Well, isn’t this just precious. Biden body-slams Alito’s opponents two months before the hearings:
WASHINGTON (AP) – A Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he believes Samuel Alito will get an up-or-down vote on his Supreme Court bid.
“We should commit,” said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., minimizing prospects of a Senate filibuster that would prevent final action on President Bush’s choice to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
“I think the probability is that will happen,” Biden said on ABC’s “This Week.” … (<a href="WASHINGTON (AP) – A Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he believes Samuel Alito will get an up-or-down vote on his Supreme Court bid.“We should commit,'' said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., minimizing prospects of a Senate filibuster that would prevent final action on President Bush's choice to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
“I think the probability is that will happen,'' Biden said on ABC's “This Week. … From "Biden: Alito Filibuster Seems Unlikely," The Guardian (and about 25 other sources — it’s a hot story)
Why don’t we just measure him for his robes now, and save a few million on a doomed ad campaign? And I guess that means we bloggers can stop digging, and find other stories to keep ourselves busy. Eh?
For the stubborn la resistance, don’t miss BooMan’s “Scalito is Pro-Business, Anti-Little Guy,” and sing this little song:
You fight in all our names for what we know is right
And when you all get shot
And cannot carry on
Though you die, La Resistance lives on …
“La Resistance,” South Park movie
P.S.:
Today, many of the same people who helped defeat Judge Bork are again predicting Armageddon if Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. takes the Supreme Court seat now held by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the swing vote in many pivotal cases over the past two decades. … NYT
say that I am really really fucking sick of Joe Biden! What happened to the process? For crying out loud they aren’t even going to vote on it until January. Joe, I’m just about so sick of you that if a real Democrat runs against you I may just have to change my state residency. Damn sick of you Joe!
You know, I’m reading the part of the book that BooMan gave me — it’s about Biden’s run for the presidency.
Thank god he didn’t become president… if this is how he strategizes, giving away the one trump card we have, fuck him.
Let’s see .. if China was threatening war, President Biden would say, “Oh, hey. We have half the missiles that China has and we won’t return fire.”
(I know that’s made up, but I’m trying to make a point.)
is how Biden thinks he can build a constituency to win the nomination if he doesn’t run to the left of Hillary. And if I was advising him, I would tell him to run significantly to her left.
First of all, the centrist with the best name recognition is always going to win that battle. Secondly, if Biden loses, he at least helps bolster Hillary’s centrist credentials (and that is a project the Dems need to start early, if she is going to be our nominee).
But he seems to be trending to the right of Hillary. I don’t see any room over there.
I’m sure the Repugs will make space and welcome him…for giving them the opportunity to run ever further to the right.
but look at what happened to Joementum when he tried to take his name recognition and run as a Likudnik.
He never got any Joementum at all.
It is hard to win the nomination as a centrist, let alone a Republican. Ultimately, your argument has to be one of electability, and Joe will have to argue that Hillary is unelectable. I don’t think he can do much more than siphon off some of Hillary’s share.
Joe has the experience and credentials to be a statesman. He has that advantage over a lot of the other candidates. But he needs to become a champion of the people too. And he is flubbing his chances with the bankruptcy bill, appeasement on choice, etc.
I can’t decipher his game.
You give him far too much credit from the git-go. The guy is a corporate shill and has no usefullness whatsoever. Perhaps as a statesman, hmmm, perhaps, how about Ambassador to the Cayman Islands?
When we take the White House back I think Joe needs to be the new ambassador to Iraq. That will give him plenty to focus on!
you give him too little credit.
I would put him at number 3 on the Democratic retail politics all-star team:
He is an amazing retail politician, and he will dust people in Iowa and New Hampshire who discount his ability to connect with the people.
The problem is (for him) that he is not backing the policies to go with the rhetoric. Also, his skill set would have led him to win the 2004 nomination because he was Kerry with charisma. But the 2008 landscape is not going to be favorable to the ‘electability’ argument.
I think his best chance will come if the Dems retake the Senate and he can use his committee chair to expose the Bush administration. Then he can become a hero of the left again, as he was when he took down Bork.
The problem is (for him) that he is not backing the policies to go with the rhetoric.
We’ve had plenty of sound and fury. How about some real beliefs?
