Missing the story

Give AP's Jesse Holland props for remembering and reporting the American Bar Associations partisanship that cost it a quasi-formal role in reviewing federal judicial nominations.

But of course Holland spins it the other way, as if it's a problem of "conservative" behavior rather than ABA behavior. And Holland's world view prevents him from writing the real story. It isn't about Alito gathering a chit to give him additional credibility; it's part of the long, slow slog of the ABA trying to establish its credibility by quitting being leftist hacks. The headline and the lede ought to be, "ABA foregoes partisanthip on Alito/subhead: Tactic or change of heart?"