In reference to Samuel Alito, a successful nomination to the Supreme Court who, despite being very qualified had his character assissinated due to partisan reasons, but was appointed despite this.

Basically, to overcome large amounts of adversity with ease.

Being appointed to a desired position or responsibility then using that position or responsibility to help keep the views or policies of the person who appointed you in effect as a payback for being placed there. Sometimes referred to as log-rolling.
This behavior is mostly practiced by people who have always blindly trusted the power structure and never wavered from this belief as they feel that people in said positions are there due to brains, qualifications, the ability to treat others fairly or work ethic despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, example #1 being George W Bush.
A "C" student on a good day who never touched something he couldnt screw up, he nonetheless was appointed leader of the free world by judges appointed by HIS daddy, 41 and actually a decent enough guy. He did in fact, get properly elected the second time by manipulating the fears of the stupid, the homophobic, the incestuous and the highly religious. It is amusing that these groups have such a large amount of overlap.
Being Alito means keeping everyone in their place from the rich on down to assist those at the top from having to participate in a truly meritocratic democracy and instead live to perpetuate the same type of backward 1600's English aristocracy that our ancestors deserted.
The result of this desertion was the founding of America, the greatest country the world has ever seen in large part as a rebuff to those practices and behaviors. This obvious fact seems lost on the A...

Anyone who does something blatantly incorrect, while at the same time refusing to "own up" to it.

basically can be replaced with any part of speech