m pretty sure you were watching the B-roll on that, though. I mean there is a camera pointed at the Alitos, and two others at 45º angles pointing at the committee. The one pointing at the nominee can be on all the time, because it never has to pan or move. The cut I saw actually only had the very end of Mrs Alito crying, where she’s getting up, because Lindsay Wagner was still asking the so-called question. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/69 "2006-01-13T01:08:06Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Non-PC does not equal “bigot.” It wasn’t really about that anyway. The issue was whether he had exaggerated or falsified his resume in order to make himself appear more Comservative during the Reagan years. That makes Graham’s question (and his subsequent smarm fest about the crying) all the more disingenuous. Ridiculous. Alito never claimed he wasn’t part of that group. As to whether he slanted his resume toward the conservative… BFD. Who wouldn’t when applying for a position in a conservative administration??? That has fuck-all to do with his fitness to sit on the SC. I shall now proclaim, Diogenes like, that there is only one reason the Democrats pursued that line of questioning: They were trying to paing Alito as a bigot. > [@](#): > > Only a cow would get that upset over nothing. Whether she can control it is neither here nor there. The woman is **disconnected from reality**. Empahsis added. Irony, thy name is **Diogenes**! > [@](#): > > I didn’t say Roe was the ONLY litmus test but its one of them. Doesn’t matter. There shouldn’t be ANY litmus tests as to how a justice would rule on any case. No justice should make up his mind about any ruling before it comes before him. Period. There is only one valid answer to the question about whether someone would uphold \*Roe \*or not: it depends on the legal arguments made. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/70 "2006-01-13T01:11:19Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > It wasn’t my intention to make a big deal out of the wife, I meant it to be more of a thread about the overcooked reactions to, but of course, that was the one throwaway line that people thought they could score points off and so they’ve focused the thread accordingly. > > Someone give me one legitimate reason for the wife to think her husand was being treated unfairly. Oh my God, you are so full of shit! What’s the title of this thread? “World’s smallest violin playing for **Samuel Alito’s wife.** ” Your entire OP? Making fun of her for crying. You’ve got _two sentences_ in there that don’t make a direct reference to the woman, and those sentences are, “Jesus Christ. Whatever happened to shame?” But everyone here is seizing on “one throwaway line.” That constitutes _90% of your fucking post._ Pathetic, **Dio**. Absolutely pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/71 "2006-01-13T01:19:16Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > Why should Roe be a litmus test? Legal scholars, inlcuding the likes of Justice Ginsburg, don’t think much of Roe as a legal decision. > > "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who founded the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, once admitted that the decision “was difficult to justify.” > > Says Edward Lazarus, a former clerk to the late Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the opinion in Roe, “As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe borders on the indefensible. I say this as someone utterly committed to the right to choose.” > > [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0601120125jan12,1,6168229.column?coll=chi-news-hed](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0601120125jan12,1,6168229.column?coll=chi-news-hed) (registration required) It isn’t really Roe _per se_ which many find problematic. It’s the fact that it’s based on _Griswold_, which established the Right of Privacy. If Griswold is sound then Roe is sound and The Right to Privacy is now so ingrained that only a massive tool would rule against it. Roe (and Griswold) are perfect examples where _stare decisis_ is the only sane position which should apply. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/72 "2006-01-13T01:21:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > But everyone here is seizing on “one throwaway line.” That constitutes _90% of your fucking post._ To be fair, it’s about 50/50, although if you throw in the title it tilts more towards Ms Alito than the press. And fo course \*\*DtC \*\*had to imply that it was only (or mostly) Fox News making a big deal about it, when if fact I saw this made a big deal of on several networks, including PBS last night. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/73 "2006-01-13T01:22:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Oh my God, you are so full of shit! What’s the title of this thread? “World’s smallest violin playing for **Samuel Alito’s wife.** ” Your entire OP? Making fun of her for crying. You’ve got _two sentences_ in there that don’t make a direct reference to the woman, and those sentences are, “Jesus Christ. Whatever happened to shame?” > > But everyone here is seizing on “one throwaway line.” That constitutes _90% of your fucking post._ > > Pathetic, **Dio**. Absolutely pathetic. The line that everyone’s getting their panties up their crack about is that I called her a “cow.” If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have had this reaction. Can you give me a single reason why I should feel sorry for her? Do you think she’s really a victim? