I knew it would end this way, but the bitter taste remains inescapable. The question now is: Do we take out our fury by refusing any further support for the Democrats who betrayed us? Or do we hold to the proposition that changing the make-up of both houses of Congress trumps all other considerations?
And what about Joke Lieberman? No surprise there. He's being challenged by a guy named Ned Lamont, who -- word has it -- is the real deal. If you're in CT, do what you can to retire Joke during the primaries.
10 comments:
Joseph,
You said it. This is major betrayal. I'm in WA State: Cantwell voted for cloture, Murray against. Both are going to vote against the nomination....but how hollow and hypocritical will Cantwell's vote against be when there are 55 Repugs and a few Dems voting for? The odd thing is that Murray is much more candy-assed generally than Cantwell. I would easily call Cantwell more prgressive. Maybe it just IS like herding cats after all. I told Canwell's staff that she just lost progressive support.
"Joke" Lieberman? Let's get creative, here, man. Somebody help me think up some nicknames that cleverly incoporate the terms "fascist enabler," "impotent," "worthless," "morally bankrupt," and "traitor."
To anon 6:28PM:
Turns out that Alito called on Cantwell this morning to get her vote:
"Alito hasn't stopped trying to gain more support. He visited with Sen. Maria Cantwell (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., on Monday before the filibuster vote in hopes of getting her vote."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060130/ap_on_go_su_co/alito
Tuesday, Jan 31st, will be a black day when Alito gets his confirmation vote bright and early.
My prediction: For Alito: 62 Against Alito: 38
With only one Republican voting against Alito and as many as 7 Dems voting to confirm Alito's confirmation.
How rotten, how tragic, how horrible that the extremists who helped BushCo steal the last two elections have engineered another extremist conservative who smiles and winks at the Senators when he says he'll respect existing precedents like Roe v Wade.
Another guess: how long will it take before the extremists overturn Roe v Wade and leave legal abortions up to the court? I would say by mid-2007, Roe v Wade will be reversed and Kaput.
What a horrible place the USA will be to live with extremist creeps making bad decisions that favor the wealthy and guilty at the expense of the average citizen.
I knew I could count on you, just the right term BETRAYAL! We need to get control of Congress. The problem is, with this type of party chaos, what's the outcome? I simply don't have the answer but you have the word...BETRAYAL!!!
autorank
I don't know whether we can take any satisfaction from this or not, but I feel certain Alito won't be on the court very long. Nor will Scalia or Thomas or Roberts. Nor will the more progressive judges, for that matter.
Why do I say this? Because the political scene in this country is but a veneer over the rottenness of its financial foundation. We are now teetering at the brink of the most horrific collapse in the history of civilization. I can't say what event will finally push us to the tipping point. Likely something seeming trivial. But my guess is that it will happen this year.
After it happens, the Bushco gang will try to assert the unitary executive control for which they have laid a foundation. But they are, above all else, incompetent, and as the USA rapidly devolves into anarchy, there will be a coup by the military generals. Bush and his gang--and the Supreme Court that will have okayed his plenary powers--will be led away in handcuffs and never seen again.
Farewell, Alito. We hardly knew ye...
what a sad, black day it is that Alito will be handily confirmed by the majority Republicans and a handful of Democrats as well.
Really, Alito's record shows that he is to the extreme right and is in good company with Roberts, Thomas (I think he is the worst Supreme Court Justice ever nominated and ALL of his opinions are written by his clerks--he is just a shadow of Scalia) and Scalia.
Feel free to spread the "cheer" and ring up a few Republican senators and let them know how disappointed you are with their leadership and how extreme Alito is and what a sad black day today is.
Cheers,
anon from SF
It's an impossible quandary: the corruption of our system effectively neuters the Democratic party, but also ensures that reform of it is impossible.
No civilization (if that's what you can call us) lasts for forever. A decent society is no one's birthright.
We are finished as a nation, already beyond the pale and beyond saving, but don't yet see it, any more than most of us really believe we're going to die someday. I don't claim to know when the collapse will come, or whether economic or political crisis will precipitate it. Or whether it will be a slow and agonizing decline, rather than a sudden implosion.
But one thing is clear: our system is unreformable. There's too much money chasing too many destructive goals, and the ignorance of the American public never ceases to surprise.
As for Lieberman, he's been the errand-boy of the insurance industry for years.... But in that, he's hardly unique. Just bought and paid for, like 70-80% of the rest of them.
Jen:
Vichy Dems is a good term. Most of America won't understand it, but what the hell. I'm tired of reaching down to the ignorant. They will get what they deserve. Trouble is, we'll get it too.
Dear anon of 7:39AM,
Very well put. Our system of checks and balances no longer works, hasn't really worked if you look into this since Kennedy was killed and removed from office in Nov 1963 by the "industrial complex" who were made up of conservative rightwing CEO's, Texas oil men and anti-Castro/anti-communist CIA operatives, US military intelligence, and even chief of staffs who deemed Kennedy a threat to national security. Kennedy wasn't a threat to national security so much as he threatened the status quo of those individuals who plotted his death, and masterminded the takeover of the government: they killed in cold blood to make sure their companies and deals always had the upper hand regardless of the social costs of shorting and ripping off the average citizen in the form of 60,000 soldiers who died or spending money on wars instead of on improving education or infrastructure. The Vietnam war was unfortunately conducted to enrich the priviledged few at the expense of the many. It wasn't about fighting communism. It was a made up war, a sham war by the CIA, to profit from the drug trafficking and war profiteering for themselves and their buddies.
These same folks who run the gov and use Bush as their sock puppet and public face, also get threatened whenever anyone says things like "making the world a better place for everyone" not just the priviledged few. they don't give a damn as long as their pockets are filled and then some. If outsourcing American jobs results in destroying the middleclass and turning the US into an economic twin of Mexico, then they don't care as long as they prosper and can continue to have an unlimited supply of kids to molest and young girls too. White slavery in the US exists and many runaways get sold off into brothels around the world or to wealthy sheiks in the Middle East.
I suspect that the end will be an implosion much like Enron went from being the 7th largest corporation in the US to bankruptcy in 24 days. If you get a chance, watch "Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room". it seems like right now, the illusion of democracy is the "con", which is being sustained long enough so that the priviledged few can ship off their dollars overseas into safe havens when the US gov falls. It will be folks like the mysterious Enron Japanese exec "Lou Pai" who cashes in and leaves Enron with $350 million and as the largest landowner in Colorado now owns a ranch in colorado the size of Rhode Island.
it is like the system is rigged, no matter how hard to work towards a more equitable result, towards justice, a better world, the system won't let you go there. Kerry really was the clear winner in the Nov 2004 election in Ohio and Florida and even a few other states and the Republicans who controlled the voting systems simply put the brakes on which ballots got counted and who got to vote and how the ballots got counted.
but thanks for your thoughts Anon 7:39AM
Anon's 7:39A and 12:03P and unirealist - I agree with all of you. I think the economic implosion is looming and part of me thinks we all deserve it but like Jen I sure don't want to deal with the fallout. But it's all too far gone to "reform". And the beginning of the end of this phase of plutocracy was JFK's murder. Hard, hard times are ahead, I fear. We'd best be putting our energies towards how we can create sustainable communities.
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