And I forgot to say to Boo… I guess I missed the rhetoric. The only thing I hear out of Biden is compromised corporate shilling. His votes reflect that too. Am I missing something?
Biden thinks too much in terms of foreign policy. He knows how things work in the halls of Versailles, or the U.N., and he can step right in and form a functioning, efficient state department, he can step right in and make sensible appointments to the Pentagon and security agencies, and he knows how to run them. And he looks around, and he sees no one else who can do it in the Dem Party.
But the problem is that Hillary can do those things, and that the democratic electorate is looking for more than competence and experience, and more of the same (just with more realistic and humble ambitions) in our foreign policy.
Joe is not getting out front on economic issues, kitchen table issues. He’s on the wrong side in recent battles.
And he is really doing something stupid in coming out as an accommodationist on Scalito. Bork was his bread and butter. His finest moment. And here he is stomping on that message. Really strange tactics.
Boo… Bork was a long time ago. Joe Biden is compromised. He is smooth, I’ll grant you that. It’s the reason he is so popular on the sunday talk shills… er… um… shows. And I’ve no doubt he is a skilled politician.
But he is still roadkill. I don’t care who the competition is or what tact he takes in running… he won’t make the top three in Iowa or New Hampshire. If for no other reason but that the netroots/activist class of Democrats take his compromised corporate-owned ass down.
The days of Bidens and Kerry’s are done. I don’t think Democrats will settle for milquetoast every again. A fighting Democrat will win… which is one of the reasons why Hillary has a good shot despite her problems on the left and the right. Edwards has a shot but I don’t think Mr Nice Guy is gonna get it either.
But Biden? naaa… he’s got no more chance than Gephardt or… did you see Bill Mahar trying to say Tom Daschle was running? Anyone heard whether that was just Mahar egging him or is Daschle actually thinking he might stand a chance?
Well, Biden’s pretty much cancelled out his “retail politics” advantage with his pro-corporation, anti-people votes. He’s a fool.
I’ve never seen him in person; is he really up there with Ed and Bill?
not quite up to the level of Rendell, and no one is in Clinton’s league. They all share the same fatal flaws too, which must come with the ability to glad-hand. All three of them are prone to making big mistakes, big errors in judgment, which they think they can talk their way out of.
Something about natural pols, they seem to have big holes in their character, somehow.
Biden groped a friend of mine’s wife at a 76ers game. He is still pissed about it.
tell’m not to let his wife anywhere near Norm Coleman!
Booman, IMHO, neither can he! :o)
He doesn’t have a prayer. And he’s just alienated the Democratic base.
We have better prospects — Russ Feingold, etc.
In Nascar it’s called the wall! Hit it at a high rate of speed and bye bye Joe. He seems to be guided by some sort of blind arrogance about himself! Sort of like that other dude on Captitol Hill that calls himself the president. Joe needs to ask him what happens when you hit the wall at a high rate of speed thinking that who you are and what your mouth wants to say to continue feeding your ego is more important than the nation and people who voted you into office!
Biden is a pompous ass!!!!!!! ‘nuf said!!
Biden doesn’t stand a chance no matter what direction he runs. He’s early road kill on the campaign trail. Talk about an empty suit or Sen. Good Hair. He is a classic example of nothingness.
I think Biden is so infatuated with himself that his ability to relate to electoral realities is severely compromized. (The other most prominent faux Democrat Liberman had the same problem. His campaign was an embarrassing thing, and I didn’t even like the guy to begin with.)
But Biden, with the hair implants, the “too-white” teeth and the (what looks like a) store-bought tan, seems to have that narcissistic self-absorption typical of many ambitious politicians who have no real clue as to the nature and the priorities of the electorate they believe will support them.
In short, Biden is his own biggest fan, and once someone falls into this psychic trap, they are completely unsuitable to hold any office that confers upon them authority over others.
He just can’t keep his mouth shut. Didn’t he do this with Miers, too, or am I just imagining that one? In any case, he seems compelled to preempt any Democrat strategies about anything. I suppose it’s a smart way to get headlines if you have no loyalty to your party or investment in its success.
Also, what in hell is wrong with Dem voters in tiny east coast states?
Biden’s an ass, but I love your sig line!
