I, as many Americans, had the distinct pleasure of being scolded by Senator Reid. In case you missed it on C-SPAN or the news, he admonished people with opinions to, in essence, STFU and wait for the Senate confirmation hearings on Judge Roberts.
I don’t know. Does the good minority leader not seem to have everything bass ackwards? It almost seems like he’s much more concerned with pleasing the Republicans than pleasing the American people.
To be fair, it must be hard to maintain a grasp on reality when you live inside the Beltway. Delusions of self-importance and grandeur must come fairly easily for those hobnobbing with the rich and powerful lobbyists, chumming it up with People Who Matter.
Meanwhile, once again, the rest of us are told to shut up and “let the Senate conduct its business.” Funny. I thought we were the ones who hired them!
Oh, that’s right! Silly me! It’s the corporations who hired them. It’s the People Who Matter who have a say. The rest of us, well, we can wait for the crumbs when they don’t feel like selling us out on bankruptcy, Medicare prescriptions, the Patriot Acts … and now Judge Roberts, a political animal if we ever saw one.
So what gives? What happened to us? Are we so irrelevant, now that Diebold is tallying our votes, that we’re to be not only ignored but scolded?
I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t add up as democracy to me.
well, exactly … we work for HIM. Don’t you read the dailyKlark … wait until they TELL us to do, ummmm, nothing before we, ummmmm don’t do anything.
You’re right.
I just wonder what’s up though. Maybe Reid’s thinking that it’s critically important we pick our battles carefully right now. BooMan, if I’ve interpreted him correctly, has suggested we keep the focus on Plamegate more than on Roberts. I think we should.
…is that this Plame thing will continue to grow. This Bloomberg break seems to re-emphasize that it’s a legal matter first. Potitically I fear it won’t make a difference. Even in Leavenworth, they’d give him a switchboard so he could continue to do his dirty.
My concern is more that our elected officials are starting to consider the electorate “special interests.” As if they did not represent us at all, and that we were asking for special favors.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth today.
Yeah.
I look at legislation like the Endangered Species Acgt and the Marine Mammal Protection Act and am star-struck by the great legislators who made those acts possible.
It’d never ever happen these days 🙁
But, Harry is at such an awful disadvantage. The Dems control nothing. And he can only do so much in a day.
BooMan sent me the most amazing book … “What It Takes” … about the men who run for president. I’ve been reading about Bob Dole, and get exhausted just reading his daily schedule when he was majority leader of the Senate. Staggering. I mentioned that to my daughter who told me she’d read the same about Hillary Clinton’s daily schedule in Vanity Fair.
What I’m trying to say is that I feel some sympathy for Harry Reid, who strikes me as a very decent and hard-working Senator.
Roberts will get in. The close look at him, and the critiques, are essential so that he knows what we all think. But, I hope we don’t obsess about it….
I’m too tired … and not really addressing your comments so I’ll sign off.
I greatly appreciate your fine writing every day!
Sadly, I think you are right. He is tied to all sorts of despicable things, but he still stands a good chance of getting in. The Dems simply do not have enough power and cohesion to stop him.
That said, if Rove and Libby (and dare I might hope, Cheney) get busted for Plame, then all bets are off. It is possible that with the failing numbers and a serious Repug fall and add a recession and a failing and seemingly endless war on top of it all, we might see some more fight from the Dems.
We need dirt on this guy and we need a flailing administration. This guy is another neocon raised to power by the Bush Empire and political junkies know it. He is anti-woman, anti-civil rights, pro-corporate, pro-torture and anti-democracy. However, America does not know that yet. I think Reid is smart to keep the focus on Rove and Scooter and in the next few weeks study everything this guy and his family has done. Looking at it this way, this was a bad mistake for Bush; by announcing early, we have the time to check this guy out and make our spin. There is hope still.
the point isn’t to stop him from getting in. The point is to HIGHLIGHT what he is. To trip him up. To emphasize the differences btwn the Dems and the Neoconfederates.
Not that I’m expecting Reid and company to really put up a fight. Hopefully, they’ll suprise me.
The Dems simply do not have enough power and cohesion to stop him.
Even if they did, they don’t have the will to fight.
All this talk about picking battles is the uttermost bullshit. You pick your battles in war because otherwise you lose soldiers you’ll need in more important battles. But let’s not take our own metaphors too literally — no one gets killed in a congressional debate. When you lose a vote on a bill, you still have just as many votes to throw at the next bill. If you don’t bother to fight, no one will take you seriously afterwards.
