Dem Senators who won't support the filibuster because they are

afraid of how their constituents may react. Imagine you are sitting with three guns, two are .44 magnum revolvers with one round in the cylinder they are marked "Yea" and "Nay" respectively. The third gun is marked "Acme Novelty Company" and says "Abstain/Stay away." You must point one of these three guns at your head and pull the trigger.
Figure it out.

and not vote for cloture.

What if EVERY Dem abstained?

Did you think it was cowardly when the Dems fled from Tx to stop the vote on redistricting?

You do what you have to do to get the results you want. (Ethically of course.)

Sure, it would be better if EVERY Dem backed the filibuster and voted NO, but it's not looking like that's going to happen.

The committed Dems should vote against cloture, the ones who are too chickenshit to do that should get out of the way.

We TX dems have been beaten down pretty bad here, but just like you are seeing in this Alito deal, people who get kicked in the teeth enough eventually get tired of it. Official oppression can radicalize you.

The TX Dems figured out they could not win on the straight up debate and discourse method because our legislature had been hijacked by dirty-dealing, lying, thieving pond scum who tricked the Dems into thinking they were acting BI-PARTISAN (I still hate that fucking term to this day) when they really were illegally screwing us over in the dead of night. The Dems woke up bound and gagged and completely powerless....or so those fuckers thought.

They got a little more clever than DeLay and his minions and used parliamentary procedures (filibuster foreshadow) to stop the complete disenfranchisement of Texas Democrats. Under the cover of night, they fled the state, denying those bastards the opportunity to even hold a legislative session. And those Dems risked a HELLUVA lot for us!

OH MY GOD - IT WAS A THING OF BEAUTY TO BEHOLD!

Y'all would have loved it!!!! The swaggering repukes wandering into the state house, thinking they had laid the golden egg and wondering
WHERE THE FUCK WAS EVERYBODY AT??????

Mass chaos! Hilarity ensued. Repukes flabbergasted and bumfuzzled, so pissed they were spitting nails. Televised in all it's glory. I was never so proud to be a Democrat in all my life!

Those brave souls held together physically, establishing their own Dem caucus in our MOST SUPPORTIVE neighbor to the north - Oklahoma (Thanks again Ardmore :hi: ). Tom DeLay wanted the OK rangers to ARREST our dems and drag them back to the state line. The wonderful sheriff told Tom DeLay to GO FUCK HIMSELF:

Local (OK) law enforcement agents greeted the Democrats with big smiles and warm handshakes.

"We're here to let them know we support them," Harvey Burkhart, sheriff of Carter County, Okla., said Tuesday. "Nothing's going to happen to them here. I can tell you we're certainly not going to put them in jail."

Alas! One did eventually get arrested by DPS (DeLay's jackbooted gestapo agents), and all were assailed of threats of locking up their aides, confiscating all their records, criminal arrest, heavy fines and of course, non-stop caterwauling, recriminations and other assorted fascist thuggery. And as you know, DeLay sic ced the FBI and Homeland Security on them as "fugitives".

Ultimately, we got stuck with the redistricting, but we're working on that and now that fucker DeLay is in a world of hurt all his own.

I will tell you this - those TX Dems have earned my eternal devotion, respect and admiration, along with a guarantee of my vote whenever they want it and financial support. The pressure they endured on my behalf was ENORMOUS.

And it wasn't the first time Texas Democrats stood up and took a "radical" step to protect their constituents:

"The walkout came 24 years to the month since a group of 12 Texas state senators defied then-Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby by refusing to show up at the Capitol.

Some of the "Killer Bees," as the 12 Democrats came to be known, hid out in an Austin garage apartment while troopers, Texas Rangers and legislative sergeants-at-arms unsuccessfully combed the state for them."

Say what you want about Texas politicians, but Texas DEMOCRATS will go to the mat (or the garage or Oklahoma) for you and I love them all for it. And while we are still fighting the oppressive repubs here, those repubs learned a few things about the Democratic spirit from a few embarrassing lessons they have not yet forgot. Now those Dems are Texan Political Legends.

Now, to our NATIONAL Democratic party - it doesn't have to be as hard as making a run for the border guys! Just do it!

It sums up the story pretty well, and reflects exactly how I feel about our brave Texas dems.

It's time for the other dems across the US to show some guts as well.

"Despite the legal wrangling, Texas lawmakers hailed the Democrats for their courage and blamed DeLay for the impasse.

State Rep. Pete Gallago also expressed surprise at the impact of the caucus' actions.

"This has been a tremendous bonding experience for those of us who are here. It is not an easy thing to get over 50 members of the Legislature to agree on lunch, much less to agree on a trip to our neighboring state of Oklahoma," he said.

And of course, I forgot to thank that fantastic governor of Oklahoma:

"On Monday, Republican Gov. Rick Perry sent the Texas Rangers to Ardmore to arrest and escort the AWOL Democrats back to Austin, a move allowed under the Texas Constitution.

However, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat, prevented the retrieval, saying the Texas Rangers had no jurisdiction inside the Sooner State. Trooper pleas to the lawmakers to return voluntarily failed."

God, what a great memory and a wonderful time to recall it.

And that's how it would get played in their campaign and by the media.

Explaining the difference makes you sound "nuanced" and there isn't much ground to stand on either.

to attend, check into a hospital for chest pains or something like that.

Or, they could say "I support Alito, but I also support the leadership of my party, if this ever comes to a vote, Alito will have mine."

would simply make the DEMs actually debate on the floor. You can't do that if you go away.

back the party.

Oops, I didn't know that Alito thing was today...

Its a cop-out, and I think some people might kind of notice...

and are routinely believed?

if they can't handle the pressure, we'll find someone who can.

The gist of what I said in response to the post on Byrd's website regarding why he was supporting Alito was that he needed to explain to his conservative state (one of his excuses) that Alito would permit lax safety at mines. Byrd is a great speaker and has the attention of his constituents. I argued that he needed to explain that Alito's record was that of an activist judge and that although Alito told him that he was not an activist judge...Republicans lie.

For those Democrats sitting on the fence, we need to explain that being a Bush-lite will not win them votes, even in a conservative state. People are begging for truth and honesty and what better way to distinguish Democrats from Republicans than on Supreme Court nominees such as Alito!