Conspiracists among us will no doubt believe that the dowdy Mrs. Alito’s tears at yesterday’s hearings were simply a PR ploy designed to generate sympathy for her (equally dowdy) husband. The short piece and photo in today’s New York Times likely did more to advance Sam’s prospects than all the federal judges the Republicans can muster to testify on his behalf.
If you missed it, apparently Mrs. Alito recused (I mean excused) herself from the hearings to grab a good cry in the ladies room following South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham’s facetious remark, “Are you really a closet bigot?”
I personally believe Mrs. Alito’s tears were real. (Maybe she came to the realization that her husband really is a closet bigot???) Nonetheless, the sympatico created with this one newsmaking gesture might very well have closed the door on the Dems. Ahhh, the power of the image for swaying the court of public opinion.