(Read about Laura Bush after the fold)When Blitzer came back from the commercial break with more speculation and recapping, that's when I put on my tinfoil hat and started wondering if this story was intended to dominate the airtime and preclude any mention of Alito. When the first half hour had passed without any other coverage, I was sure of it. What really nailed it for me, however, was the start of the second half when, after a couple more uncertainties, Wolf introduced the other "important story we have for you today" - an exclusive interview with Laura Bush.
I don't know how I could stomach it, but I watched Zain Verjee interview the First Lady. Like I said, I hadn't watched much news, and I needed my fix. I was also keeping an eye on the crawl at the bottom of the screen, hoping to see some Alito bashing - maybe the revelation of a smoking gun in the boxes of CAP documents.
Laura and Zain talked about the election of a woman president in Liberia, Condoleezza Rice replacing Bush in '08 and the plight of women around the world. I was impressed that Verjee asked:
As far as women go, there were a lot of Iraqi women that say, we're really frustrated now, looking at this constitution, because it actually limits our rights, based partly on Islamic law, meaning that divorce laws are not in their favor, inheritance laws are not in their favor. What are your thoughts?
But Laura Bush answered, "A lot of people actually say it's a very good constitution that does protect the rights of women." She's getting good at living in a bubble like her hubby. Look for her in a red state campaign soon - maybe Senator from Texas.
The first part of the interview was over and the viewers got more of Wolf saying Zawahiri "may - repeat - may have been killed" before going to commercial. As lead in to the second part of the interview, we heard Zain Verjee saying:
Laura Bush told me about her reaction when she saw the wife of Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, just burst into tears at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings earlier this week.
I can't believe what a tool CNN is for this administration. However, Verjee did say at one point:
The president, when running for office in 2000 said, "I want to be a uniter, not a divider". Today Washington is divided. The country is divided.
What really got me was Laura Bush's response when she was asked, "Do you think Washington has become more partisan since the president took office?" She said:
No, not really. I think Washington was very, very partisan, has been partisan for our entire history. George and I got to go to Springfield, Illinois, to the new Lincoln Library. And when you see there, all the headlines from the newspapers, all the op-ed pieces written around the country about Lincoln you realize that it's actually a constant in a democracy.
Think about that for a minute. It took me a while. I got the comparison to Lincoln - you know, the Best Republican President Ever. But eventually it sunk in. Mrs. Bush was equating the divisiveness and animosity in our country today with what was occurring in Lincoln's time - the Civil War - and she thinks that's okay! How bad does it have to be before she'd call it a problem? Does anything sink it with these people? Even their own words?
The broadcast went on with more non-information about Zawahiri and then ended the hour with a filler story about the sale of cell phone records on the Internet that I first heard from kos last week.
Much to my chagrin, there was no mention of the Alito hearings, only the reference to his crying wife.