The Alito Cloture Vote (72 -25)
has now completed clearing the way for the full Confirmation Vote Tomorrow at 11am. I will agree that I'm disappointed, but also energized. In just a few days the efforst of the Netroots came together an managed to flip a Majority of the Democrats (As I predicted). Not enough to block Alito, but enough to show the true colors of our Senatorial representatives.
A bloc of Democrats, led by Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and
John Kerry, unsuccessfully tried over the weekend and Monday to persuade other senators to use a vote-delaying filibuster to stop Alito, a 15-year veteran of the U.S. Appeals Court and a former lawyer for the Reagan administration.
"It is the only way we can stop a confirmation that we feel certain will cause irreversible damage to our country," said Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee.
If confirmed, Alito would replace O'Connor, who has been a swing vote on abortion rights, affirmative action, the death penalty and other issues.
19 Democrats refused to show some
backbone. As soon as I have the info I plan to put up a set of
Wanted Posters for their Spines. If they can't stand up against a nominee like this, who represents a major threat to the balance of power in our government - what will they stand up for?
As I've said, this was a critical vote - and although it wasn't won the war isn't over. This showed that the Netroots had the power to significantly shift the end result of a vote. Two days ago the cloture results would have been more like 95-5. We have to make sure that those who with us, Kerry, Kennedy, Biden, Clinton and others know that we appreciate their courage. Hats off to them for showing that there is still a
Democratic Wing within the Democratic Party.
Here's what Kerry had to say.
“This was a fight over principle. Trying everything in our power to stop an ideological coup on the Supreme Court was the right thing to do. Everything in Judge Alito’s record shows that he will actively work to erode civil rights, discrimination and privacy protections. The time to fight was now, before the irreversible decision of confirming a new Supreme Court Justice was written in stone.
“We knew we faced steep odds, but we also knew that once Judge Alito becomes Justice Alito, there’s no turning back the Senate confirmation vote. It wouldn’t matter if we spoke up after the Supreme Court has granted the executive the right to use torture, or to eavesdrop without warrants. It wouldn’t matter if we spoke up only after a woman’s right to privacy was taken away and only after the courthouse door was slammed in the faces of women, minorities, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor. This was a debate worth having, and a debate we had no choice but to have today.”
And to the others -
We have top make sure they know their days as our representatives are clearly numbered, particular the ones in bold as they are all up for election in Nov of 2006. Let them know that you will support
any credible primary challenger to their re-election. But that's not enough, we need to pick up some seats.
Particularly
Byrd, Johnson and Nelson - who've all stated they plan to vote "Yes" for Alito's confirmation - need to
feel the heat.
Kos has the game plan...
We need more Dems, and we need more good Dems. Tester's headline on his campaign website states that he'd vote "no" on Alito. Let's replace Conrad Burns (R-MT) with him. In Vermont, Bernie Sanders would be an easy "no" and a much more reliable progressive vote than Jeffords (I) ever was. Both Matt Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island would be reliable "no" votes, and much more likely to filibuster than Lincoln Chafee (R). In Ohio, both (Iraq War Veteran) Paul Hackett and Sherrod Brown would be guaranteed votes against Alito [Compared to Mark Dwine(R)]. While Missouri's Claire McCaskill said she wouldn't filibuster Alito, she would vote against him [vs James Talent (R)]
With these top-tier pickup opportunities alone (not including PA, where Bob Casey is suddenly running to the Right of Attila the Hun, and TN, where Harold Ford might not always vote with us), Dems would suddenly be at 49. And that's what we call a "margin of error". Able to lose 9 senators and still uphold a filibuster, we could protect our Red state Dems and still hold the line against reactionary ideologues like Alito.
And, we work our asses off, we can put states like Arizona (Jim Pederson vs John Kyl) and Nevada (Jack Carter and John Ensign(R)) in play.
That would be a majority people, this issue just how valuable a thing that is to have.
Vyan
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