ebonlock | Entries tagged with alito

via Fafblog:

After months of petty partisan mudslinging over "individual rights" and "unlimited executive power," Samuel Alito has finally been given his proper place on the nation's highest court. It is the greatest honor a jurist can receive: no longer a creature of flesh and bone, Alito has been reborn as lifelong Justice of the Supreme Court, a pure and ethereal conduit of the Constitution. Even as we speak he is being anointed by his fellow jurisprudents in the Supreme Court Building, where he will bodily ascend into the empyreal Tenth Sphere of the Law to commune with the wraithlike, undead spirits of the Framers to perfectly comprehend the true meaning of the Constitution before passing through the eye of a black hole to become the Star Child.

Sweet baby Jesus, the filibuster is on!

Dear MoveOn Member,

Late yesterday afternoon, Senators Kerry and Kennedy announced that they will lead a filibuster against the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The vote will come Monday, and now the rest of the Democrats have just over 48 hours to decide which side they are on.

To successfully block the nomination, 41 senators must join the Democratic filibuster. Most Republicans and a few conservative Democrats have already pledged to vote for Alito, so getting to 41 won't be easy. Every single Democrat could end up casting the last crucial vote—and this is the moment for us to weigh in.

Have you contacted your Senators yet?

Sure we may not win this fight, but dammit I'd rather try and fail than just stand by with my thumb up my ass. It doesn't take much to make a phone call or drop an email, just take a few minutes and let your elected officials know that we're holding them accountable for their actions.

Edit
According to the Majority Report this fight might not be as hopeless as it seemed:

Ben Nelson (NE) originally stated he would vote Yes for Alito. But it looks like he is putting his finger in the wind. He is now taking calls and tallies as well: 202-224-6551 .

Bill Nelson (FL) SAYS HE IS NOT HEARING FROM ENOUGH CONSTITUENTS! DC Phone: 202-224-5274 . He is hearing from tons of right-wingers who are saying that he should not filibuster!

Ken Salazar (D-CO) is taking your calls now regarding whether or not he should support the filibuster! Call the toll free line - 1-888-355-3588 (PRESS 2) . OR FAX: Senator Salazar: 202-228-5036 (DC FAX) .

As one of the commentors on Eschaton noted, "Really, if we're not going to fight over this, what are we going to fight over?"

Word.

Update:
I know I quote Digby a lot, but damn:

The chattering classes are all very sure that the Democrats have made a grave mistake on Alito. According to reports in the press, many insider Democrats believe this too. I believe they are wrong. This may look like a ragged strategy in some respects, but it is good for us to be seen doing things that have no obvious political advantage and for which we can legitimately claim to have taken the moral high ground. Yes, the tittering congnoscenti will flutter their fans and whisper that Democrats are witless and dull, but in this case we are talking directly to the people not to them. They have no idea anymore that a world exists out here where poltical calculation is beside the point.

Regardless of how this comes out in the end, and we don't know until the votes are cast, this may be seen as a defining moment for the Democratic Party. When a calculating political creature like Dianne Feinstein rushes to support a filibuster rather than reaffirm her opposition once conventional wisdom says a filibuster will fail, is meaningful. Democratic politicians (if not their moribund strategists) are feeling the pressure from the people to do the right thing.

Steve Gilliard on a possible Dem filibuster of Alito:

It's easy to talk about consequences and politics, until the first teenage girls flood the ER's again. Then this will sound like straight up cowardice. This will have a real consequence which will kill real people, it is not theory.

So fucking what if the GOP says the Dems are obstructionist, who gives a fuck?

Here's the point: getting all those Republicans on the record for supporting Alito, despite their claims of being pro-choice.

The Dems big problem is not Alito or Roe, but the unwillingness to fight for anything, anywhere. Harry Reid has reversed that, but too many Dems use this bullshit excuse "oh, this will hurt us". Well it may, but not nearly as much as not fighting at all. There are other, even more importanrt fights coming up, but if you can't fight on principle now, when the choice is clear, by the time you decide to fight, it will be too late. No one will trust your guts or heart. I think the Dems have done a good job in the minority in the last year, but to change the Congress, you need a sense that electing Democrats will create change, that they will stand up for average voters.

No one knows what happens when a fight takes place. You can guess, you can plan, but you don't know. If the GOP doesn't go nuclear today, they will tomorrow. But let's see if they like that choice three months down the road when no business is taking place and House members are being indicted.

Let Pryor, Nelson and Landrieu vote for cloture and then try to raise a dime outside their states again. The people who killed Roe is not how I'd like to run in a Democratic primary.

