BREAKING-- "Gang of 14 to fight against filibuster

[Armstead]

According to CNN, the so-called "Gang of 14" will meet to block a filibuster this afternoon.

So if there are any halfway sane Democrats on that group, they need to be contacted fast.

[Chalco]

1. Just faxed them all. Phone lines were impossible, fax ok! nt

[Wordie]

7. VERY fast way to contact all Gang of 14 members with free FAX/email

Through just these two links, you can contact ALL the members of the Gang of 14, quickly and easily. You can send either a FREE FAX or an email. Use the radio buttons to select which you wish to send. OR, even better, do BOTH. If you want to do both, make a copy of your email message before you send it, then use the "back" button in your browser to go back to the original page, click "refresh" in your browser, change the radio button to "FAX" and paste the message into the box. Then fill out the subject line again and click to send a FAX too!

Gang of 14 Democrats:
Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia
E. Benjamin Nelson, Nebraska
Mary Landrieu, Louisiana
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii
Mark Pryor, Arkansas
Ken Salazar, Colorado
Write ONE message to contact ALL of the Democratic members of the Gang of 14 here:
http://capwiz.com/thedeanpeople/mail/?id=622&id=10748&id=273&id=201&id=31613&id=31624

Gang of 14 Republicans:
John S. McCain III, Arizona
Lindsey O. Graham, South Carolina
John Warner, Virginia
Olympia Snowe, Maine
Susan M. Collins, Maine
R. Michael DeWine, Ohio
Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island
Write ONE message to contact ALL of the Republican members of the Gang of 14 here:
http://capwiz.com/thedeanpeople/mail/?id=192&id=531&id=595&id=282&id=283&id=456&id=40039

[O.M.B.inOhio]

61. Thanks for the links. Did it.

[wordpix]

70. thanks for links, sent my email to Dems and contacted friends. My email:

Dear Senators:

I am from Connecticut but am writing you about the Alito nomination as it is crucial to all Americans that he not be confirmed. I ask you to filibuster the Alito nomination as a first step in letting the Republicans know we Democrats are serious about ending the abuses and criminal activities of the Bush administration, Republican Congress and their corporate cronies.

There are plenty of issues to talk about during a filibuster: the illegal NSA/Bush spying AGAINST THE LAW; the incompetence of the Bush Admin. in everything from cherry-picking intel re: reasons to go to war in Iraq to the Katrina response; tax cuts for the rich that do NOT trickle down (here you can explain to the American people that even if they see a small federal tax cut, they must pay more in state and local taxes since states do not receive appropriate federal funding); the disturbing rollback of environmental laws; a woman's right to choose; the looting of the Treasury with Big Oil and other corporations paying little in federal tax while Bush's war has no end, costing $1 billion per week; Congressional corruption; and so on. Then tie in the "unitary executive" and how Alito will be increasing the power of the presidency generally and King George Jr. in particular.

The vote upcoming today is about the FUTURE of the nation. Please FILIBUSTER to save our country.

[Chimichurri]

8. Is this because they are afraid of a filibuster occuring??

If so, damn.

[suffragette]

9. They just said that the 14 will block it on Stephanie's show, too.

Damn.

[HereSince1628]

10. Democrats listed in the gang of 14

Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut
Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia
E. Benjamin Nelson, Nebraska
Mary Landrieu, Louisiana
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii
Mark Pryor, Arkansas
Ken Salazar, Colorado

[debbierlus]

12. I will call everyone of them - and fax them - DON'T YOU DARE

[HereSince1628]

27. ? What did I do???? Why don't you think I should call or fax them?

[annabanana]

41. lol no, no, no

She going to tell THEM "Don't you Dare"

not YOU

[HereSince1628]

44. Oh, mistaken read of the syntax.

[leftupnorth]

13. What about republicans

do you have a list

[HereSince1628]

20. The republicans in the gang of 14--

Republicans
John S. McCain III, Arizona
Lindsey O. Graham, South Carolina
John Warner, Virginia
Olympia Snowe, Maine
Susan M. Collins, Maine
R. Michael DeWine, Ohio
Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island

[Coexist]

15. and they have all come out either for Alito or against the filibuster

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[jsamuel]

16. CNN SPECULATED that it was to BLOCK, not to SUPPORT

[rumpel]

23. They have to give us a damn good reason why they want to block

their reasoning of losing voters in a red State is self centered at best. They have an oath to protect the Constitution before anything else.

[Totally Committed]

24. Has everyone made another call to each of these people's offices

this morning? They need to know that support for them from this many Democrats will stop immediately with a vote to block this filibuster. And we have got to stick to our guns about it.

TC

[sui generis]

30. I'll be right back

have some phone calls to make

:rant:

[marmar]

31. Lieberman leading the sellout brigade...

How shocking.

[WinkyDink]

32. My e-mail to Byrd and Inouye

SIR:
DO THE RIGHT THING.

