Sadly,some Democrats and blogs are killing Kerry

[Mass]

Bill Nelson said there was no point to vote against cloture as they dont have the votes.

ezra klein has a nasty post against Kerry on his blog as do Greg.

They seem to forget that Hillary is on with that as well

[Mass]

1. More about that

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/breaking_news/13730014.htm

These officials said both Reid and Schumer of New York, who heads the party's effort to gain Senate seats in 2006, have stressed the drawbacks. Among them were the certainty of defeat, the impression of political weakness that would convey and the potential impact on candidates on the ballot in 2006 in Republican-leaning states. Both men oppose Alito's confirmation.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat, sided with Kennedy, Kerry and others, contending Alito's record was troubling enough to warrant a filibuster, and that in political terms, core Democratic voters would be energized by a last-ditch stand.

[WildEyedLiberal]

2. Reid and Schumer are the ones giving the impression of weakness

I assume they're both on board with the filibuster, but they've made it more than obvious that they don't want any blame if it fails. The entire party, minus Kennedy and a few principled others, are abandoning Kerry. But I think Kerry's getting a lot of grassroots support for this, and WE the voters won't forget.

[JI7]

10. Kerry wanted Durbin to be Senate leader instead of Reid

i can see why.

[sandnsea]

3. I called them

Their office is probably closed now, but we should spearhead this for Monday morning. My point was the fallacy in their thinking. The left didn't support Gore in his GE or Kerry in the primaries, so it's complete lunacy to conclude this is all coming from the left. If they all understand Alito is a dangerous choice, then they ought to understand they would be supporting mainstream Democrats by supporting a filibuster, not just the fringe. This isn't politics, this is our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

[Blaukraut]

4. all this political caution

Will end up coming back to haunt them. If Alito gets confirmed, and Bush and the rest of the repugs get their way, the Democrats will be out of a job anyway. The desire for a one-party system was made abundantly clear more than once. Whatever makes these cowards think they will be spared when it comes down to it. The repugs want nothing short of total annihilation of the Democratic party, and without the Dems showing a united front and a fighting spirit, that's exactly what will happen.

[Mass]

5. I think that Kerry understands too well that there is little to win with

political caution.

In 2002, people should not attack Bush because of 9/11.
In 2004, people should not attack Bush because of Iraq.

It does not seem that we won any seats in the Senate in these two elections. May be it is time to stand for what we believe.

[MH1]

6. Buzzflash is on our side.

Screaming out from the page...

It's the Fighting Democrats Vs. the Appeasement Democrats. Harry Reid and His Enablers Always Tell Us, "Wait Until Next Time." But There's No Next Time. Appeasement is Not a Way to Win the November Election. Americans Like Winners, Not Wimps. Harry Reid, Like Tom Daschle, Should be a Red State Senator, Not a Minority Leader, Because Neither of Them Could Lead.

Links to an ABC News story that says there's 62 votes for cloture already.

But... maybe enough screaming can turn a couple of those. At least we aren't going down without a fight!!

[BlueIris]

7. Not last week they weren't. They posted disgusting things about Kerry.

Insinuating he was a liar, a coward, a man without principle and about two dozen other things they know GODDAMN WELL HE ISN'T. They took every cheap, pathetic, soulless, assholish shot in the book. They're hacks. I will never look at that site the same way again.

[Mass]

9. Here is what they wrote

http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/06/01/edi06008.html

I am not sure it was that bad, sure not good, but at least they were pushing him to do the right thing, totally different from those who say today that he should not have moved, because it was not good for the party and good for Kerry.

This said, they were wrong in calling for Kerry to do so. Reid should have done that. As a party leader, it is his role.

[MH1]

17. Well I missed that, but I did think that I recalled Buzzflash being

kind of nasty.

Part of why I posted that - I thought it was interesting that they are fire and brimstone against Reid now.

[Mass]

8. I am more and more desperate

Rather than pushing for the filibuster (and generally for what is good for us), our leaders (Reid and Schumer) and the left-wing pundits are for the most part discussing what move is the most politically expedient and then accusing those who fight (via like-minded pundits and bloggers) to do so for the same reason.

There should be no surprises in the fact that those who leaded this effort (Boxer and Durbin included) are also those who signed the DSM letter, letter that the Democratic leader made sure stay secret until it was useful for him.

For a long time, it has seemed to me that the anti-Washington mood was wrong, but I think that 2005 convinced me that there was something there. So much caution cannot help. How many times will Reid tell us to keep our powder dry and not fight?

[JI7]

11. this isn't too different from the 2004 campaign

and other things. seems certain people would rather debate strategy and criticize rather than unite and get behind and support something.

[TayTay]

12. This is about more than just this fight.

This is also about 'our grassroots' getting some respect from 'our leaders' in Washington. This was never something that was going to happen with one vote or one stand for principle. The current system we have is very broken and it is going to take a lot of effort and dedication to fix it.

Mass, you have to step back for a minute and see this from a slightly wider lens. This is one of the first times in recent history that a Democrat has reached out to the grassroots of the Democratic Party and asked for help. Sens. Kerry & Kennedy went through the channels for support, got the discouragement talk and then decided to go for it anyway. They went over the heads of the pundits in DC, the consultants in the Party and, it seems, some of the leadership. This is a very, very gutsy move and one that carries considerable risk.

