Filibustering Alito For Reasons Other Than Alito (Rude Pundit)

[kpete]

1/27/2006
Filibustering Alito For Reasons Other Than Alito:

In the entire political calculus over a potential filibuster, let us for the moment remove Samuel Alito as the physical derivative. 'Cause, truth be told, despite pathetic polls and pouting presidents or putrid politicians, most people couldn't give a happy monkey fuck about whether or not Samuel Alito is on the Supreme Court. Most people aren't paying attention, and when they turn on the CNN or the Fox, no one's tellin' them that Samuel Alito rapes hobo corpses after beating them to death with beagle puppies. So if you ask average Joe, Jane, Jose, Juanita, whoever, if Alito oughta be on the court, chances are they're gonna say, "Sure, why the fuck not?" or "Si, porque la cogida no?"

............


Then here's a brief list of reasons to filibuster Alito that have nothing to do with Savage Sammy:
- Because President Bush authorizes spying on Americans without a warrant.
- Because President Bush authorized torture by Americans and through renditioning.
- Because President Bush detains people without charge for an indefinite period.
- Because President Bush ignores whatever laws he wants, even if he signs them.
- Because President Bush lied about Iraq to get us into the war.
- Because the Army is stretched "to the breaking point."
- Because the reconstruction of Iraq is being fucked up, too.
- Because President Bush refuses to acknowledge what it's gonna take to help the people of the Gulf Coast.
- Because Ford is getting rid of 30,000 employees.
- Because Karl Rove still has a job.
- Because President Bush and the Republicans fail to fully fund the bullshit "No Child Left Behind" program.
- Because President Bush denies the existence of global warming.
- Because the Medicare prescription drug program is a clusterfuck that will end up in people dying because of its existence.
- Because President Bush denies any connection to Jack Abramoff.
- Because President Bush refuses to speak before any audience that doesn't adore him.
- Because Dick Cheney exists.
- Because Osama Bin Laden is either living free or died free.
- Because Donald Rumsfeld still has a job.
- Because the White House has stymied every investigation into its fuck-ups.
- Because President Bush calls spying "terrorist surveillance" and pollution "Clean Skies" and money to churches "Faith-Based Initiatives."
- Because Richard Scaife doesn't need another tax cut.
- Because there has to be a line in the sand, somewhere; otherwise, it's just one long desert until who-knows-when.

................

As Republicans fret and fume if a filibuster happens, threatening some recriminations, even the "nuclear option," remember this from everything we know about Rovean politics, the way of the wolverine: they attack when frightened. They don't compromise. They don't look for solutions. They attack and attack until they get what they want. And if they still don't get it, they try to do it anyway.

Politics is about power, motherfuckers. Use it or lose it. Sure, sure, there's easy principles to defend in blocking Alito because of what Alito believes, but there's also the pure assertion of power against those who seek to disempower the rest of us.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2006/01/filibustering-alito-for-reasons-other.html

[blm]

1. Send that to Kerry's office. It's simply GREAT.

.

[Sammy Pepys]

2. It would be nice...

...but there will be plenty of red state Dems who won't want a filibuster to go some of those places, and they'll vote cloture.

[Marnieworld]

3. Your top 5 reasons are connected to the SCOTUS

Who decides if the president can do these things? Eventually it's the SCOTUS. How will ALito vote? In favor of the President. It's beyond the culture wars. It's about stopping an executive from being a dictator.

[Coexist]

4. kick

[MrPrax]

5. Another real good reason for filibuster...

are the bloggers themselves...they have been providing the only untainted vehicle for the democrats to even get it's point across and a good chunk of them, true friends of democrats, are livid and vowing that their will NOT be a next time for their unflinching support.

Maybe some cynical pundits are right, the democrats are so collapsed that the only thing they can do to resurrect themselves is have Alito and Pals deliver them a 'wedge' issue that will organize the rank and file.

Alito & the Media Mess

By Robert Parry

...The Right’s media now rises like a giant vertically integrated corporation from newspapers, magazines and books to talk radio, cable news, TV pundits and Internet sites. The machine is lavishly financed at each level and can turn even fringe issues (like the “war on Christmas”) into questions that dominate the national debate.

By contrast, the Left’s chief funders have historically starved independent media outlets, following the dogma that “activism” and “organizing” can solve almost all problems. Therefore, Democrats find themselves dependent on the mainstream media for whatever attention their positions do get.

...

Conservatives have been richly rewarded from their investment in an infrastructure to get their message out and help Republicans build a powerful base of support among the people, especially in areas with little media diversity, i.e. the Red States.

Meanwhile, liberals have struggled to explain their positions to the American voters and thus Democrats often end up finessing controversial issues – which, in turn, infuriates their base, which desperately wants leaders who will fight.

Alito & the Media Mess

It's a good read and one can see a lot more into his criticisms than simply 'media analysis'

[yurbud]

6. exactly. Kick & rec. Dems should be doing this just to weaken Bush

The GOP sure as hell would.

[yurbud]

7. Question Dems should always ask: WWRD (what would Rove do?)

From the answer to that question, subtract the clearly illegal and immoral, and you get

• taking unapologetic stands that aren't vague platitudes like "we can do better' or "we want to grow the economy and make America stronger"
  
  
• attacking your opponent (at the very least, attack his ARGUMENT for god's sake!), the very core of the GOP ideology, privatization, deregulation, tax cuts for the rich and corporations have not only failed to provide benefits for the average American, but were never designed to do so in the first place: they are the essence of corruption.
  
  
• stating your point clearly,
  
  
• repeating it ad nauseum, and
  
  
• actually working toward it as a goal (which means starting with what you want, not a pre-compromised position, which will fail to excite public support and be watered down to nothing in negotiations).
  
  

[bunkerbuster1]

8. It's time to stop being ashamed of using the power we have

Bravo, Rude Pundit. Kicked and nominated.

[mom cat]

9. Great Piece!

[Joanne98]

10. You can talk about anything while fillerbustering.

If I was John Kerry I would talk about ELECTION FRAUD!

[karynnj]

15. In his floor speech when talking about people not

having equal rights - he spoke of African Americans having difficulty getting registered and of voting machines being placed unequally. So, in a little way - he got the suppression issue in.

[henslee]

11. He forgot to mention that the anthrax killers still on the loose.

[grace0418]

12. Exactly! Criminals should not be allowed to nominate anyone.

Dems should filibuster on the mere FACT that Bush cannot be trusted.

[understandinglife]

13. YES!!! And, YES, again, and again and again .... FIGHT ALWAYS.

Peace.

[Breeze54]

14. ABSOLUTELY AGREE!!!

This is about POWER!!!!!!!

Screw the MSM!
This is about a show of force by DEMS!!
......but I really, really, really do NOT want AlitOUT!!

Snip--> Submitted on January 27, 2006 - 2:11pm.
In my own words:on another messageboard.
"They MUST stand up against this republican vote even,
if the they don't have the votes for a filibuster,
because others need to see that the Dems are willing to FIGHT!
It's psychological warfare!"