Bob Novak says:
WASHINGTON — Pressure from liberal activists to oppose confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court has been so intense that Democratic senators may be trapped into a filibuster that they do not want to wage.
Despite the consensus that Alito performed well in his confirmation hearings, leaders of liberal organizations opposing him — Ralph Neas, Nan Aron and Wade Henderson — demand that Democrats vote against him. Consequently, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska is the only Democrat at this writing who has announced in Alito’s favor.
That means the number of senators voting “no” will be well over the 41 needed to prevent cloture. Pressure groups then could ask why no filibuster had been launched. But Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid may not want to risk causing Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist to set a precedent by using the “nuclear” option: to end a filibuster by simple majority vote
If we have the votes, and it appears we do, we need to filibuster. Will the Republicans respond by using the nuclear option? Maybe. But I am sure that they do not want to go nuclear. The public is beginning to feel uncomfortable about the amount of power the Republicans have. This is best expressed by the following poll :
“By a margin of 52% to 43%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge’s approval, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org…
If the Republicans change the Senate rules and eliminate the filibuster it will only increase the perception that they have too much power and are out of control. This is an election year and the Republicans are already burdened with the Plame investigation, the Abramoff scandal, the trial of Tom DeLay, and hearings over the illegal NSA surveillance. The last thing they need is a fight over the filibuster.
The Democrats have nothing to lose. Filibustering will make their base happy, and they will win the political battle if Alito is put on the court in a nuclear way.
If you have not yet written your Senators, please do so this weekend.
CALL YOUR SENATORS!
If Repug, tell them “No” to Alito; if Democrat: FILIBUSTER!
(If phones have been turned off for the Washington offices of your senators for the weekend, try their local offices, or fax, or email. Any snail mail might be tied up by Homeland Security for two weeks, so a hard copy letter would be the least effective.)
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS (Click here)
Frist is denying Democrats time to speak on the floor. We need to get the word out about why Alito needs to be filibustered:
Write a letter to the editor of your local news paper.
Phone, fax, and email addresses for the Judiciary Committee.
John Edwards has endorsed this petition for FILIBUSTER!
People for the American Way has collected nearly 65,000 signatures to send to the Senate, please add yours: Save the Court Petition
Among the things to tell your senators are that so-called ‘good performance in the hearings’ is not what being a member of the Supreme Court is about!
The work that Justices do has little to do with how they function under the hot lights and microphones in a Capitol meeting room. What we did see and hear there was extreme restraint and avoidance of direct answers; a fundamental unwillingness to reveal either temperament or practical philosophy. That alone is reason for grave doubt about this man, if nothing else were known.
What did the Senators expect Alito to say? “Oh, you should know that I have a secret plan to undo all of the significant decisions since 1830 that have promoted individual rights . . .”.
Oh, sure.
Keep pressing to keep this man off of the SCOTUS.
We the People ought to be very dissatisfied with the Alito hearings that I have heard…bar none. There is one thing that I don’t understand about what is happening politically in the country and that is that people seem to have their internal ears turned off. Is the trauma of 9/11 and this fight or flight thing it triggered what has caused the countrymen of America to turn off that little voice within that keeps us all safe from conartists and predators? It’s like we are so terrified and believe ourselves so powerless and unable that we insist on believing the snake oil salesmen and we cling desperately to them like they are our only and last hope. We have lost belief in ourselves and truth all together it seems.
Thanks for this analysis BooMan! The poll results are also quite interesting to say the least. If the question was really posed that way, what is with the “If he wiretapped without a judge’s approval” business? The man has already publicly stated that he did so, and will continue to do so. Right?
Administration today also that the statute of limitations doesn’t run out on that “illegal spying thing” until 2009. So sleep tight you police state bastards…..hope the boogeyman doesn’t find you in your dreams tonight! I will be sleeping deeply and soundly just knowing that ELF won’t be getting me.
