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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's nomination process was so controlled that the White House even approved her clothes, she told Yalies when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday. Sotomayor described her grueling nomination process privately when she spoke to 1,800 alumni, students and faculty, the New Haven Register reports.

~EXCERPT~ SAN FRANCISCO – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s big fundraiser here got off to a great start on Friday night. And then, well, the air went a bit out of the balloon. Kicking off the party at the Orpheum Theater was Sam Malone, a.k.a. Ted Danson, the “Cheers” actor, who introduced Mrs. Clinton with the sort of adjectives that dazzled Diane Chambers, Rebecca Howe, and umpteen other ladies of Boston. “Warm,” “wonderful,” “beautiful,” and “intelligent,” Mr. Danson said of the candidate – who, dare I say, from the mezzanine of the theater, was radiant in full blush and wide smile....

Marianne Pernold was called by Clinton's campaign ahead of time to go to the coffee shop in Ft. Smith New Hampshire (older woman-democrat). She was invited by Terry Norelli of Hillary's campaign. Questioner thinks that Hillary was sincere because the question was personal. Marianne says that immediately after the crying, Hillary resumed the political face. "Marianne Pernold tells 630 WMAL's Chris Core she truly believes that Senator Hillary Clinton's emotional response to her question at a meeting in New Hampshire was genuine. Pernold asked Clinton how she managed to keep going during the rough campaign, and Clinton's somewhat-teary response has...

A couple of yahoos interrupted Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight in Salem by waving big signs and chanting “Iron my shirts!” Clinton asked that the lights be turned on, apparently to see them better and declared. “Oh the remnants of sexism, alive and well tonight,” to applause. She then talked about breaking glass ceilings, before joking as the pair were hustled out: “If there’s anybody in the audience who wants to learn to iron his own shirt, we can talk about that.” We followed.to ask what the heck they were thinking. Nick Gemelli, who is 21, and born at least a...

The anti-war phonies By JOHN BRUHNS I CAME HOME from Iraq in February 2004 and since then have fought tooth and nail for an end to the war.I did so because I believe the war is immoral and illegal. I aligned myself with some high- profile lobbying organizations who I believed would have the most significant impact on ending the war. In doing so, I detached myself from the people of this country who are honestly committed to ending the war.I traded my convictions for "special interest" groups who sometimes seem to be in place simply to smear those who...

I only saw a little of the Republican presidential debate last night, which featured video questions sent in through YouTube selected by CNN. There’s a lot of griping this morning about how the debate was an embarrassment and a bad night for the GOP in general because CNN chose questions that were either defiantly peculiar, beneath contempt, or freakish. I wonder if there’s a little oversensitivity at work here, because the great surprise of the first YouTube debate in September, featuring Democrats, was how substantive it was and how it forced the Democratic field to engage for the first time...

Context, people, context: This is the inevitable M.O. every time bloggers and commentators on the right have challenged the Absolute Moral Authority of the Democrat poster child du jour. It happened with Cindy Sheehan. And the military recruiter-bashing thugs at Santa Cruz. And MoveOn.org. And the phony soldier saga. Crush Rush is just the tip of the iceberg. Just ask the mom-and-pop Cafe Press owners who got those cease-and-desist letters from MoveOn.org’s lawyers for daring to defend Gen. David Petraeus.

The top three Democratic presidential candidates participated in a forum Monday on the connection between their religious faith and political positions. The unusual gathering, broadcast live by CNN, was co-hosted by Sojourners, a Christian social justice network. The Rev. Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, and an organizer of the forum, has been telling Democrats not to cede religion to Republicans. He has spoken at several Democratic Party retreats, teaching Democrats how to speak about faith. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois mentioned faith in a generic way, baptizing their liberal politics...

"President Bush, center, is greeted by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, left, and Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu upon his arrival in New Orleans, La."

The GOP Should Dump Its Litmus Test By Michael Reagan FrontPageMagazine.com | February 16, 2007 The philosopher Diogenes is said to have wandered around ancient Greece holding a lantern and seeking to find an honest man. My fellow Republicans, sans lanterns, are now wandering around the political landscape seeking to find the perfect Republican presidential candidate. I don’t know if Diogenes ever found that honest man, but I do know that those Republicans are never going to find the perfect candidate, simply because he does not exist. Some Republicans insist that the only perfect candidate would be a clone of...

Here are the three leading candidates for president in the Republican party, a party based in the South and in the interior, rural in nature, and backed in large part by social conservatives: the senior senator from Arizona, a congenital maverick with friends in the press and a habit of dissing the base of his party; the former governor of deep-blue Massachusetts, son of a Michigan governor, a Mormon who looks, sounds, and comes across as a city boy; and the former mayor of New York, the Big Apple itself, ethnic and Catholic, pro-choice and pro-gun control, married three times,...

