When you're going to use as your No.1 talking point a 17-year old story with the potential to be interpreted as an ethnic smear, it's a good idea to know something about document security, so that your slimy ass is covered. The DNC needs a quick seminar on MS Word, as Ed Morrissey explains. I guess it would be Microsoft Word Lesson #2, because they've already learned Lesson #1: Never attempt to forge documents using Microsoft Word which are supposed to have originated before Microsoft Word existed. Excerpts from Ed:
This document started circulating, unsigned, yesterday on Capitol Hill and among the press. As has been noted elsewhere, the mouthbreathers who produced it forgot the first rule of e-mailing sensitive Microsoft Word documents -- don't do it at all. The metadata clearly indicates that the author of this goes by the name "prendergastc", most likely Chris Prendergast, who works on the DNC. By displaying the document properties in Word, one finds out that the company holding the license for the copy of Word that created the document is -- the DNC. The last person to edit the document was AdlerD, which Redstate thinks would be Devorah Adler, also of the DNC, and who makes considerably more than Chris Prendergast does. That moves the problem from an out-of-control flunky to one of deliberate smear attempts by the Democratic Party itself.There's a bit more here, too. The document comes from a template that was created on July 7th, which coincides with the nomination of John Roberts. The document/template title? "how they made their $$, personal holdings, the whole deal". Talk about operating from a playbook! If one needs to see a reason why originalism is not just desirable but at this stage absolutely necessary, it would be difficult to come up with a better example.
There's a lot of discussion in comments sections about whether or not it's a stretch to interpret the DNC talking point as having anything to do with Alito's Italian-American background. The defenders say that it merely criticizes Alito's record as a prosecutor, the message being nothing more than that he was an incompetent one. Sure.
That's why one isolated case from Alito's entire prosecutorial career is singled out for notice, and the fact that it involved mobsters getting off scott free is merely coincidental. Let the reader infer what he may. That's why this dusty old item is No.1 on the DNC list of talking points against Sam Alito. They're not suggesting anything untoward took place in the case, perish the thought! By the way, have you heard Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian? Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just mention it in passing.
Posted by dan at November 1, 2005 4:37 PM