Silver Linings.

[ginnyinWI]

There are some-- so I'm feeling okay tonight.

First, Alito is going to have a blot on him from the get-go. No overwhelming confirmation for that little duck. It looks like the final vote will be pretty evenly split--and he'll barely squeak in.

Second, the minute he starts to screw up, people are going to remember having been warned. The blame will be planted squarely where it belongs--on the Republican Rubber Stamp Senators. They are the majority, and they had the power to veto this nut. Doesn't matter if every Dem votes against him--they are the majority.

Third, this has shown the progressive left wing who is on the side of the people and who is not. Kerry has been redeemed in more than a few eyes--what he's done will speak louder and more convincingly than anything any of us could say about him. We have an actual list of who cares most about civil rights, privacy, and the rule of law.

[TayTay]

1. I agree Ginny.

This does show who has courage and character and who 'goes along to get along.' We know who the leaders and the followers are, that's for sure.

Don't lose sight of the other things. I know the lib-blogs are hurting right now, but we also have to remember that a Democrat (well two Democrats) came to the lib-blogs and asked for help. They came to us. (And maybe we, in this group, in our small way, helped that to happen.) This is a big deal. This effort only started last Wed and the effort that the lib-bloggers made was astonishing.

Can you even imagine what we can do if we get organized? If this effort had started last Nov., we might have blocked the nomination. This is but a beginning, not an end.

That said, everyone do what you need to do to heal. Betrayal has a sting all it's own that takes a long while to gt over for some people. (Some of us have felt it's sting before and have just grown thicker skin. Sigh, that is both good and bad.) Heal up and come back. After all, there are these two Massachusetts Senators who have these 3 Amendments that are forcing the President of the United States to take some responbility for his actions and the Rethugs in the House are blocking a whole bill because of it.

Me thinks those two Mass Senators are going to need some help to prevent the Rethugs from winning another one. So heal up and come back, I think JK still needs your help.

[sandnsea]

2. Fourth

I think it clearly shines the light on the problem in the party, the red states. I've said this about ten times today, but I'll keep saying it. If we don't start talking to the red states, we're going to continue to have these problems. I don't think we have to change our basic values, just the way we explain them and our image when we present them. It's not the DLC, it's rural America and red state Senators who only seem to be hearing from the far right in their states too. I've never met rural people anywhere that are really as rigid on issues as this supposed fundie base is. What they spout in the public arena and what they say over coffee is two different things.

[TayTay]

4. That's where organization would have come in.

The Judiciary hearings were focused on the wrong things. No one really cared about the Vanguard stuff and the Princeton student association thing. It was too 'inside baseball' and had no chance as catching on as an issue to rally people around.

The stuff that JK talked about, now that was good stuff. He talked about things that happen in towns. That story about the family and the repossession of their home was very, very powerful. No one wants the federal government to have that kind of power. That, and other things like it, should have been emphasized from the very beginning. If only Dems on the Judiciary Committee had started to partner with the 'grassroots' earlier. We could have had that interactive dialogue and told them what issues play and which ones don't. (Hint: things that are about 'us' tend to play better than things that are about a small minority or people who went to Princeton.)

Who decided on what the strategy would be for this plan of attack. Cuz, it sucked. We need to get better and we need to get better fast.

[sandnsea]

7. Yeah

I'll just say I agree completely.

[karynnj]

10. Completely unimportant , I now understood why

he was so awesome as a prosecutor. I knew how good he was at interrogation, but his summary descriptions of the cases were awesome. I had heard a few senators speak about the Vermont farmers who were evicted, thought it was awful, but with Kerry you saw and felt how it impacted each person - and it was shattering. I can see why they wanted to keep cameras out of the court when he was there, he is amazing. Strange that I've never seen a TV actor as good.

[kerrygoddess]

12. One thing that sucked

Was that a lot of the liberal bloggers were not on board with this. Just look at what AmericaBlog posted today and we all see that's a huge gap in the netroots for getting everyone to stay on message. Those of us involved with the Kerry blog during the campaign saw it over and over again.

Kennedy worked with the netroots from the begining of nomination, the netroots didn't do much but listen to what he said on the conference calls and then not post about it. Couple that with Katrina and all else happening, it's hard to stay focused.

During the hearings for Alito and right after, the "a list" netroots was more concerned about Tweety and the WaPo Blog shutting down their comments than they were about Alito. It took Bob Fertik of Democrats.com posting where's the A-List Bloggers on this to get them to come out, then many who had said didly claimed they were on board.

[ginnyinWI]

13. one good way to start

Southerners have big libertarian streaks. They don't want no big government telling them what to do.

They elect Dem governors. I agree, we really need to pursue it. More African Americans live in the South--we need to get out their vote! And show them strong leaders full of conviction and values (memo: defeat the rightwing smear machine!)

By the way: This month's (Feb) American Prospect's book section has a fantastic article all about the South and how to win it back!

[sandnsea]

17. The libertarian streak

I hear you on that. I do know about that self-reliant streak, the west has it too, in bucketloads. But it tends to play out in a "live and let live" attitude, not religion peeking under your bed and in your closet. Then there's the NIMBY's, who move in from California and want to change all the zoning laws and everybody presumes their liberals, but they're really gated community OC Republicans. So locals rebel against them and they were already against the treehuggers and the hunting and atv protestors, so they vote Republican and think they're voting against all of that liberal stuff. Whereas a sensible Democratic positon is actually more in line with what most of them truly think. That's why Brian Schweitzer won in Montana.