McCain faces fight for the right David Reinhard Portland Oregonian February 12, 2007 When successful Republican presidential candidates talk about their base, they're usually talking about the GOP's social conservatives. When Arizona Sen. John McCain talks about his base, he's referring to the mainstream media. Which helps explain two things. One, why McCain was not a successful Republican presidential candidate eight years ago. Two, why he's taken steps over the last few years to get right with the religious right. Will it work? As Democrats cogitate over Barack Obama's challenge to front-runner Hillary Clinton, will the new McCain complicate matters...

I told you so. For all you “pink dog” Republicans who thought she walked on water and voted accordingly for “Princess Pollyanna” and got suckered in by her cutesy little schoolgirl, milk-and-cookies demeanor, you got exactly what you deserved. The big, bad wolf just took off the little pretty sheep costume. I tried to tell you she was nothing more than a venomous snake with a maternal smile but apparently, few heeded my advice, as she was coronated instead of elected. I have more respect and trust for a far left wing Democrat than any of these pusillanimous so-called “moderate”...

JOHN Sununu has reason to be irritated and concerned. Last week, television stations in his home state of New Hampshire began showing advertisements attacking the senator, nearly two full years before he is up for re-election next November.Sununu's crime was to play a part in preventing the US Senate from debating a resolution that would have expressed disapproval of President George Bush's plan to deploy five more brigades of troops to Iraq. The senator, who like the rest of his Republican colleagues has long been a reliable supporter of the president, faces a key test: repudiate his past backing for...

She not only is a lifelong Republican, but an anti-big government conservative Republican who campaigned for Robert Dole in 1996. Oh, and one other thing. The mere thought of Hillary Clinton becoming president makes her stomach churn. As her husband, Robert Stross - also a conservative Republican - puts it, "We don't believe anything Hillary says, and we think she'll do whatever it takes to get elected." All of which makes the Madison couple's recent decision all the more intriguing: They've joined the Wisconsin chapter of DraftObama.org, a grassroots movement to help the progressive Democratic senator from Illinois win the...

Members of the congregation at Saddleback Church, the church led by Rick Warren, are evidently being ushered right out of membership for voicing any concern over the idea of Barack Obama being allowed to speak at the church recently. I received a lengthy letter from a member of Saddleback this morning that confirmed as much:

Conservative Democrats seek larger role By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago For a dozen years, the Democratic conservatives known as Blue Dogs have been baying at the moon, ignored by Republicans and tolerated by their more liberal Democratic colleagues. Now, these House lawmakers say that is about to change. Republicans "did not lose their seats to liberal Democrats" in last weeks elections, said Rep. Mike Ross (news, bio, voting record), D-Ark. "Republicans lost their seats to Blue Dog Democrats." "We'll have a lot to say about what passes and what doesn't" when the 110th Congress convenes in...

The morning of Friday, April 18, 1997, Daniel Wells of McKinney took the stand in his own defense. Charged with aggravated sexual assault for fondling his girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter, Wells explained it was all a misunderstanding. Wells was a decorated Vietnam war hero, with two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Medals for valor. On cross-examination, testimony revealed that even the mother initially hadn't believed the little girl. It was the war hero's word against the child's. In desperation the prosecutor's office tracked down B.G. Burkett, a silver-haired Dallas financial adviser who has obtained a national reputation as a military researcher...

Our correspondent examines how the party masterminded its move to the centre and reined in liberals to seize hostile territoriesThey wear cowboy boots, chew tobacco, love hunting, hate abortion, want less government spending — and some voted for Ronald Reagan. Now they are headed to Congress as Democrats. Although the Democrats’ victory was above all an overwhelming repudiation of the conflict in Iraq, it was also built on the back of moderate, often conservative candidates recruited to compete in traditionally Republican territory. When Congress returns in January, both the House and Senate will see something of an ideological shift, with...

As a graduate of the Yale class of 1966, I resent the self-serving lies and misrepresentations advanced by my classmate John Kerry. Herewith, a few corrections: John Kerry has been using the Pershing name to dramatize his Vietnam experience, claiming to have been a close friend of Richard Pershing, the grandson of General (Black Jack) Pershing. Richard Pershing was a member of the Yale class of 1966, and he was killed in Vietnam shortly after we graduated. However, Kerry's constant references to his 'dearest' friend are exaggerated and exploitative. In fact, Dick Pershing and I roomed together for all 4...