They are beholden to the money interests. Unfortunately they are not alone as the entire republican party has thus been captured and other dems besides themselves have heavy debts to the corporate ledgers. Smalito is a corporate as well as cultist judge. He keeps both sides happey.
that a corporate Dem is what we used to call a republican ten years ago?! Ain’t life just hilarious?
by the corporate media as “spokesmen for the dems” when in fact they are only corporate whores. But it serves too confuse the public at large enough that few questions are asked about the process or about happenings on capitol hill. In truth, they have more in common with Guckert/Gannon than with the dems they supposedly represent.
amen!!!!!!!!!to that one
You are only supposed to do that “I’m good enough and I’m smart enough and Dog gone it people like me” thing once or twice a day. To say it to yourself continuously to the point that you can’t hear what anybody else is saying leads to stinkin thinkin!
Yeah, but if find other stories to keep ourselves busy, Biden and his incessant yammering will just be there to greet us.
Oh, that’s true. To stand a chance, we’ll have to keep him off all the Sunday talk shows from now until 2008.
Or at least make sure to have him followed by a real democrat.
Let’s call his office tomorrow, shall we?
I was just thinking that very thought.
Fuck Biden!
Biden is a disgrace to the principles of Democracy as a form of government, and a huge liability to the Democratic Party. I can’t imagine a single important principle he would stand and defend if doing so might jeo[pardize his political ambition.
The fact that he’s such a darling of the talking head circuit only reaffirms the incredibly low regard in which we should hold the mainstream corporate media.
speaks once more. Ack! I sure hope someone challenges him in the primary next time he is up for reelection.
Well… since we are no longer allowed to dig up stories on Alito why don’t we spend all that extra time digging up examples of Joe Biden’s lack of true democratic principles, quotes of him undermining the people of the democratic party, shilling for the corporate wing of the democratic party, and kissing right wing and dlc ass instead of standing up for We the People of the United States of America?
Joe Biden represents the losing wing of the Democratic Party.
Say goodnight Joe.
Who the fuck does Joe Biden work for? ‘Cause it sure as hell isn’t Democratic voters. When’s his next primary?
I was sickened when I heard Biden say that this morning. But a few minutes later in followup he assured Georgie that he was not taking filibuster off the table. I’m not a big Joe fan but I do think he “misspoke” and tried to correct himself. Damn the guy has foot in mouth disease.
And I guess that means we bloggers can stop digging, and find other stories to keep ourselves busy. Eh?
No, what it means is that we need to eviscerate the DLC. I mean seriously, the most compelling fund raising and election argument the ‘centrist’ Senate democrats have had for years is the promise that they would fight such a nomination (and make no mistake, this is the critical nominee)and no one who votes to confirm this sack of shit should even pretend to be representing their constituents including Biden.
I can see how Biden might be attracted to Alito’s authoritarian style and vision of a regressive future but Biden also has pretensions as a leader and possible presidential nominee. Our goal should be to make quite certain that noone who votes to confirm Scalito will be able to claim, as they did after the invasion of Iraq, that they just didn’t know and no voter in the country should remain unaware of where the blame resides.
It’s not time for avoidance, it’s time for hardball.
To give Joe a small benefit of the doubt, maybe he thinks that Alito can’t pass an up or down vote. There may be a 20 to 30 percent chance of that. I personally think he should keep his mouth shut or explain what he means, but if we consider that Alito’s views are pretty far out, both on our side and on the libertarian side of the fence, there’s a good chance his nomination will suffer melt down by February or March when it comes to a vote.
I still don’t know what the hell is going through his head.
Who wants to go back and get Kerry to mercilessly talk about this issue in the campaign, back when something could more eaily have been done?
I mean we all saw it coming, why didn’t he? Too much conflicted catholicism? Too many consultants?
The Dems are in the unenviable position (as usual) of A) wallowing in the mud of disrespect for the laws and institutions of our land (filibustering) or B) Giving in for the good of our institutions and looking like, if not being, total p–sies. It seems like they are trying a cobination strategy of using sensate rules (private session, etc.) to make the GOP look as bad as possible while honoring point B thoroughly.
Really wish I had that time machine.
So, perhaps a good question is who is next to step down from the Court and when? How can we encourage some more dropouts next time there is a Dem in office, to put things right before they get too wrong..
..what was that stuff they fed the Ukrainian Prez? (FBI: this is a joke)