A perfect, sickening example is the unanimous support of Congressional Dems for the war resolution. The theory, of course, is that if they didn’t vote for the war, we’d lose the next election.
Of course, we lost the next election anyway. Was there vote fraud? Maybe. But Kerry was sufficiently unpopular that it may not have mattered. Part of his unpopularity lay in the fact that he couldn’t effectively speak against the war or Bush’s policies because he voted for them. Why the hell would anyone want to elect a guy who voted for a war he knew was a bad idea because he valued his own reelection more than he valued the lives of American soldiers? That’s what it looked like from the standpoint of the swing voters. That’s certainly what it looked like for me when I held my nose and voted for the weasel.
Democrats can’t be an opposition party unless they oppose. They can’t blather about Bush’s lack of integrity when they have no integrity of their own. It’s bad enough that the country is being run by chickenhawks who are afraid to fight but more than happy to send others to die. Do we really want to follow that up with a party of chickenshits who are afraid to even speak their minds and vote their consciences?
The so-called reality-based community can keep spouting off about the 101st Fighting Keyboardists, but the Democrats in Congress have done an excellent job of being even more craven and cowardly.
I’d like to see a congressman who will fight for what is right, especially on an issue as important as a Supreme Court nomination. If you can’t give a little speech and push the “NO” button on your desk without wetting your pants, you don’t need to be in Congress.
Susan, loads of respect for your writing but alot of people have exhausting schedules, people i have have no respect for . Among them:
David Duke
Bob Dole
Prince Bandar Bush
Kenneth Lay
Karl Rove
The Grand Wizard of the KKK
James Dobson
Phyllis Schlafly
Osama bin Laden
Bill Frist
Paris Hilton
Rick Santorum
Busy does not equal blameless. Harry Reid might not make my list above but he should use that schedule for less meetings with casino owners and pro-life activists and many more hours whipping the shit out of Vichy Dems.
Susan, that is why this man has such of a staff that he has. I support anyone who questions anything just put out there to cause thought; however, we pay these guys a lot of $$$ to do their job, not to fail! Why (is my question) that they can not do more than two things at a time?
I digress to think this is what is going on nowadays. I am so disappointed in that press conference. Do they really think we out here are that numb or dumb?
>>>It left a bitter taste in my mouth today.
I also find it harder every day to NOT allow myself to end up bitter and full of pessimisn about our chances of being able to stop all of this insanity. The worse it gets, the harder we fight against it, however we can from where we are, until so often, (for me anyway), I get burned to A crisp. It’s then I sometimes feel like tossing in the towel, withdrawing from the battle, and settle for living in the smaller world of my own personal life, over which I DO still have a say.
But I can’t because I have chidlren and grand children who will be still here after I’m not and I care about what kind of country they will inherit from us.
Get some rest. Do whatever you need to refresh and renew your magnificent fighting spirit! So will I, and then…ONward.
My concern is more that our elected officials are starting to consider the electorate “special interests.” As if they did not represent us at all, and that we were asking for special favors.
It’s been my observation that when the Dem ‘leadership’, elected officials or bloggers, starts calling issues and groups lobbying them ‘special interests’ they’ve decided to take the money and votes and support and then use them to take the blame for election losses and treat them as if they were albatrosses. Al From has pefected this method of moving the party to the right.
How do we convince the Gang of 7 that Roberts’ nomination meets that “extraordinary circumstances” definition?
Maybe because I’m exhausted after a long day, but I hold out little hope that the Democrats will get their shyte together to do anything. I think the “Howard Dean doesn’t speak for me” stuff was pretty much the last straw of disappointment. They’re incumbents, and incumbency is their constituency.
I thought Bush’s re-election would sharpen them up, reveal some resolve. But they seem more timid than ever.
Time for bed. I’ve had enough for one day.
Well, we can’t do anything about them if in fact, they will not fight the nomination. But we can do soomething about what we do. Roberts supports the use of torture; that fact alone caused 36 Senators to vote against Gonzalez. We’re not beat by any means. If we can harp on the fact that Roberts supports torture, we will get enough people to filibuster him.
