They are afraid of the conservatives' reaction but apparently not ours/NYT

By last week it was clear that the judge had enough votes to win confirmation. And the last gasp of resistance came in a Democratic caucus meeting on Wednesday when Senator Edward M. Kennedy, joined by Senator John Kerry, both of Massachusetts, unsuccessfully tried to persuade the party to organize a filibuster.

No one defended Judge Alito or argued that he did not warrant opposition, Mr. Kennedy said in an interview. Instead, opponents of the filibuster argued about the political cost of being accused of obstructionism by conservatives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/politics/politicsspecial1/30alito.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=bfc3689aa0095c06&hp&ex=1138683600&partner=homepage

Rather than reach out to non-voters or never-voters, they will pay their strategists brazillions of dollars to find out how to "swing" the last few people who bother to go to the polls.

Stupid is as stupid does.

destroying America!

"Not only do they slap us around, they might even call us names!"

Since the right wing base already attacked Miers, and got Alito as their reward, it's clear that he isn't a swing voter judge anyway. It's the perfect opportunity to define the right wing extremists and grab the middle, and they're too stupid to see that too.

with a great opportunity to tell American WHY Alito is an anti-American choice.Jeez-we're back to "but we don't want neo-cons to call us names"? sorry to say, but these people truly are pathetic.

Congress should obstruct tyranny.
Congress should obstruct any and all executive power grabs.
Congress should obstruct a criminal President.
Congress should obstruct abuses and violations of the Constitution.
Congress should obstruct nominees that support criminal Presidents who engage in executive power grabs as well as violations and abuses of the Constitution, and who would prop up tyranny.

repeat after me....... FUCK THE CONSERVATIVES...


You're Democrats, live it...be it. Only then will we win!

:mad:

That proves they care more about their own hides than about our republic! :grr:

If they act like the opposition they were hired to be, then the repugs won't "let" them win another election? Is that it?

Because I'm tired of working for candidates who make me think that I should be embarrassed to believe what I believe, Sam! I'm tired of getting them elected! We all need some therapy, because somebody came along and said, "'Liberal' means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on Communism, soft on defense, and we're gonna tax you back to the Stone Age because people shouldn't have to go to work if they don't want to!" And instead of saying, "Well, excuse me, you right-wing, reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, Leave It To Beaver trip back to the Fifties...!", we cowered in the corner, and said, "Please. Don't. Hurt. Me." No more. I really don't care who's right, who's wrong. We're both right. We're both wrong. Let's have two parties, huh? What do you say?

From an editorial in the Tampa Tribune last week:

>snip<
The vote will be a test for Florida's senior senator, Bill Nelson.

Will he pander to the far left of the Democratic Party and the special interest groups opposing Alito's nomination and vote against the judge?

Or will he exercise the principled judgment he showed in supporting the nominations of >snip< blah. blah. blah.
http://www.tbo.com/news/opinion/editorials/MGBAY6AVRIE.html

-Pander (vote no) or exercise principled judgment (vote yes) -

Senator Nelson said that he didn't like some of the responses from Alito. "Expressed some misgivings", and he's going to vote "No" ....But.... he won't support a filibuster.

He also voted for the IWR, even though the calls and e-mails at the time were running 15-1 against using force. I remember he gave some severely convoluted reasoning about listening to those he hadn't heard from (wish I could find the article).

*sigh

--

and Yes, I've e-mailed and faxed anyway. Gotta keep on plugging away even if he doesn't listen.

As for the political cost - True, he's up for re-election this year, but the alternative is hideous Harris -

back to banging my head against the wall

if other people's FEELINGS get hurt?!

how selfish.

and I urge other DUer's to do the same. It is very, very hard to hear that these senators are more interested in avoiding "obstructionist" charges than in saving democracy in America.

They know we won't vote the conservatives, they know our conscience won't let us sit out the election, and they know the number of people who will defect to a third party is small.

It seems that most of the discussion about this here on DU has been either leave the party or stay and accept that the Dems don't really care. There has to be a middle ground somewhere. There has to be a way to let our Dem reps know we won't stand for being ignored without deserting the party.

edit: I emailed this to my Senator who is still on the fence about the filibuster (Mikulski, MD) because her phones are locked and the fax machines are probably out of paper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/politics/politicsspecial1/30alito.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=bfc3689aa0095c06&hp&ex=1138683600&partner=homepage

If this is true; you won't support the filibuster because you're afraid of the conservative backlash, then you have betrayed your constituents, including me.

This goes beyond whether or not you'll be able to keep your job. This is a man who will work to roll back years worth of civil rights, and he'll have decades to do it. This is a man who is willing to give the President powers the founding fathers never intended, and which could take years for us to get back. This man will likely be on the SCOTUS long after you retire.

What matters more? Your job, or the people you represent? I can't speak for everyone, but I would vote in a heartbeat for a Democrat who stood up to the conservative smear machine despite the consequences. That can be you, or that can be someone else. You decide.

The Democratic party simply isn't enough. They are too worried about getting re-elected as opposed to being the party of the people. If we can't find a third party, let's put term limits out there. Maybe you can only be in office two terms and then you have to be out two before you can run again. That way the good ones come back and the bad ones are out. My early morning thoughts.