Judge Alito is nothing more---NOTHING MORE---than a manufactured from raw materials tool of the Federalist Society. He's been groomed (as perhaps GWB was) his entire academic and professional life, like an Olympic gymnast, for THIS MOMENT.

THIS MOMENT. NOT "next time", or "November elections", or "when Justice Kennedy steps down", or "when Bush threatens Iran"....
THIS TIME.
THIS DAY.
THIS MOMENT.

THIS VOTE.

THIS VOTE is the sea-change, the moment in world history when the United States of America, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, becomes a DICTATORSHIP.

With ONE MAN above the law.
With ONE MAN to determine, literally, our liberty, whether we ought to be "Padilla'ed".
With ONE MAN to determine if we ought to remain secure in our persons and free from illegal searches and seizures.
With ONE MAN to declare and wage illegal war, and to continue, therefore, the killing and bankrupting of our very selves.

With ONE MAN to determine if the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Amendments---including PRESIDENTIAL TERM LIMITS---are still operable, "in a post-9/11 world".

With ONE MAN to decide if another human being ought to be tortured. TORTURED.

HOWEVER, the POWER TODAY STILL resides with YOU.

TODAY, YOU have the POWER to say to that ONE MAN: "You are NOT ABOVE THE LAW!"

BECAUSE JUDGE ALITO, if he becomes JUSTICE ALITO, would NOT say that.
HE would use HIS power to say to that ONE MAN something RADICALLY DIFFERENT, for JUSTICE ALITO would NOT say, "You are not above the law." He would NOT EVEN say, "You are ABOVE the law."

No.
JUSTICE ALITO would say to that ONE MAN, "YOU, Sir, ARE THE LAW."

MAKE NO MISTAKE about that.
Make no politically-calculated GUESS.

Any Democratic Senator who thinks his or her future election is best assured by allowing the confirmation of Justice Alito is seeing neither the forest nor the trees.
For the new ONE MAN--ONLY HIS VOTE doctrine will make the entire Democratic Party extinct, and quite possibly even criminalized.

Too radical a thought? And you know this how?
How radical was the thought that a President could "sign"---DEFYING BOTH THE LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS---that he might have to USE TORTURE??

Think about that.

VOTE "NO" to CLOTURE.

PLEDGE to FILIBUSTER.

[Z_I_Peevey]

59. Absolutely perfectly stated.

[O.M.B.inOhio]

63. Amen!

[kentuck]

42. They should invite Lindsey Graham to join them ?

Since he came out in support of Alito from the beginning. He didn't give a damn about his promise to work with the "gang of 14"...

[insane_cratic_gal]

45. DLC DLC DLC.. I count at least 5 of them right off

not destroying the democratic party are they?

[HereSince1628]

53. Yes, but Hillary is backing the filibuster isn't she? Isn't she chair of

something in the DLC?

[formernaderite]

40. Hillary is afraid of her standing with the progressives at the moment

this is her "signal" to us....although I thank her for the support, it changes nothing.

[insane_cratic_gal]

60. Ya but she's never been part of "gang of 14"

Which consists of 5 very Moderate DLC members.

I think she had to be kicked in the ass to come out against him.

There was the plantation remark, perhaps she's starting to convert back to being a progressive.

[Carni]

62. So the Lieberman being on board thing was obviously bullshit

I thought when I read that the other day that it was too good to be true.

ASSHOLES!

[HereSince1628]

3. Maybe not. The "14" agreed filibuster is ok in extraordinary circumstanc

Everyone on this forum seems to think that is true.

[Carni]

76. Nope hours later F'ing Elmer Fudd lived up to my low expectations

of him...THAT GUY NEEDS TO GO! Arrrggghhh!

[Coexist]

11. those sons of bitches. How dare they.

[drm604]

14. If the phone circuits are still jammed up

then they need to receive LOTS of telegrams!

[Chalco]

4. Faxes all got thru easily. nt

[OzarkDem]

28. Call their district offices n/t

[drm604]

43. District Offices are good but

if the people in the district office can't contact DC (because of the phones) then the messages won't get through to the Senator. It's still a good idea though, they might get through later today.

[AbbyR]

54. Pryor's office is busy.

I've been trying all morning

[Mist]

I just checked on the feasibility of telegrams about 20 minutes ago-Wester

Union stopped their telegram service Jan. 26. Damn! I thought it was a good way to circumvent the full voice mails and e-mails. -sigh-

[Leopolds Ghost]

18. What, No more Telegrams PERIOD? n/t

[Mist]

46. That's right-money transfers only, apparently. n/t

[drm604]

47. Maybe there's some other kind of messenger service.

It could get to be expensive though.

[obreaslan]

56. Does anyone know a Singing Telegram service in D.C.?

Wouldn't it be great to fill the senate office building with hundreds of singing telegrams? That might get someone to sit up and take notice. :D

[Mist]

2. Oh man, I LOVE that idea! If someone in DC can find out, I'm on board

and will contribute $100 for that! I'll use WEstern Union to send the money, as they still do money transfers-LOL.