I don’t know…the Repukelicans had some success with sending powdered sugar packets to their offices…
Unfortunately, I do believe this nominee will get through. That being said, what do we have to lose in fighting it tooth and nail? IMHO, we have Bushco by the balls because of the DSM, Traitorgate and low ratings in the polls. Why oh why do the dems feel they cannot fight more than one battle at a time? Why can we not keep Traitorgate in the news and push against Roberts at the same time? Many say that the announcement at this time was put out there to distract from Rove. Maybe Rove is the distraction for Roberts? If the perception in the eye of the public is that Rove is a traitor or snake then Roberts looks squeaky clean. If they know that no indictments will come out of the Plame/Rove news they would feel that nothing will come of the grand jury. I don’t know shit, just speculating here. I think they have been grooming Roberts for just this spot for years.
I agree, he is the Stepford Candidate.
Well, this won’t be the first time in our Nations history that the Supreme Court was the enemy of the people rather than the friend….it’s just that it hasn’t been that way for a long time.
I certainly agree with you on what you have said. Amen!!!!!!!
…when he first came on board. Remember we were worried that he had no spine.
Anyway, from this mornings LA times
So, you can see the danger they’re in! My god, you worry about lives. THESE MEN HAVE IMAGES TO PROTECT. Get a grip.
Remember we were worried that he had no spine.
I think Reid has a spine. I also think he’s more apt to fight, oh, say organizations like Planned Parenthood and Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State than nominations for extremely conservative SCOTUS judges.
And I’ve never stopped worrying.
A word in defense of the low key Democratic response.
It’s better to start low key (and keep on Karl Rove and pathological Presidential loyalty at the same time) than to jump in before we know anything about this candidate.
That lets the story become kneejerk Democrats pandering to the “radical” left. Senator Reid and the other Dems have so far denied them any ammunition. Though they tried saying it anyway.
That doesn’t mean we won’t end up fighting tooth and nail. Research is turning up some very interesting things about Judge Roberts. And Harry Reid has proved is both an astute political mind and unafraid of giving or receiving a sharp jab.
I didn’t see the scolding, so I might have found it quite annoying. But I think the larger point is a good one. We do need to pick our shots.
The ones picked by interest groups are likely to be different than the ones picked by Democratic Senators.
I’ve heard it.
What fascism are you accusing me of?
Liebermann, Nelson, Pryor and several others were slapfighting each other to be the first to the microphone to REINFORCE the PR push put out by the Republicans. How, in any way, shape or form, is that “low key”.
It’s not hard, you say: “We look forward to hearing the answers offered by Judge Roberts when he appears before the committee. I’m sure we’ll have a complete and candid airing of the issues involved in this important decision.” THAT’S IT.
I’ll listen to Mr.-Pro-Life-Mormon-buddies with Ensign-“pickourfights”-nofilibuster Reid WHEN HE SHUTS UP THE VICHY DEMS. Until then, he can kiss my ass. He’s NOT on my side … he’s helping to sell us out.
What they DON’T want to hear is what Marisacat called “the inconvenient voice of the voter.”
Fuck him.
Then they all need a sharp elbow. Unquestionably.
They may very well be sticking their fingers in their ears and going “La, la, la, la, la. I can’t HEAR you.”
That’s a hard habit to break.
That’s where the elbows come in.
Sickening ain’t it?
I hold little hope this nominee can be kept off the court. Even if we could keep him off, there’s a endless supply of cloned wingnuts to take hi place. I also agree we need to do all we can to publicize every single piece of documentable evidence we can dig up to show who this guy really is. In a sane world, the mere fact that his wife is very active in an anti abortion organization would would cause him serious grief in getting confirmed. Too bad we don’t live in a sane world anymore.
Is there no delicate way to put this. The Dem’s only have a spine when it suits them and they get something out of it they need or want and if it happens to be something you might want it is an accident. They are just as bought and sold by corporate as anyone else and they will always in the end do what the money wants. They may go to extreme measures to make you think something else. You can not be in Washington for more than one term if you don’t play by the money rules.
To do the right thing is exactly that you can’t justify doing the wrong thing. They can’t ever win a vote but you still have to do the right thing. I am tired of the excuses they give when they cave.
There was a time in Congress when one understood that compromise was necessary but those days are long gone. Today they must stand up for what is right and do the right thing. There is no middle ground with these people. They all lost my respect when they let the Ohio vote argument go by with out a peep. Our voting rights are the most important thing we have and two people stood up for us? Even Obama ignored it and voted to ignore it. Why, one has to ask? If we have no vote that counts then we have nothing.
I agree Reid wants to be able to tell us how to react and when to react so it looks good for him. How nice he can report to the powers he has the Dem’s in his pocket so don’t worry he will control them. If I step on toes here sorry but I think that was his aim from the start. He wants you to be the exact same as Bushes religious right, his power base. That doesn’t make him either good or right.