Filibustering is not a mild, mainstream action. It’s got a risk… (before I go too far, I should observe that I think it should be done). The public needs to be told clearly why the filibuster is a good and moderate and reasonable action, protecting the Republic.
Because… the GOP will be out there with its fist up the old media’s ass, wiggling its fingers to talk about how awful it is…
Now, at some point, the GOP–the senators, a select subgroup of the GOP–have to decide if it’s worth it to try to run down the filibuster, to go nukyoolar.
The downside? It’s not a mild, mainstream action. In fact, it’s demonstrably a less mild and mainstream action, because they’ll be violating the understandings of the Senate to re-write some of the rules… without actually re-writing the rules. There’s a real danger for the GOP.
The question will be… who do they lose, and how much love does it gain them from the administration (and how much is that worth, these days…) and from the radical base?
It’s a game of chicken. The parties have to decide whether they have more to lose in going ahead or not.
The Democrats demonstrably have less to lose–they could lose some in public opinion, but the bottom line if they lose would be the same. Alito with a lifetime seat on the Court. And it would put a serious cloud over Alito’s tenure on the Court (possibly with a “prove that you’re not really the ugly, nasty, monarchy-loving extremist they said you were” spin).
The Republicans, already playing to a public that’s seeing them as corrupt and inclined to extremism… would be on the defensive… and losing to a Democratic fliibuster would be embarrassing. But trying to go nuclear and failing would be a disaster of the first magnitude. At the same time… there are a number of Republicans who will be screaming that this is a really, really, really bad idea, that if the Senate is ever in Democratic hands again, the GOP will rue the day that it created this precedent and gutted the filibuster.
I think that the challenges for the GOP in the Senate in the whole scenario are serious and create a lot of pitfalls… for them as a party and as individuals. It might be far more comfortable and safe to just stick a fork in Alito… let Bush have another defeat (he’s sinking anyway…) and demand someone who’s actually moderate.
I wrote a diary this week and this letter to our senators was included in it. At first I sent it to my senators, Feinstein and Boxer, and then sent it to the rest of the Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee. I’ve also called my senators twice this week. How they vote on Alito doesn’t just affect their constituents, their vote affects all Americans. It’s affects not only our future but their futures also because it is for some of us, our line in the sand.
‘Alito is extraordinary, you must filibuster, our fate is in your hands.’
As a lifelong Democrat I’ve had ups and downs with this party. Every time my party compromises any of my rights as a woman to have an abortion under Roe v. Wade, I am livid. Every presidential election cycle that comes and goes without women’s issues being a top priority, I am incensed. Every year that goes by without the passage of the ERA I say to myself, through clenched teeth, “maybe next year.”
I always brush myself off and pick up the mantle of the Democratic Party because I’ve been a member of this party for almost 40 years. 40 years of support, 40 years of phonebanking, walking precincts, hosting coffees in my home, fundraising, GOTV, the list goes on and on.
I’m loyal to this party but I’m having an increasingly hard time believing this party is loyal and/or committed to me. I am beyond angry or livid or incensed today though. I’m frightened by where the Republican Congress and administration are taking us and I’m scared that the only thing that stands between Americans and the evil and corrupt government we have under the Republican leadership is the party I’ve believed in for almost four decades.
It isn’t always about losing in and of itself, it is often in the way we lost that counts. Alito’s beliefs on where this country should go is a snapshot for every other Republican in roles of leadership. It’s abortion rights, unitary executive status, the environment, worker’s rights, civil rights, the rights of the hungry and unsheltered, women’s reproductive rights, equal pay, Medicare and so much more.
I’ve drawn my line in the sand Senator. That line is what you do as a congressional body to stop the confirmation of Alito. We may lose, we may not, but what I know for sure is this; if the Democratic senators can’t make me feel safe in my home from my government essentially spying on me with wiretaps and surveillance, then you surely can’t make me feel safe from terrorists. If the Democratic senators can’t address violence against women overall but also against Alito’s view that women should notify their husbands about terminating their pregnancies, then you cannot protect us from terror we live with daily. If you can’t protect our children from law enforcement that will shoot them in the back because they may have stolen $10., then you can’t shield us from the terror that lurks from fundamentalist extremists outside of the court that calls itself Supreme. If the Democratic senators cannot stop the strip searches of our ten-year-old daughters without a court order, then you can’t even begin to tell us we’re safe from those who wish us harm.