What happened? The Liberal Web exploded. It just exploded. Most people know that this is a very uphill fight. Three days ago it was a hopeless fight and there were dozens of posts on DU alone that said if no one filibusters this nomination, they are done with the Democratic Party. Now, there are thousands of busy little bees out there calling Senators and trying like mad to get our elected Dems in the Senate to vote with Sen. Kerry. Three days. Three little days and one courageous 'shot heard round the web.' This is big. Very big.

I watched a little bit of the Right to Life March on DC this week. I saw enough to know that the Republican Party rolled out the welcome mat for those demonstrators. They went out of their way to listen to their base and sooth them and talk to them and make them feel like they were involved in what goes on in Repub circles in DC. Nice way to build a base. It took years to get that. It will take years for us to get that. But we have taken a step, albeit one that has risks. But we have to do things like this. We have to have strong Democrats taking stands on principle. Then we need those Democrats to ask the grassroots/netroots for help. If this first effort is any indication, this effort portends very good things. (After all, this was organized late, we only have 4 days, we have a lot of disbelief from our own Party, and so forth.) But this is what we need to do. As Peter Daou wrote, we have to build that triangle and one of the lines in that is communication between the Dems in DC and the 'base.' Well, if this effort, flawed as it is, is any indication, we are in for a heck of a time.

[MH1]

16. "Shot heard round the web"

That it was.

As usual Tay, I think your post is spot on.

[ProSense]

24. The media isn't helping matters much either.

The Democratic base is being maligned in the media. Suddenly, I have become the "fringe left" and "loony left." I woke up this morning thinking about this. How many time does the media seize on that opportunity to call the Republican base the "fringe right" or "loony right"?

[sandnsea]

14. I don't think it's that simple

While I do think there is some problems in DC, I also think it's in part due to trying to mesh the perceptions red state Dems have of their voters with traditional blue state type Democrats; then throw in the far left anarchist types who truly believe they're the base. With all my heart and soul I do not think they understand the power the right wing rhetoric has on red state voters or how short the bridge really is between them and traditional Democrats. I don't think they hear these voters outside election time or outside of town halls when the extremes tend to show up. Couple that with classic power struggles and we end up with a mess instead of a message.

I don't understand the pundits either which is what has made me start questioning who they're carrying the message for. I watched Molly Ivins today and she was dismissive of the filibuster too, which surprised me because I have the feeling if Howard or Feingold had been leading it, she'd have called it just the kind of spine she was looking for. And she was a little too flippant about political posturing for my taste too. This isn't a game, real people with real lives are on the line. You won't find Republicans being dismissive of any of their own, not on issues of critical importance. They always save their vindictiveness for Democrats.

[TayTay]

15. I don't think it's simple at all.

I think it will take years to accomplish, as the RW took 40 years to establish their ties with their base. But we have to start doing things better. We have to start having actual Democrats lead fights instead of outsourcing it to the interest groups. We have to find a way to confront the Repubs in Red States over issues that are important to voters. (Ford employees who are now laid off anyone? All those outsourced and laid off workers who are now trying to get an interview at McDonalds or Wal-Mart.)

None of this will be easy or happen anytime soon. (It might outlive the current group of people in DC.) But that's what we have to do. We have no choice. There are no shortcuts and no magic wands that we can wave to make things all better. We have to work the actual problems.

Also, remember, Bush's poll ratings, right now, are between 36 and 42%. This is after that full court press of publicity of pushing the Iraq War and so forth. There are conservative Republican groups that are very worried over Bush's power grab and determined effort to ignore the Constitution and Congress. 58% of the American people disapprove of Bush's job performance. There is some fertile ground here. There is some reason for hope, even if this particular effort goes down.

[sandnsea]

19. Yes there is

Fertile ground. Which is why it's stunning to me that those red state senators didn't use this opportunity to go home and build some bridges. This guy is the poster child for what Republicans really stand for and if they can't hold him up to their local people and say "this isn't what you thought you were voting for", then I don't know how they'll do it against charismatic politicians.

[ginnyinWI]

21. yes it is fertile ground

And if Kerry and a few other Dems can show them a party that actually stands for something, with no equivocating, some might just cross over. Because people need leadership, someone with a vision. Maybe some will remember the hope Kerry voiced in his campaign, and decide that maybe the other side was a wee bit unfair to him--given what they now know about that bunch of thugs. I saw a recent poll that said that *'s cridibility has fallen 10% since last January. And all his other numbers are down too, of course.

JK needs to keep doing stuff to command the media's attention as well.

[kerrygoddess]

13. We have the whole weekend for JK and EMK

to work their magic. Got to have hope and screw the naysayers like Ezra.

I just posted a diary on Kos with my latest post from the Dem Daily on JK's speech today, if anyone can kick it on Kos it's as always appreciated.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/27/202750/920

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1774

[MH1]

18. I reco'd, but there's some nasty comments there.

Anyone feeling feisty?

[kerrygoddess]

22. Thanks.. I went back in

The love doesn't last long around there... sadly.

[BlueIris]

23. Your a brave goddess, kg.

Truth? I don't have the energy to deal with the haters right now. Disagreement is fine, panic and confusion are still (sort of) understandable, but...no. Can't do it. Don't want to put up with them right now. I'm working with people I think it's possible for me to work with. It's good we have people like you, who want to deal with the shit of the nay-sayers, the non-logical, and the assholes.

[globalvillage]

20. Is there a source for Bill Nelson's statement?

I would love to respond to him.