Why aren't Senators afraid of losing power with Alito on bench?

[Virginian]

I know that Senators are into the power game. Why would they allow a man to be appointed to the Supreme Court who would diminish their power?

It seems so counter intuitive. I would think they would all vote against him just for that reason. Making the Executive branch stronger makes them irrelevant. So, after approving Alito, they will be up on Capitol Hill drawing big Welfare Checks because they won't be working, they won't have anything to do. They might as well stay home. Congress will be a big waste of tax dollars.

[ananda]

1. Senators are definitely not inclined..

.. to vote the people's wishes.

It takes a huge grassroots effort to sway them.

Let's do it!

[rodeodance]

2. Repug Senators see themselves as a rubber stamp to the WH-

(for the most part)----not as separate and as overseers.


shameful.

[Virginian]

6. The fix must be in.

Otherwise, they might want to keep some power in case a Democrat is ever elected to the executive branch.

So who needs them? If they can't or won't do their jobs. A machine can rubber stamp approval for the White House.

This reminds me of the Student Govt I experienced in the 1970s. A man ran for the position of President of the SGA. He won. His first act was to abolish the SGA.

[enough]

3. The 21st Century US Senator has nothing in mind but

careerism and fund-raising. Such archaic concerns as the balance of power among the branches of government are not of interest to them.

[marions ghost]

4. they'll have a job

doing what they've been doing--kowtowing to the right and waiting for the slop to come down from the chute. (Of course there are a few who stick their heads up but the Mole Whacker comes down hard)...

[nickinSTL]

5. I've pushed that in the emails I've sent to my Repub Senators

making the point that under the executive that Alito will help empower, the Senate will be just a figurehead to ensure that the sheeple still believe they live in a Democracy. The Congress will be powerless.

[hvn_nbr_2]

9. There's historical precedence for what you say.

After Julius Caesar, the Roman Senate was nothing but a figurehead. Still, they played the charade for a couple hundred more years.

"Unitary Executive" is simply a codeword for "absolute monarch." We don't need no stinking kings, expecially not another King George.

[nickinSTL]

15. yep...

there are other examples of figurehead legislatures in history, though most of them were set up by authoritarian monarchs to placate the people, like the Etats-Generales under the Bourbon kings of France and the Duma under the Russian tsars.

[gkhouston]

7. I think some of them simply don't do the math

and the ones who have done the math think they'll be President someday. The good of the country and upholding the Constitution are quaint ideas for the peasants to amuse themselves with.

[rucky]

8. Cons never think into the future.

they see an opportunity and to hell with the consequences.

[hvn_nbr_2]

10. And until recently ...

... Dems have been afraid of their own shadows. I think we've started to light a fire under them.

[n2doc]

11. lazy, greedy egotistical bas***ards

I think many of them would love it if the Senate were reduce to a figurehead organization. Then they could collect their lobbyist money, write books and appear on sunday talks shows to wring their hands about how terrible things have gotten. And not do a lick of hard work.

[Straight Shooter]

12. Their failure to support the filibuster demonstrates their weakness.

One big chance to show strength and courage against the opposition, but just look at how some of them fold.

Lieberman is my number one target for defeat in November. He is an albatross around the neck of the Democratic party. Did not have the guts to fight in 2000, and still doesn't have the guts to fight in 2006. What a Loser. No wonder we don't get the respect we deserve, with Senators like Holy Joe dragging us back into the pit of minority status.

[fooj]

13. The Power of Congress is at stake here.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/v-print/story/141...

peace.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. short-sighted, stupid and self-satisfied.

100 little thrones, 100 little fiefdoms, 100 little people, except in the mirror