Samuel Alito will set back the advances we have made in the lives of women for decades to come. He will stifle our children’s rights to an education that will surely speak to the quality of their lives and their children’s lives. Samuel Alito will have a say in the air they breathe, in the water they drink and in the availability of national parks we have come to take for granted.
Samuel Alito will be the defining moment for many of us, for the bloc of women voters this party has come to rely on, it will spell the future for us in many ways. You have a say in what that future will be for us and for you as leaders of our party. I will stay home for the first time since 1972 if you don’t stand up for me. I have placed my vote for the D candidate for 34 years. I have proudly done so, it will break my heart not to ever again, but stay home I will unless you give me reason not to.
That history for me will come to an end if my party refuses to protect my rights and the rights of my daughter and her daughter. I will stay home before I vote for one more Democrat if you fail to listen this time.
It’s no less than women’s lives that are at stake here. There has never been as compelling a reason in the 30+ years I’ve voted as there is now. Don’t take lightly when I say it’s women’s lives. I was a pregnant teen in high school in 1966 without a choice. One Monday morning the news of Charlotte’s death rang through the halls of my high school, she bled to death after she tried to self abort. A boy named Bobby brutally beat his girlfriend until he was sure she had lost the baby she was carrying. There were abortion wards in those years, all the girls my age knew of them, those wards were our choice.
If you send us back to that world we will not forget for a very long time. When our daughters, sisters, granddaughters and nieces ask us why we lost Roe v. Wade we will tell them we fought hard to protect our rights of choice but we had a party that didn’t think it was `extraordinary’ enough to do so. I hope you do what’s right, what’s right for us and what’s right for you, so we never have to have that conversation.
Make no mistake, we are deadly serious.
Sincerely,
XXX
that’s a great letter. Well done.
Filibuster……
When the Republicans accuse us of obstruction and partisanship…
we say….damn right … we’ve given this President everything he has asked for thus far and look where it has gotten us:
1 He ask us to authorize war in Iraq, telling us we were in grave danger…we gave that authorization … and three years later we have over 2000 dead and we are no safer than before. No weapons were found and bin Laden threatens us at will
2 He asked for tax cuts to stimulate the economy…and we gave him tax cuts … and now we are trillions of dollars in debt, oil and gasoline prices are through the roof, the economy is teetering and the only ones benefiting for the cuts are the richest 1% of the population
3 He asked us for the Patriot act to protect us from terrorists… and we gave him the patriot act …..and now we have illegal surveillance of American citizens, detention of “suspects” without due process, torture and rendition .
4 He asked us to authorize the creation of the largest federal agency in the history of the nation…The Dept. of Homeland Sec…. In order to better protect us ….. and we gave him that authorization…..and now we see this giant bureaucracy incapable of aiding it’s citizens in New Orleans as flood waters approached. We see our ports and harbors no safer, our infrastructure still at risk from attack.
WE have given all we can and can give no more.
We have attempted to act in a nonpartisan way and it has proven disastrous.
For the sake of the American people WE now must stand up and say NO MORE…. If that is partisan or obstructionist…so be it
Very well said Duke. You might think about sending your comment off to Harry Reid!
Duke, can I borrow your 4 points and give them a Repug senator-oriented introduction and closing, so I can fax it off to my own loser senators?
fo for it
and good luck, hope it has some effect
I doubt it will do any good, but they need to know we don’t approve anyway. (If anyone wants to cut and paste, be my guest…)
excellent!!!!!!