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/74 "2006-01-13T01:23:18Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > It isn’t really Roe _per se_ which many find problematic. It’s the fact that it’s based on _Griswold_, which established the Right of Privacy. If Griswold is sound then Roe is sound and The Right to Privacy is now so ingrained that only a massive tool would rule against it. Roe (and Griswold) are perfect examples where _stare decisis_ is the only sane position which should apply. It’s both. And you’re sounding a lot like O’Reilly with the “only sane position” bit. Maybe you should stop watching him so much, **Dio**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/75 "2006-01-13T01:26:00Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s quite plain you’re a sexist. Being a bigot makes most of your arguments quite suspect. So…being a bigot makes ones argument suspect? Interesting. I wish I could join an organization to keep women and darkies from posting on the SDMB. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/76 "2006-01-13T01:27:44Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] To be fair, it’s about 50/50, although if you throw in the title it tilts more towards Ms Alito than the press. [/quote} Well maybe it did seem that way but it really was the media and (some) Republican’s reaction to the incident that was in my mind when I wrote the OP. I guess this is a question of just not being more careful or thoughtful about how I focused my OP. > [@](#): > > And fo course \*\*DtC \*\*had to imply that it was only (or mostly) Fox News making a big deal about it, when if fact I saw this made a big deal of on several networks, including PBS last night. This may be. Fox was the only network I was watching. They were talking about it endlessly and had a subtitle that said “Alito’s wife crying: Are Democrats that clueless?” If The other Netwrks were that shameless and blatantly biased about it then I’ll be happy to include them in my pitting. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/77 "2006-01-13T01:30:21Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > The line that everyone’s getting their panties up their crack about is that I called her a “cow.” If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have had this reaction. Ah, the alternate universe defence. Always compelling. > [@](#): > > Can you give me a single reason why I should feel sorry for her? Do you think she’s really a victim? Can you give a single reason why you feel justified in calling her names and assigning the basest possible motives to her reactions? Other than the fact that you forgot to take your anti-asshole pills this morning? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/78 "2006-01-13T01:36:08Z")
I’ll have to join in on the pile on. I’m thinking the crying was prearranged. If a Senator had pulled something completely unexpected, maybe I might be a little sympathetic. But, I’m convinced this was to show how the mean Democrats were attacking Scalito. By the way, why does he have his wife along for a job interview? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/79 "2006-01-13T01:37:30Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Irony, thy name is **Diogenes**! > …There shouldn’t be ANY litmus tests as to how a justice would rule on any case. No justice should make up his mind about any ruling before it comes before him. Period. There is only one valid answer to the question about whether someone would uphold \*Roe \*or not: it depends on the legal arguments made. Given that response by the nominee, one would have to say: Evasiveness, thy name is **Alito**! I suppose we’ll just have to wait until the next challenge to _Roe_, to see if a heretofore scrupulously uncommitted Alito decides that, my goodness, that **is** a valid argument for overturning _Roe_! The light has dawned! Count me in!!! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720/80 "2006-01-13T01:40:11Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Someone give me one legitimate reason for the wife to think her husand was being treated unfairly. I’ll wait until you give me one legitimate reason to believe that she was crying because she thought her husband was being treated unfairly, rather than simply because she didn’t handle the strain of watching her husband being grilled very well. Circuit court judges, with rare Posner-type exceptions, toil in relative obscurity, only truly known among the legal community in their particular jurisdiction. Certainly Samuel Alito is such a judge: can anyone here who isn’t a lawyer say they’ve ever heard of the man prior to his nomination? Certainly Judge Alito is unaccustomed to the spotlight; his family members must be even moreso. Lemme tell you about my mom. Sweet lady. Lovely person. Cares about just about everybody. When she meets someone, she’s more likely to give 'em a hug than shake their hand. And I’ll tell ya, she’ll cry at the drop of a dime, and not always – hell, infrequently – for entirely rational reasons. She’s just a naturally emotional person, and I wouldn’t have her any other way, because that’s what makes her so damned sweet. I guaran-damn-tee you that if it was me in that chair, she’d probably excuse herself from the gallery multiple times, because she wouldn’t enjoy watching me get questioned rigorously – even if those questions are entirely fair and appropriate for a judicial nominee. And that doesn’t make her a media grandstanding whore, or a “cow” who is “disconnected from reality.” It makes her a mother who cares for her son, nothing more and nothing less. And thinking that such an act would make her a “cow” living in some kind of fantasyland makes _you_ an asshole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-smallest-violin-playing-for-samuel-alitos-wife/339720.md?page=5)