not sure if y'all can cut'n'paste the link below but it's a pretty good example of obfuscation by the White House Press office. Helen Thomas is trying to get them to say whether or not they're seeking an exemption for the CIA from the McCain amendment prohibiting torture (they are, for anyone not following this embarrassing and troubling story). The obfuscation reminds me of that by the State Dept during the Clinton Administration when they were asked the difference between "acts of genocide" which is the term they had used to describe what was going on in Rwanda and "genocide" which is what was going on.Supporters of the current administration may point to this as a telling dfifference between the two Administrations, which is that Secretary Powell, then then-Resident Bush did use the term "genocide" to describe what is going on in Darfur, Sudan.http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001436211Another question to add to Don Craig's list below: If Alito is leaning towards preserving "Roe v. Wade," why is the religious right so quiet?

On the Miers withdrawal, I'd agree that liberals had nothing to do with it. They just sat back and watched the conservatives go after each other. I did see a good piece the other day that the conservatives violated one of the basic premises on which they'd been "campaigning" on Bush's judicial nominations -- namely that all of the President's nominees deserve a hearing and an up-or-down vote in the full Senate. Apparently that reasoning didn't apply to Miers. Hmmm.And now the question that should be asked is, If Alito is so well-qualified, why didn't Bush nominate him in the first place?