The Dem version could be nearly identical with a few minor changes….. stressing the need to take a stand…
For the Dems it should be stressed that Alito is not an isolated case…but rather a continuum in a long list of failures on the part of th Administration. They need to make Alito a referendum on the entire Bush Presidency….a line drawn in the sand.
As a Democrat in Kansas, I don’t really believe that I HAVE a Senator.
Thanks anyway.
send you a nice letter with a rubber stamp signature..probably the sameone they use to approve all of W’s ideas.
My theory..is to write Sen. Brownback and tell him your afraid if Alito is nominated that he would approve a law that allows W to confiscate your bible.
If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.
Reduce the hostile chiefs by inflicting damage on them; and make trouble for them, and keep them constantly engaged; hold out specious allurements, and make them rush to any given point.
The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.
There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general:
(1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction;
(2) cowardice, which leads to capture;
(3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by
insults;
(4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to
shame;
(5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him
to worry and trouble.
These are the five besetting sins of a general, ruinous to the conduct of war.
When an army is overthrown and its leader slain, the cause will surely be found among these five dangerous faults. Let them be a subject of meditation.
I would write to my senators, I really would. But the fact that their names are Hutchison and Cornyn kind of limits the effectiveness of such an effort. I’ve written to them about a number of other important issues, but I think they just swat my comments away like a gnat at a family picnic. Ya just gotta love representative government!
If the Dems aren’t going to filibuster on Alito, then they might as well not bother using the filibuster. This guy is going to tilt the bench way too far to the right. So the Dems either need to stand up and be counted now or forever hold their peace. And they have plenty of ammo to come back with if such action is criticized, as it will be. The right shot down Harriet Miers without ever getting to an up or down vote. So they have no place to complain if the Dems don’t like Alito.
and let them know that if he gets in you will do everything in your power to see that they never hold public office again! It might make you feel better.
I’m in the same boat as Drew, and it really wouldn’t make me feel better to tell them that I’ll do everything I can to see that they don’t get re-elected. Because of course I will – Alito or not – they are both the vilest of the vile variety of Republicans. And they really don’t give a rat’s ass about us hippie commies in the People’s Republic of Austin.
Maybe I’ll find some wavering weak-kneed dem’s to fax tomorrow. Probably a better use of my fax machine, even if I’m not one of their constituents. Pols know they get some of their money from out of state . . . Who knows? I’ll sleep better than if I just do nothing.
big leaks about it if they do actually do something with backbone. Our party knows it is being spied on, let’s not doubt it for a minute and we have all seen the charges of such things in the press anyhow. They sprung the last blowout on the Repugs and what they do this time will happen the same way if it happens. I can’t imagine what it is like to organize something like a filibuster without the use of phones and email and carefully choosing your places and people who are around when you make your plans. Must really suck having to play 007 bullshit and be a U.S. Senator!
If this is a given an dit is to be bipartisan, this all we have is to say this man is for doing away with our constitution. This is not about being democrat or republican. It is about being American and standing up for our constitution. That is how I see it, plain and simple. This judge is not for the rights of the ppl or anything such as this, It is about taking right away and breaking our constitution in a zillion pieces. That means them too..no matter of party affilation. This is how I see the all need to look at this nomination.
have an honest grasp on how Looney Alito can change all of our lives. The balance that exists is there after 200 plus years of trials and errors and no matter which way the extreme swings it always brings undue pain to the populace without regard to whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. I know they want it but I think they’re going to shoot their eye out with it.
Alito is a liberal’s “worst nightmare“
My Senators are Shelby and Sessions. They would vote to have every non-Republican in the country executed if Bush asked, so writing them about anything is pretty pointless.