I have a bit of a difficult time with the southern libertarian because I know the south, the east really, has a more historic political tradition. I just didn't grow up with the seedy political stories and truly deep rooted politics going back to the revolution. I really never heard that total and complete disdain for government the way I do from some southerners, even ones on DU. There's always the militia, of course, but most people I've heard think they're all nuts too.

Still, I think the way to winning is to target a few red states, like Tennessee, Nebraska and Montana, and just really help put in a solid and sensible Democratic message. Maybe just don't let them get away with any of their right wing spin, since we know the Democrats in those states still don't get it. If we could just level the playing field, maybe that would be all it would take to give these candidates some guts to support the values of the party.

[wisteria]

3. The ill wind is coming very soon, several states have been planning ahead.

I take JK's position on abortion. I didn't always feel this way,though. However,I will forever defend a womens right to decide this difficult decision themselves without undue and un-necessary obstacles place in their way.

Posted on Wed, Jan. 18, 2006
Abortion battles play out state by state

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13655269.htm

NEW YORK - While the national abortion debate is now focused on the Supreme Court, both sides expect crucial battles to unfold this year on the state level.
Lawmakers in two states are proposing broad abortion bans they hope will eventually win approval from a reconfigured, more conservative high court. Legislators elsewhere are seeking to tighten a range of abortion restrictions; one leading liberal advocacy group gave 19 states a failing grade on reproductive rights in a national status report issued Wednesday.
"It's a picking away at our freedom and privacy, legislature by legislature, law by law, with the ultimate goal of overturning Roe v. Wade," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Among the states getting F's in NARAL's report are Indiana and Ohio, where conservative lawmakers are introducing bills to ban abortion outright. They hope their measures become law and then face legal challenges that lead to a Supreme Court reconsideration of the 1973 Roe ruling that established abortion rights nationwide.
"It is time to return the abortion issue to the states," said Mark Harrington, executive director

[FreedomAngel82]

5. I'm still so depressed about it

:cry:

[jillan]

6. I'm not depressed, I'm pissed

Sorry to be the downer, but
when the "told you so"; "Kerry and Kennedy were right" moments come,
it will be too late. This is worse that Four years of hell,
it's 20 years of hell.

I don't understand how the 19 could stand on the senate floor
and say what they said against Alito, and not stand up for a filibuster.

[wisteria]

9. Words with action mean nothing and it makes them look like

hypocrites.

[whometense]

8. Honestly, if you're depressed go read the

211 comments after the firedog lake thank you post: http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2006_01_29_firedoglake_archive.html#113867195405228177

It will make you feel that there are a lot of sane people left in the world. It made me feel so much better.

[karynnj]

15. I just saw this link on the other thread - they are sane

They were great as they put things in perspective to some degree. I disagree with the idea that the various bloggers were looking for leadership and Kerry stepped in. I don't think they thought of having a leader - just that they wanted things done.

On the other side, I think it's more complicated. Kerry since the election has tried with his emails to push grass roots involvement in addition to what he could do as a Senator. Then (possibly because of his meeting with all of you), he realised that there already was a parallel group of people who were already committed Democatic/Progressive activists and he recognised he could enlist them too - on things where they agreed. I would hope he continues to work through both - as they are different populations (with a large overlap).

Other politicians have written blogs, but I think they made less of an effort to enlist the support of the readers and give them a call to action than Kerry and Kennedy did. It may be that they might be more comfortable with this type of activism than some of their peers. (For some reason, I can't picture Hillary and the bloggers)

[BlueIris]

11. There are many silver linings here, but the one I'm enjoying the most is:

looking forward to seeing the traitors flounder. All of them, not just the ones on our side.

(Note: I'm not totally condemning all of the 'yes' Dems from today. One or two of them may get a pass from me since I don't think they live in regions of the U.S. that still resemble democracies and would have directly compromised their reelections with 'no' votes, (thanks, Diebold/MSM!) although I'm not feeling all that generous even from that perspective at the moment. I don't think we live in a black-and-white world, even as regards this effort, and I certainly can't condemn the Party as a whole right now. But certain folks? Can officially kiss my ass. A certain person in particular will no longer be able to convince me he is a member of the DNC in any sense. Joe? Looking at you, bud. Enjoy retirement.)

[ginnyinWI]

14. Great diary at Dkos all about why this is no big deal--

Trust me, it will cheer you up. It's all about how progress is relentless, no matter who's on the court!

http://www.dailykos.com/hotlist/add/2006/1/30/18584/2411/displaystory//

[ProSense]

16. Sorry, the title already turned me off.

because I don't believe this was a fight to stop a strawman. Alito as a justice will have an impact. Those consequences Kerry spoke about are really. Scalia is real. That headline says the 19 were okay and it doesn't matter tomorrow if Snators vote for or against him. I don't buy that.

I'm not going to sulk. I'm pissed and ready to fight. But after putting up a fight, to say now Alito means nothing, doesn't really make sense to me.