View From a Height

"Activists," Eh?

Jim Hughes of the Denver Post covers the local activists on both sides of the Robert nomination this morning. Sort of.

Of 18 paragraphs, three discuss the pro-Roberts Judicial Confirmation Network, four equate the two sides, and seven discuss NARAL and other left-wing opponents of a sane judiciary. (Four paragraphs are neutral, not mentioning the activists directly.)

While the Post is silent on the conservatives' desiderata, the coverage of the lefties includes the following:

NARAL "action teams" will be watching the hearings from Colorado, ready to cry foul if they don't like what they see, executive director Meg Froelich said.

"Let's not have a coronation with Roberts," she said. "Let's have a real, genuine process."

...

The Colorado Coalition for Fair Justices - a coalition of local activist groups, some opposing Roberts and others officially neutral - has asked Salazar and Allard to forward to the Judiciary Committee a list of questions it wants Roberts to answer on civil liberties and environmental matters.

"We're really looking for a transparent process, one that asks important and tough questions and demands clear responses," said Catherine Montoya, head of the coalition and a consultant who works with People for the American Way, a national group that opposes Roberts' confirmation.

...

"We expect our senators not to act merely as a rubber stamp to President Bush's nominees," NARAL-Pro Choice Colorado said in a statement shortly after Roberts was nominated. "Sens. Salazar and Allard have a duty to Coloradans and the American public to ask tough questions and only vote for nominees that support privacy, freedom, reproductive rights and personal responsibility."

The Post describes at length the positions and tactics of the leftist opposition to Roberts.

Hughes knew about Progress for America's position that prior hearings - specifically those of Ruth Bader Ginsburg - set a precedent for what nominees should be required to answer.

How do I know he knew this? Because he was in the roomwith Clay and me as we interviewed Ben Ginsburg and Bob Knauss: