Alito bit of common sense, please
Let me begin by saying that I am a Democrat. And more than that, I am a liberal's liberal, an academic, and a poet. So when the conservative a-holes target their broad-sweeping derogatory comments at someone, they are usually talking about me. I don't mind. What I do mind are dumb Democrats. We (which will for the rest of this post will mean, "we Democrats") are in roughly the same position as the GOP was in the mid-90s when Uncle Newt's Republican Revolution took place. We had a sitting President, into his second term, but with somewhat sagging approval numbers. It is safe to say that Clinton, at that point, was beset by controversy. That controversy, regardless of how lame it was, or how it ignored the real progress that his administration was making (I am ignoring the bungled mess that was made out of Medicare reform, the result of which has been the nefarious HMO system we are saddled with now), made him vulnerable. The GOP then swept a number of mid-term races and took over as the majority party.
Well, here we are, heading into mid-term season, in the middle of a second term, the President's numbers are (more justifiably than Clinton's) "down" (to be generous), and he is beset by a number of controversies. I will catalog them quickly, just because it makes me feel good. Jack Abramoff (special interest superpimp). Vietnam...I mean, Iraq (its only going to get messier). Wiretapping US citizens without warrants (the price we pay for freedom? You only object if you are doing something wrong? Funk that noise.). Now we find out that the CIA and US Army have kidnapped the wives of suspected and confirmed insurgent and terrorist leaders in an effort to flush out said bad guys (this is one of the most despicable and disturbing revelations yet). There are more, but I digress.
All of this should create an ideal atmosphere for the Democrats to take back control of Congress. So here is what we should not do: Make ourselves look like idiots. Case in point: Alito's confirmation. It has been clear to anyone paying attention that the guy was going to get the confirmation. Yes, he is boring and uber-Conservative, but we already defeated one crony (anyone remember her name?), and we didn't have the numbers to defeat this one. Worse than not having the numbers, we knew we didn't have the numbers. So Kennedy and Kerry decide to attempt the filibuster anyway. No chance it was going to succeed. Here are the problems.
1. We look like fools. We accuse Bush of being out of touch, but fight a battle we know we are going to lose. It forced vulnerable Democrats to side with the GOP, and moderate Dems to look like Repubs. Not good. It makes it seem like the Democrats still don't have their act together, do not act as a unified body, and won't be capable of leading the Congress if they take the majority.
2. Kerrendy will say that they were fighting the good fight, fighting what needed to be fought. Bullshit. They were pulling a publicity stunt, so that Kerry can look more decisive when he runs in 2008 (the knock in 2004 was that he waffled, exemplified by his voting record on the Iraq War combined with his later recanting of his vote and endless attempts to clarify (Now his campaign ads will say "Kerry was ALWAYS against Alito. For sure. No waffling. We mean it")). I don't want Kerry to run in 2008. He's already a loser. Ask Bob Dole how easy it was to run the second time, when he had already lost once. Didn't go so well. And we need to put a candidate up there who people can rally behind (Not Kerry, and especially not Hillary). If you really want to fight the good fight, get us the hell out of Iraq, make sure we won't go into Iran, make sure the Patriot Act doesn't get renewed, and get us the hell out of a deficit. Oh, and stop treating US citizens like criminals (see also: wiretapping, and a little known provision in the Patriot Act that curtails financial aid to students who have enough credits for a degree. The result of which was to boot my buddy E. out of school unless he paid for it himself. Apparently that's what terrorists do: live on financial aid).
Now I am not saying that I am in favor of Alito on the bench. I'm not (and I live in a state that had one of only four yes-voting Democrats, the smallest support from an opposition party in US history). I am terrified that they might get the votes to repeal important decisions like Roe (there will be a test case within 3 months, I guarantee it). But here's the thing. The whole history of the Supreme Court is conservative, in the traditional sense, meaning that they don't like to upset the status quo. Also, the conservatives do not have a majority yet. We can count on Roberts, Scalia, now Alito, and usually Thomas to uphold (politically) conservative ideology, but the swing votes are still pretty independent. Clarence Thomas has surprised alot of pundits by not always voting along "party" lines. Justices are supposed to be apolitical, and some of them can still be counted on to do their jobs with respect, dignity and fairness.
