Pity Parties

So, following a recent tradition, Obama and Biden stopped by the Supreme Court to chat with the Justices yesterday. All but one, that is. As the LA Times notes, Obama, Biden make pre-inaugural visit to the Supreme Court:

President-elect Barack Obama paid a visit Wednesday to the Supreme Court and chatted in front of a fireplace with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., a fellow Harvard law graduate whose confirmation he opposed three years ago.

The two will meet again at noon Tuesday, when the chief justice gives the oath of the office to the incoming president.

Wednesday's meeting was described as a relaxed, get-acquainted session. It included Roberts, seven associate justices and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

The absence of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who was at the court Wednesday morning for arguments in two cases, was a mystery. He has, however, voiced lingering anger over Senate Democrats, including Obama and Biden, who voted against his confirmation three years ago. When walking on Capitol Hill, Alito has said, he crosses to the far side of the street whenever he nears the Senate Office Building.

See also, A Chat Around the Fireplace for Obama, Biden, and the Supreme Court.

Of course, I wouldn't expect anything else from the petty prince from Princeton, who tried to hide his membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton -- a group with a racist and sexist history -- during his confirmation hearings. See Ivy Version of the CCC. Just the kind of judicial temperment that you'd want for the Supreme Court.

And then there's the news that a pre-inaugural, bi-partisan dinner bash will be missing one of the stars of the election scene. You could call it Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner. As Kevin Drum of MoJo writes, Palin to be No Show at Obama's Dinner for McCain:

On the night before Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation's 44th President, his inaugural committee will host a series of dinners honoring public servants it deems champions of bipartisanship. To be feted are Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Colin Powell, and John McCain, whom Obama vanquished last November. At the McCain dinner, the GOP senator, who managed to suppress his bipartisan tendencies during the hard-fought 2008 campaign, will be introduced by one of his closest Senate confidants: Senator Lindsey Graham. But McCain's No. 1 booster during the last year will not be among those hailing McCain. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, his controversial running-mate, will not attend the dinner, Bill McAllister, a Palin spokesman tells Mother Jones.

Hmmm. Why would Palin miss the dinner of the political season? What could the matter be? Pressing state business in Alaska? Family matters? Or, as Mark Nickolas inquired:

Is she still moping and said no? Did McCain ask that she not be invited? Did Obama not invite her?

Palin Not Attending Obama Dinner For McCain, Santorum Says McCain Is Obama's 'Secret Weapon'.

My guess is that McCain's not feeling the love for Palin these days, since she's spending her time dissing him and his campaign, when she's not crying about the media (and those anonymous bloggers).

Finally, speaking of McCain, the last word comes from former Senator from Pennsylvania (how I love to write those words) Rick Santorum, who whines in his latest Inky column that he's afraid that McCain might go back to being mavericky and work with Obama in the best interest of the country, rather than holding firm in true GOP partisan fashion. Via Nickolas, Santorum expresses his displeasure:

In McCain's mind, however, losing the presidency will not be the final chapter of his life story. He knows the path to "Big Media" redemption. Working with the man who vanquished him in November will show them all the real McCain again.

Remember, it was this onetime prisoner of war who led the charge to open diplomatic relations with Vietnam. If that past is prologue, and McCain's legislative record is any guide, he will not just join with Obama but lead the charge in Congress on global warming, immigration "reform," the closing of Guantanamo, federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research, and importation of prescription drugs.

But McCain won't stop there in his effort to rehabilitate himself in the media's - or maybe his own - eyes. He will forge common ground on a long list of initiatives that go far beyond where he has gone before, including the stimulus package.

Not sure who wins the pity party contest -- Justice Alito, Sarah Palin or Rick Santorum, but they have all given excellent performances and each deserves an award.