I’d love to be proven wrong…

…but I don’t see this Kerry filibuster promise going anywhere. Especially when the filibuster news is followed with crap like this :

Senator Harry Reid opposes Samuel Alito but the Democratic leader is signaling he will NOT back a filibuster to keep him off the Supreme Court.

Massachusetts Democrats John Kerry and Ted Kennedy are among members of the rank-and-file who are threatening a filibuster in an attempt to block Alito’s confirmation vote.

But so far, Reid is offering them no support.

The Nevada Democrat told reporters yesterday, quoting now, “There’s been adequate time for people to debate.”

When was the last time you got the feeling that the Democrats were willing to risk going down in flames on principle? Okay, lemme rephrase that. Have the Democrats ever given any indications that they care more about fighting the good fight than their own job security?

Given the one-two punch of announcements from Sens. Kerry and Reid, one of two things is going on here. One, the Democratic caucus is so poorly managed that they still can’t bother to coordinate with each other and send a unified message on something as important as the confirmation of a man who will completely shake up the Supreme Court. Two, the Democrats have a “good cop / bad cop” strategy going on by having their highest profile member (with the safest seat) rile up the base and have all the bloggers shouting “Give ‘em hell, Kerry”, while their leader does the only thing Democrats seem especially good at : kissing moderate ass. Either way, it’s a sad, pathetic spectacle for a party that’s actually convinced itself they can win back the Congress this year. Convincing people to vote against Republicans isn’t the same as convincing them to vote for you.

Alito is clearly hostile to the concept of personal liberty, has proven himself to be a willing shill for the government and big business, openly admitted to lying about his past views, and supports the “just a theory” that the President can write his own laws and ignore the ones he doesn’t like. If this isn’t reason enough to oppose Alito’s confirmation with every tool at your disposal, then where do you draw the line in the sand? The fact that there is even debate about whether or not the Democrats are willing to filibuster this guy should bring a tear to your eye. Aren’t the big fights like this the reason you devoted your life to public service in the first place?

So…what are you waiting for?


posted by greg on January 26, 2006 @ 9:16 pm

6 comments

  1. Hopefully he’s been waiting for his constituents to tell him to move.

    I did.

    and i can think of 5 others, here in MA, who did too. And who never have before.

    time will tell on this one, but sometime politics, is just for show.

    Comment by mdhåtter — January 27, 2006 @ 5:12 am

  2. I think, sadly, that one of the things that draws us to the Democratic party is the same thing that keeps them from being a unified front. These are not team players. These are not group thinkers.

    Rupublicans were elected parroting the Bush party line and have stayed in office by harping on the easy and divisive issues.

    Democrats, on the other hand, all oppose something, but not everything. They don’t like this, but they can go along with that.

    I guess I’m just interested to see, after abortion is outlawed, exactly what kind of illegal abortion/adoption/whatever rates we’ll see. And will those pro-lifers pick up the slack, or do they only care about life in the abstract?

    Comment by Dr. Pants — January 27, 2006 @ 8:03 am

  3. I’m surprised that more libertarian republicans don’t have a problem with Alito. And you would think that any Congressman would be reticent to approve a judge who is clearly willing to erode the balance of powers for an elevated executive (f/k/a King). If they want to talk patriotism, I’d like to see them fight for the country we had a revolution to create. They strike me more as a bunch of royalists than Americans.

    Comment by Scott Hack — January 27, 2006 @ 8:30 am

  4. The problem here is that the Democrats need to do one of two things if they want to keep the court from tilting to the right. First, they need to win the presidency. Second, they need to win control of the Senate. Kerry and Kennedy are not helping the Democrats do either by pulling this stunt.

    I live in Philadelphia, and I practice law. I am familiar with Judge Alito based on my appearances before the Third Circuit. He is a qualified judge, whether you agree with his views on key issues or not. (I happen to disagree with him.)

    If the Democrats don’t want judges like Alito (i.e., highly conservative but not loony) to sit on the Court, they need to attract voters, not alienate them. By pandering to the liberal base, as Kerry is obviously doing to help his chances in ’08, the Party ends up making it easier for Republicans to pry away mainstream voters. Kerry’s move is simply bad strategy and harmful to the party’s ability to implement real changes.

    By the way, I saw that Kerry’s grades at Yale were worse than Bush’s. Who would have guessed?

    Comment by Geggy — January 27, 2006 @ 10:16 am

  5. Alito could beat filibuster

    Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has sufficient bipartisan support to surmount any Senate filibust

    Trackback by Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — January 27, 2006 @ 5:33 pm

  6. Raise support and awareness for an Alito filibuster. Trackback other blogs who are doing the same…

    Comment by CLB — January 28, 2006 @ 9:17 am

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