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Up or Down

By Zuzanna Kobrzynski
Posted Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005, at 7:15 PM ET

Bloggers are weighing in on the motives of those who will or will not vote for John Roberts' confirmation, North Korea's backtracking on its promise to dismantle its weapons program, and a 200-foot pink bunny.

Up or down: The Senate judiciary committee votes Thursday on John Roberts' confirmation as Supreme Court chief justice. Some senators are already announcing their intentions.

Patrick Leahy, the senior ranking Democrat on the judiciary committee has decided to give Roberts the nod. Clairvoyant conservative Byron York over at National Review's The Corner predicts two things: "Leahy's decision obviously means that there will not be a party-line vote in the Judiciary Committee. And it also suggests that senators who are arguing that Democrats should support Roberts so they can more effectively oppose the next Bush Court nominee may be gaining the upper hand in the debate among Senate Democrats." Armando at liberal clearinghouse Daily Kos rips Leahy, calling his decision, "Incredibly stupid and HARMFUL to the next fight in my opinion. "

Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, says he's voting nay. Democrat Bob Geiger at the Yellow-Dog Blog admires Reid's stand given that, "With the utter contempt Bush and his party show for Senate Democrats, this is an entirely appropriate time for the Minority Leader to put his foot down, show leadership and extend nothing whatsoever across the aisle." The Brothersjudd's Orrin assumes a "crazy pill" addiction is the cause of Reid's decision because "voting against such a clearly qualified nominee ... clears up the question of whether the 'moderate' from NV runs the caucus or MoveOn.org does."

Contributor Mimi Katz at liberal group blog The Next Hurrah theorizes Reid's vote, "puts additional pressure on Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine," both pro-choice Republican senators, to vote against Roberts and give Hillary Clinton the go-ahead to oppose the nomination. With Ted Kennedy on the record as opposing Roberts, Jonathan R. at GOP Bloggers eagerly anticipates the votes of Sens. Bayh, Biden, and Clinton given, "their presidential ambitions and the extreme left wing groups they must please force them into opposition."

Backtracking: After agreeing to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs," the North Korean regime threw a monkey wrench into the negations when it stated that, "it would not dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the United States first provides an atomic energy reactor." Bloggers disagree about who's to blame for this hiccup.

FrauBudgie, a "proud member of the 101st Keyboarding Division of the Pajamadeen," chalks it up to Kim Jong-il playing hardball because of a Clinton-era promise of a reactor. Nevertheless, tsks tsks FrauBudgie, "blackmail's blackmail, and playing games with nuclear arms is not acceptable. Even so, that old promise of a nuclear reactor for N. Korea is just another Clinton chicken coming home to roost." Liberal Charles Dodgson at Through the Looking Glass blames Republicans. "[T]he North Koreans started trying to build weapons again only after we'd failed for years to keep the promise," he writes. "Why? Because the appropriations were continually blocked by the Republican Congress." Greg Wythe concludes "there isn't a dime's worth of "difference between what the Bush Adminstration and the Clinton Administration have done in regards to North Korea. None, zero, nada."

Frank at IMAO, whose motto is "Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated,"* reveals a heretofore secret—and satirical—list of 10 additional demands. Snarky Republican Damian's reaction to the announcement: "Boy, if you can't trust a totalitarian Stalinist dynasty, who can you trust?"

Bunny art: Members of a Viennese art group installed a 200-foot-long pink fuzzy bunny on the 5,000-foot-high Colletto Fava mountain, located in Italy's Piedmont region. According to the group, the bunny,"… was knitted by dozens of grannies out of pink wool." Bloggers revel in its absurdity.

Stanislaus, guest-posting on the New York-based Winking In The Sincere Light has the nerve to ask, "[C]ould the Giant Italian Bunny defeat the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in hand-to-hand combat?" He concludes it probably would be a draw since "Stay Puft has got the size, but the G.I.B. must be spry as hell." Design guru Tony Stephens gets ready to sell out his fellow man and wholeheartedly signals his acquiescence, "I, for one, welcome our Giant Pink Bunny Overlords."

Correction, Sept. 22: The article originally and incorrectly described IMAO's motto as "Unfair. Unbalanced. Undedicated." (Return to the corrected sentence.)

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Zuzanna Kobrzynski is Slate's executive assistant.
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