Washington Post: Alito Wears Dork Status on His Sleeve

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. hasn't generated the rabid opposition many in the media would like to see. So now he's being made fun of for not being sufficiently cool.

In today's Washington Post, Dana Milbank takes the judge to task for assorted failings. Alito, we're told, wears a rumpled and ill-fitting suit as he makes the rounds of senatorial offices. We learn that "At Princeton, he skipped the selective eating clubs to join Stevenson Hall, known as a haven for dweebs." While coaching Little League, the judge wore a baseball uniform. He has a picture of former Phillies star Mike Schmidt hung in his appellate chambers. He's gone to a baseball fantasy camp.

"Are these not the marks of a nerd,?" asks Milbank. To make certain we arrive at the correct conclusion, he observes: "Washington is a town of geeks and misfits who, for the most part,suppress their inner dorks much of the time. But Alito wears this status on his sleeve."

It should be noted in fairness that it's unlikely Dana Milbank is himself confused for James Bond. If Judge Alito's detractors have nothing more substantive than this in terms of criticism, his nomination must be in very good shape.