Me too but I’m military and vote in Colorado. I still am very excited to see a Booman poster from Bama! Alabama is an odd state……votes Dems in on the State level but solid Red on the National level. Very freaky. I lived in Wyoming for half my life. Votes in mostly Republicans for the State Congress and always always a Democrat for Governor……that way they keep the state balanced. They all claim to be Republicans though and vote solid Red Nationally. I think that in these weird states we are going to see some unexpected changes in 2006. They do understand balance and I believe they also understand that things are very out of balance nationally. They also went with Clinton! Montana tends to have quite an impact on Wyoming, particularly the Northern portion of Wyoming. Two very prominent towns in that area consider the Billings Gazette the “bigtown newspaper” and that is Sheridan and Cody. Things could get tricky for Craig Thomas as I have seen that we are running a damn good Democrat against him for Senate:). Attending the University of Wyoming is a very big deal politically in Wyoming and our guy is a big UW grad. They love their college and the shake up in Montana has a big impact on it’s sister Wyoming! If Thomas goes down I’m gonna freak huge!
My brother is in Army Intelligence in Colorado. I’m not sure where exactly, we don’t talk much and I hear everything about him his wife and children from family members. He’s one of those I-want-to-be-rich republicans who don’t realize the current system is rigged against them and in favor of those who’re already wealthy. He does have the good sense to despise Rumsfeld though.
Alabama elects southern Democrats every once in awhile, Shelby being one example, but they aren’t much different from the Republicans. I even worked for Jerry Denton (who is like a more ethical McCain, same basic war prisoner back story) against Shelby back in ’86 though I was too young to vote. I lived in NW Florida a few years ago and my family still has a home there so that’s where I’m registered to vote. There is absolutely no chance Alabama will unseat Shelby or Sessions, though Lucy Baxley has a chance of becoming a slightly progressive Democratic Governor.
Hopefully Thomas and enough others will lose this year and change the balance in Congress. The only way I can see now to save the country from becoming a monarchy is impeaching Bush before it’s too late. Republican rhetoric is extremely scary.
How in the world do these poor folks down here deal with someone like Riley. I read today in the paper that the money he promised to businesses locating in Bama and that didn’t get paid…..he wants the Congress to go slow on this?! Made a promise and now hasn’t paid up and just when Congress gets ticked he wants them to go slow? It’s already over due buddy and these people need JOBS! I will donate some time to Lucy even if Bama isn’t my state. Not much I can do for Colorado from here other than shoot my mouth off! My husband started out in M.I., like Jeffersonian Dem says……it tends to make them a little strange and antisocial. Hang tough and take good care of yourself and if you ever need anything I am here! I knew a bunch of those Military folks too who thought they were going to get rich as Republicans. They are making a decent income and have some rank and finally the spouse is able to get back to work fulltime and they all just got hit with that terrific Alternative Tax. They look like someone hit them with a rubber chicken……they look shellshocked right now!
She actually isn’t related to me, her ex-husband Bill (who was lt. governor in the early 80s) is a 4th or 5th cousin. She has won several times for treasurer, sec. of state and then lt. governor in the last decade or so by large margins when all other statewide offices went to republicans so she is probably the favorite at this point (the other democrat, Siegelman, was always seen as an ethical guy when I was growing up but his term as governor was corrupt even for Alabama and in my opinion he belongs in prison).
I didn’t read the article on Riley, I don’t get a local newspaper (though my parents are the editors of the Andalusia Star-News currently) but I assume this is dealing with Katrina aftermath? Riley is ok in most instances, though he tends towards doing nothing rather than taking a misstep. When he first took office he tried to call a convention to re-write the state constitution and caught hell from business interests because of it. The conservative base still hasn’t forgiven him even though he wasn’t successful. The constitution as written (all 10,000+ pages of it, longest anywhere in history by a factor of at least 20) is probably the most regressive taxwise in the country, so naturally republicans (and richer democrats) want to keep it so they don’t lose their privileges. It took guts for Riley to stand up to that, the only time he has shown any in his political career, and he’s still paying the price.
My brother isn’t bad, he’s 11 years younger than me and I basically raised him while both parents worked so I can’t say much negative. The not speaking often isn’t arguing about politics so much as he would prefer that I live my life in a way that supports his dreams and I don’t like lectures. I don’t value money very highly so being conventionally successful isn’t a priority.