Question: Do Dem. members of Congress understand the consequences if Alito

[savemefromdumbya]

I don't think most of Cong. Democrats are 'with it' Don't they realize the consequences if this Alito guy is nominated. Do we have to spell it out to them?

It is still NOT TOO LATE to filibuster.

Ted Kennedy seems to be the only one who 'gets it'

:argh:

[papau]

1. More simply - do Senate Dems realize consequences of no filibuster?

They can kiss off the left I would suspect as most stay at home or 3rd party.

[savemefromdumbya]

2. I heard the following

this will make you laugh. They don't want to filibuster because it may look like they are being partisan. The perils of being partisan! I wish they WOULD be more partisan instead of pretending to be elephants.

[papau]

9. LOL - but it is a sad laugh. When the bully takes charge you are not

"partisan" to oppose - and oppose strongly.

[stray cat]

3. Can't the repubs just enforce the nuclear option

They don't need the dems vote for anything and they have the power to forbid fillibusters for judicial nominess. Dems just look as weak as they are .

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. They can and they will

Unless Alito really screws up in the hearings (which hasn't happened yet) he is going to be confirmed. The only question is the manner in which this confirmation will take place.

[converted_democrat]

4. I don't think a majority on this board even "get it."

I see far too many throwing up their hands.. So many on this board have begged for people to call their Senators, very few do it. Calls, faxes, letters.. Nobody wants to do it. Most just want to complain, it's sad, but it's true.

[acmavm]

10. And just exactly how do you know that? n/t

[converted_democrat]

11. It's not rocket science....

I sit here day in, and day out and watch it happen.. The threads about complaining have many replies to them, where action threads usually die after the original poster kicks it 2-3 times until it sinks into oblivion.. It isn't rocket science.. People love to complain, but most don't take any action on the issues. The only "action" that is taken around here is loading polls.. I spend 6-8 hours a day here.. I see it all the time.

On edit- Go look at the Alito threads that are out there right now. The action threads go nowhere.. People want to complain, but they don't take action. If people had any clue to just how bad it could be under this guy, they'd be in the streets. Right now, one can't even get them to call or write.

[acmavm]

14. I send out e-mails for threads here constantly. Ben Nelson and

Chuck Hagel probably each have a doll with my name on it.

I do it and very seldom reply to the thread. If it's just a poll I generally do, but not always. I suspect it's that way with a lot of people here.

[converted_democrat]

15. I realize that happens..

But I watch too many threads sink to believe that it happens on a regular basis.. The times it pisses me off the most is when there is a thread "complaining" at the exact time there is a thread calling for action on the same issue. The thread calling for action sinks like a rock, and the thread of woe is me gets a couple hundred replies. There is no way that enough people see all of the action threads because they sink too damn fast. It's really sad.. If something gets a total of 3 kicks, and no votes, there is no way enough people are taking action.. They sink to fast for anything to come of them... People can't act on what they don't see.

[savemefromdumbya]

19. things move fast here

[acmavm]

22. True, but take consolation in the fact that if people are like me

they get shitloads of e-mails a day asking for help. And I do take action on almost all of them. Except I got on a couple really crazy e-mail lists and I don't know how to get off. (Anyway that's another thread.) So don't dispair. If it's something that I've done from an e-mail, I don't even respond.

But I certainly understand your frustration. Things do sink fast here. And sometimes the threads that get the most response are the really 'frivolous' ones. The ones that seem important just go away sometimes.

[savemefromdumbya]

18. writing in and calling in

we operate a media corps here in our local party

[RufusEarl]

5. Consequences of Alito

Yes, i believe they do. That being said, what's their choice? If they somehow defeat Alito, who will Bush send them next? Besides, the Dem's are between a rock and a hard place, they don't want Alito but they do want to keep the Jack story on the front page.

If you think about the Repub's & Bu$h have the Dem's by the short hairs, damn if they do damn if they don't. Me personally, if I were a Dem I fight Alito tooth and nail and let the Jack story take care of itself.

[savemefromdumbya]

7. The Abramoff story will be around for sometime and then it will be Rove

so why not do the filibuster?

[Bjornsdotter]

6. Alan Dixon

....should be a good reminder for them. He was voted out after voting for Clarence Thomas. The angry voters of Illinois brought him low.

Cheers!

[maddezmom]

8. You are correct, Kennedy seems to get it

He just went round and round with Specter. :)

[leftofthedial]

12. the ABSOLUTELY understand it

their corporate masters will be ecstatic

and that's all that really matters now, isn't it?

[FreedomAngel82]

13. Kennedy and Feingold

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Oh, they do. But, they understand the consequences of polls better.

God forbid they should stick their necks out and do the right thing and risk their precious seats.

[savemefromdumbya]

17. this is the problem they won't stick their necks out

ion our state they would get support if they stuck to their principles

[savemefromdumbya]

21. Getting to the bottom of Alito - your chance to ask a question

email from Kennedy should now:

Samuel Alito began his Senate confirmation hearings Monday, after weeks of intense preparation by some of the President's closest aides. It's clear that the Administration has picked a nominee to satisfy the ideological appetite of the radical wing of its Party -- but they can't let the general public realize just how out of the mainstream his beliefs are.

The Senators on the Judiciary Committee -- including Senator Kennedy -- now have the duty to peel back the carefully constructed facade. We have to get to the bottom of Mr. Alito's record and judicial philosophy and determine how he would impact the rights and freedoms of every American.

President Bush's nominee already knows the answers to questions the White House coaches and handlers anticipated, but he hasn't heard from you -- yet. As he makes his case to serve on the nation's Supreme Court, what is the most important question you think Samuel Alito should answer?

http://www.tedkennedy.com/askalito

Given the recent revelations about the Administration's rejection of judicial oversight for its programs of torture and domestic spying, Mr. Alito's expansive view of the power of the executive branch is troubling. It's clear that President Bush wants a Supreme Court justice who will rubber stamp abuses of power rather than question his authority.

We deserve to know whether this nominee would put the power of executive branch before the American people. Sometimes it just takes a simple question to get the most revealing answer. What will you ask?

http://www.tedkennedy.com/askalito

When he was first confirmed to the federal bench in 1990, Samuel Alito promised to recuse himself from any cases involving a company named Vanguard, in which he owned stock. When a case involving Vanguard came before him, however, he went ahead and ruled on it -- and has since offered varied and conflicting reasons as to why he broke this pledge.

Even more red flags plague Samuel Alito's record when it comes to protecting our civil rights. After graduation from Princeton, he joined an alumni group that stood for curbing the admission of minority applicants and blocking female applicants altogether. Furthermore, in fifteen years on the bench, he never wrote an opinion on the merits favoring a person of color who alleged racial discrimination on the job.

The words above the Supreme Court -- Equal Justice Under the Law -- should guide any judge on the federal bench, and Samuel Alito is no exception. How would you ask him to reconcile his troubling record to this fundamental principle?

http://www.tedkennedy.com/askalito