What Good is the Filibuster, If You Don't Use It? Extraordinary Alito

[Wordie]

The article starts with this timely quote:
"He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious."

--Sun Tzu, The Art of War

January 26, 2006
What Good is the Filibuster, If You Don't Use It?
Extraordinary Alito

By MICHAEL CARMICHAEL

...Today, I propose that the Democrats are in a win-win situation vis a vis the Alito nomination, but they must oppose him with every ounce of the vigor they used to defeat the unacceptable Supreme Court nominees of previous Republican presidents.

...Samuel Alito represents a vivid reflection of the radicalism of three of the most unacceptable Supreme Court nominees of the twentieth century: Clement Haynsworth, Harold Carswell and Robert Bork. The senate Democrats should stand against him en masse, and they should launch a filibuster. The Democrats are in a win-win situation for if Bill Frist makes good on his threat to nuke the filibuster, he will be branded as an extremist opponent of the freedom of speech which he clearly is. If Frist capitulates to the filibuster, the Democrats will have won a great victory. If the Democrats lose through either cloture or the nuclear option, they will have won a great ideological victory. The only tactic that would result in the Democrats losing vis a vis the Alito nomination would be to capitulate without a filibuster, a loss of credibility that they cannot prudently afford.

Calling the Alito nomination a, "grand slam home-run," Pat Robertson has trumpeted him as an evangelical triumph of fundamentalist theocracy over constitutional democracy. This statement was imprudent of Robertson, who has a habit of making imprudent statements.

In another highly imprudent statement, Bill Frist taunted senate Democrats by stating that Alito is the, "worst nightmare of liberal Democrats." Bill Frist is betting a mountain of political capital that no Democratic senator will take up the cudgel against Alito and launch a filibuster. By insulting and enraging senate Democrats, Frist is saying that they lack the strength of their convictions. In his actions, Bill Frist has not been prudent. Due to the political circumstances involved in the Alito nomination, Frist is now in danger of falling victim to his opposition, who have been - for all intents and purposes - far more prudent than he has.

In December, one of the most influential members of the Gang of 14, Senator Robert Byrd, argued that the filibuster should never be eliminated. His remarks were timely, for the only judicial nomination on the table is that of Alito.

I say, "Bring it on." America has nothing to lose from a filibuster of extraordinary Alito, and everything to gain.

Michael Carmichael lives in Oxford, England. He can be reached at: [e-mail]

http://www.counterpunch.org/carmichael01262006.html