“Do you want to be right, or do you want to win?”
I say that a forfeit is still a loss.
I posted this at The American Street and MyDD.
Kennedy made special mention of not falling into the trap of attacking too fast before we have ammunition. I know we all want to raise the pitchforks
Conference call with Sen. Ted Kennedy about John Roberts
DNC members were asked to participate in a conference call this morning with Sen. Kennedy to talk about the Roberts nomination. Here’s what he said:
“The decision about a Supreme Court justice is, outside of war and peace, the most important decision we make in the Senate. This decision is important for not only our generation and our children’s, but also for future generations. All who are concerned about our rights, freedoms, and liberties should be on full alert for the next few weeks.”
Kennedy said that not much is known about Judge Roberts. He wants to know whether Roberts is on the side of average Americans or large corporations. Will he ensure that private companies can’t pollute our environment; will he protect progress on equal opportunity for all; will he protect people from abuses of power by corporations? Can he separate personal ideology from his rulings?
Kennedy mentioned that he would be meeting with Judge Roberts today. He said that he would be asking Roberts himself how he can find out more about him. “We have come too far. Too many tears and too much blood has been shed in our progress to a fair and just America to lose ground now.”
He seemed especially concerned about Roberts’ interpretation of the commerce clause of the constitution because it has figured in decisions on reproductive rights, civil rights, and environmental protections. It is the basis of recent interpretations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the medical and family leave provisions, and civil rights.
A questioner asked, “With the information you have available today, what are your concerns about Judge Roberts?”
Kennedy responded that Roberts is a blank slate and that we need to find out about him.
Another questioner asked, “During the August recess, what will the Senate Democratic caucus do and what can we do to help?”
First he mentioned what the Senate Democrats are NOT going to do: take their eyes off of Karl Rove. He said that the timing of the announcement was designed to deflect attention from Rove and the credibility and dishonesty of the White House.
He said that the Judiciary Committee will be reading all available paper on Roberts. They will get information from people across the landscape. Kennedy said that an amazing amount of information comes in during a nomination process. (Bloggers—start digging!) He also suggested that if we have ideas for questions or information that we should forward them to him through his web site at tedkennedy.com.
Kennedy said that the right wing is waiting for us to go into attack mode, but that we need to be educating Americans on what this judge will mean to them in real terms and real ways. He asked DNC members to reach out and talk to groups so that people understand the real ways that this judge may affect them.
Oh if only I had faith that the Democrats will show any backbone. Oh sure, Kennedy and Boxer and maybe a few others will stand up and speak on the floor of principles and human rights and equal protection.
But after the patriot act and the bankruptcy bill and untold other cavings, it seems they do not represent, or even acknowledge, their constitutional consituents.
I’ve been disgusted in the past, but now more than ever I wish we had a third option, another party, whatever. And I consider myself a moderate!
blank slate my ass.
PFAW profile
Multiple links and commentary at How Appealing
How big is his staff?!?!
Blank slate?!? *slaps forehead*
Hey, Ted, where would we be now if you hadn’t crapped all over President Carter, you fucking hack.
I hear you! That’s why I’ve chosen to get as involved with the party as I can…to try to take it over. Dean needs some help from the bottom while he tries to tackle the top.
Unless the party is strong, the elected officials who call themselves Democrats won’t pay attention to the platform. If we can’t make a difference and help them, they aren’t beholden to us–they’re beholden to the people who fund their campaigns.
So, don’t give up on the Democrats yet. Try to fix the party so that it means something. The Democratic Party has very little control over the politicians. Until we start saying that you have to behave like a Democrat to call yourself one, it isn’t going to change.
Harry Reid pleasantly surprised us a number of times since taking over Senate Minority leadership. But those were pleasant surprises. This is business as usual. This is the real Harry Reid.
Now, I appreciate the surprises, don’t get me wrong. And I expect we’ll be treated to more of them in the days to come. But let us never forget that they are surprises. Not unexpected in the aggregate–we all know that life is full of surprises–but not to be counted on either.
We will never be able to take back our government if we do not first take back our party. And Harry Reid is one of those we have to take it back from.
Now, unless he’s going to criticize Republicans, will he please shut the fuck up?!!!
Oh how I agree with you, Babe!!!!!!!! I wish to give you 500 “4’s”. We here in the no-where-land of America are just little ppl and nothing to be heard out of. I was so mistaken by the comment in the constitution that is is a government of am by and for the people! I am so despaired here!