What Purrs Like a 240-Lb. Cat?

Antonin Scalia's current neediness to be liked is so ... alarming. The man who had a journalist roughed up for her tape-recording of one of his public speeches is, according to today's WashPost, putting on a charm offensive. Why? There's about to be a vacancy on the Supreme Court, as in Chief Justice, and Scalia wants that robe. "Scalia Showing His Softer Side," purrs the headline. The justice has evidently rolled over and exposed his ample belly for us to rub. But he just can't help but also show those fangs: "Though I'm a law-and-order type, I cannot do all of the mean, conservative things I'd like to do to the society," he told an audience at the Wilson Center yesterday. People were supposed to laugh at that line. We shudder. And we wouldn't touch that belly with a 49-and-a-half-foot pole.