Look, I think a lot of people let out their frustration without understanding the details of politics, so they expect politicians to act in a way which will make them happy, which doesn't happen. You know, you need to listen to people who predict Dem failure They're frustated, they want someone to stand up for them , the way the GOP does for the wingnuts. They aren't the problem, they've just been disappointed so many times, they've lost heart and with good reason. They see CNN and they see failure all around for the Dems. You fight, and even if you lose, they will respect the fight.

One of the things I think people don't realize is that victory is earned. You build towards winning, it isn't handed to you. You have to do the things to earn it. Without that, you can never win.

Forget the calculations, make a fight and see what happens. We're out of power, about to enter an election cycle where the House leadership faces criminal probes, there's nothing to lose, and everything to gain by making a fight, even a losing fight.

Also when it's working, I highly recommend taking a look here

Damn, apparently one interesting thing happened during Alito's questioning yesterday and I missed it. Typical.

The Crying Game:

"Then Mrs. Alito suffered a case of the weepies that was so dramatically well-timed and patently maudlin that I was reminded of the classic stage direction in Private Eye (takes out onion, wipes away tear), and suddenly the proceedings turned into a soap opera with Fox News commentators arriving on cue to deplore the toll taken on innocent bystanders."

And Jane sez:

Mrs. Strip Search Sammy sure had herself a Kodak moment today, didn't she? Goober Graham left off his corn-pone homilies and played the hick card just long enough to set her up by using the B word -- the word they're all terrified of, the word they wanted to use before the Democrats did -- BIGOT BIGOT BIGOT BIGOT BIGOT BIGOT -- that sent the low-rent Sarah Bernhardt shrieking for the cheap seats.

I've worked in the biz long enough to know a poorly executed little melodrama when I see it and that was the worst, the most shameless, most obvious. It's the role you give a really bad actress, one that can't even be counted upon to cry with conviction. The mad dash will obscure the crocodile tears and ensure that all the cameras follow, and any attempt at intelligent discussion of quite serious and weighty matters will undoubtedly get trumped by a moment of quick burlesque ripe for the evening news. A slavish press will need no coaching to play along.

Pure setup 101.

Somebody sat down last night and decided ol' Strip Search was coming off cold and vaguely sweaty and creepy. But how to soften him up, make him sympathetic, get the public on his side? Anyone with an IQ over 52 was doing an eye roll over that one, so it ought to have had some sort of GOP trademark stamp atop it.

Democrats are now effectively warned away from inching near the "B" word lest they look like cruel Snidely Whiplashes taunting Dainty Sensitive Nell.

These boldfaced crooks are absolutely desperate to stack the court and keep all their bacon out of prison.

*sigh* It'd be nice if we didn't have to deal with this kind of theatrical bullshit in lieu of actual government, but if we do it'd be even nicer if we'd get at least one or two Emmy-worthy performances out of the Dems. C'mon guys, just a little drama to liven things up on our side, huh? If the GOP wants to cast us as the villains of the piece (ooh the big bad meanies with no actual power picking on those of us in power, how dare they?), why not send Kennedy in dressed as Sauron, complete with mace and helmet. Cue the Imperial March when the Dems enter en masse. Something. If we're going to be the bad guys then let's fucking be the bad guys, ok? Jeez.

The Rude One offers his advice to Dems when questioning Alito:

How about this for a Democratic strategy now and in the debate after - act like the general public is fuckin' sick of the Republicans and how they've led the nation. Act like Americans are begging for someone to stop the crazy train we're on. 'Cause if you can't pull the emergency brake, then you need to get thrown onto the tracks. Slam this motherfuckin' Alito for being the weaselly bastard he is. Stop making him into some noble, nice guy - fucker defended a warrantless strip search of a ten year-old - what more do you need? Remember: no one gives a shit beyond CNNMSNBCFox how badly Republicans slam Democrats for being "obstructionists." No one cares when Bush says the same thing. What the public will remember in November is that Democrats stood for something, that they drew a fuckin' line, man.

Dry yourselves off and slap those hard Republican cocks out of the way, or it's just gonna be another sad right wing rape.

Yeah, that about sums it up.

via comments on Hullabaloo:

Alito's opening statement, were the hearings a Rogers & Hammerstein musical (think My Fair Lady):

Don't talk of Brown
Don’t talk of Roe
It’s all a show
Blow me!

Don’t ask, you fool
How I would rule
I’m just a tool
Blow me!

Here we are together in a confirmation fight!
Give me a break! Just keep it light!
Anyone who's been in my court’ll tell you that
You are the mouse, I’m the cat!

Haven't you heard
Bush gave the word
Don’t be absurd
Blow me!

Don't talk of filibustering this time.
Frist’ll just nuke you, and how! Blow me now!

Read me no law
Show me no writ
Don’t need that shit
Blow me!

posted by: Fred Woolsey