So let's focus on getting our guys some seats in Congress, take back the majority and get a Democrat in office in '08. To do that, we need to appear reasonable and responsible. And when we have already lost a fight, we need to move on the to the next one, not drag it out as long as possible and make sure everyone in Ohio and Florida (the only electoral states that matter) know that we lost the fight.
Well, here we are, heading into mid-term season, in the middle of a second term, the President's numbers are (more justifiably than Clinton's) "down" (to be generous), and he is beset by a number of controversies. I will catalog them quickly, just because it makes me feel good. Jack Abramoff (special interest superpimp). Vietnam...I mean, Iraq (its only going to get messier). Wiretapping US citizens without warrants (the price we pay for freedom? You only object if you are doing something wrong? Funk that noise.). Now we find out that the CIA and US Army have kidnapped the wives of suspected and confirmed insurgent and terrorist leaders in an effort to flush out said bad guys (this is one of the most despicable and disturbing revelations yet). There are more, but I digress.
All of this should create an ideal atmosphere for the Democrats to take back control of Congress. So here is what we should not do: Make ourselves look like idiots. Case in point: Alito's confirmation. It has been clear to anyone paying attention that the guy was going to get the confirmation. Yes, he is boring and uber-Conservative, but we already defeated one crony (anyone remember her name?), and we didn't have the numbers to defeat this one. Worse than not having the numbers, we knew we didn't have the numbers. So Kennedy and Kerry decide to attempt the filibuster anyway. No chance it was going to succeed. Here are the problems.
1. We look like fools. We accuse Bush of being out of touch, but fight a battle we know we are going to lose. It forced vulnerable Democrats to side with the GOP, and moderate Dems to look like Repubs. Not good. It makes it seem like the Democrats still don't have their act together, do not act as a unified body, and won't be capable of leading the Congress if they take the majority.
2. Kerrendy will say that they were fighting the good fight, fighting what needed to be fought. Bullshit. They were pulling a publicity stunt, so that Kerry can look more decisive when he runs in 2008 (the knock in 2004 was that he waffled, exemplified by his voting record on the Iraq War combined with his later recanting of his vote and endless attempts to clarify (Now his campaign ads will say "Kerry was ALWAYS against Alito. For sure. No waffling. We mean it")). I don't want Kerry to run in 2008. He's already a loser. Ask Bob Dole how easy it was to run the second time, when he had already lost once. Didn't go so well. And we need to put a candidate up there who people can rally behind (Not Kerry, and especially not Hillary). If you really want to fight the good fight, get us the hell out of Iraq, make sure we won't go into Iran, make sure the Patriot Act doesn't get renewed, and get us the hell out of a deficit. Oh, and stop treating US citizens like criminals (see also: wiretapping, and a little known provision in the Patriot Act that curtails financial aid to students who have enough credits for a degree. The result of which was to boot my buddy E. out of school unless he paid for it himself. Apparently that's what terrorists do: live on financial aid).
Now I am not saying that I am in favor of Alito on the bench. I'm not (and I live in a state that had one of only four yes-voting Democrats, the smallest support from an opposition party in US history). I am terrified that they might get the votes to repeal important decisions like Roe (there will be a test case within 3 months, I guarantee it). But here's the thing. The whole history of the Supreme Court is conservative, in the traditional sense, meaning that they don't like to upset the status quo. Also, the conservatives do not have a majority yet. We can count on Roberts, Scalia, now Alito, and usually Thomas to uphold (politically) conservative ideology, but the swing votes are still pretty independent. Clarence Thomas has surprised alot of pundits by not always voting along "party" lines. Justices are supposed to be apolitical, and some of them can still be counted on to do their jobs with respect, dignity and fairness.
So let's focus on getting our guys some seats in Congress, take back the majority and get a Democrat in office in '08. To do that, we need to appear reasonable and responsible. And when we have already lost a fight, we need to move on the to the next one, not drag it out as long as possible and make sure everyone in Ohio and Florida (the only electoral states that matter) know that we lost the fight.