[obreaslan]

48. I have a vision of an army of people dressed in giant costumes...

from lobsters to clowns converging on the Senate office buildings. Maybe i'm just getting delirious. :D

[drm604]

67. How about filibuster flowers.

There must be some DC area florists that take internet orders. Just put your message on the little card.

[Totally Committed]

17. Here is a list of the names of the "Gang of Fourteen"

and a brief profile of each, and why they may or may not support a fillibuster:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5080836

TC

[Mist]

6. Just emailed Inouye-reminded him of his service to the country at the

Watergate hearings. Reminded him that Nixon was said to have "imperial pretentions." I said that the Bush administration had traveled much further down the road to an imperial presidency, and to support a fillibuster, and to vote no on Alito, to preserve our system of checks and balances.

[benburch]

19. FUCK THEM.

I say all of them go down to defeat.

We have to target each and every one of them.

[MadisonProgressive]

26. RIGHT ON BROTHER! If they do this - I will work to take them all down!

[suffragette]

33. Damn straight.

They are selling our future with this betrayal.

[Kurovski]

69. You can count on that being a DU project,

make no mistake about it.

[Botany]

21. We are with in 2 votes.

Same people who didn't stand up in 2000 & 2004
Who are they?

Get them out of the party. Happy to rich, famous, and powerful.
Hope they choke on their rich food as they go to a $500.00 dinner
w/ friends @ a Georgetown Restaurant.

[kaye45]

22. wait!

this could be disinformation to discourage Dems, don't believe anything you hear from CNN or any other main stream media outlet right now.

[wryter2000]

29. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[LisaLynne]

35. Exactly, Kaye45.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[obreaslan]

36. My thoughts exactly...

Thanks Kaye!

BTW, Welcome to DU! :hi:

[mod mom]

38. I agree. CNN is part of the * Propaganda Network. Keep Pushing!!

Welcome to DU kaye45!

:hi:

[rocktivity]

51. Right! Don't panic, and don't believe the hype!!!

And keep calling and faxing!!! They wouldn't be doing this if the filibuster were dead in the water! If we've got 'em running this scared, then we've already succeeded!

:bounce:
rocknation

[kentuck]

25. Get rid of them....

They are bad for our Party and bad for our country to support this bunch of criminals. Period.

[Number_6]

34. Who the Gang of 14 are

If I recall, they are the "moderates" from both sides of the
aisle who prevented the Nuclear Option (as if Rethugs were
going to use it) during Federal Judge debate in '05. They
pledged to not filibuster unless the issue at hand was
"extreme." The trouble is (in my opinion) a lifetime
appointment of the likes of Alito is extreme.

[insane_cratic_gal]

37. sane..? I don't know about that,

"the gang" from our side.. usual suspects. I'm little suprised by Byrd though.


Robert Byrd (WV

Daniel Inouye (HI)

Mary Landrieu (LA) (DLC)

Joseph Lieberman (CT) (DLC)

Ben Nelson (NE) (DLC)

Mark Pryor (AR) (DLC)

Ken Salazar (CO) (DLC)


Anyone surprised?

[seafan]

39. KEEP CALLING/FAXING!! GO GO GO GO

[otohara]

49. Salazar 303-455-7600 - here's numbers

Denver Metro Region
[phone]

Pikes Peak Region
[phone]

High Plains Region
[phone]

Arkansas River Region
[phone]

Four Corners Region
[phone]

Western Slope/I 70 West Region
[phone]

North Central Region
[phone]

Alamosa
[phone]

[Nutmegger]

50. I phoned LIEberman

I'm told that he isn't decided yet on the filibuster but he will vote "no" on A-LIE-TOE. Hopefully he'll turn around.

I'm starting the phone rounds again in a bit targeting the so-called "Gang of Fourteen".

[Little Star]

52. This better be a joke

Just our luck to have those senators in the gang of 14. If they do this we need to put energy into getting rid of them asap. I live close enough to RI and I will go down there to help oust Liberman. Bastards!!!!!!

[Armstead]

55. Contact CNN and tell them to stop being so biased

As usual, CNN is joining the GOP/Media echo chamber in attempting to demean the fight against Alito.

Ed Henry referred to it as "John Kerry's quixotic filibuster" as if it is just a wild and whacky idea that Crazy Old Kerry cooked up on his own.

Here is an e-mail I sent. You should call them on this too.

Comment to Ed Henry:

Your demeaning references to the effort to prompt a filibuster as "Kerry's quixotic" effort might as well have been written by the GOP.

This has been a grass roots effort, supported by literally millions of people around the country. And we have pressured many Democrsats to reconsider.

Get out of your damn office and start doing your job, instead of parrotting the latest talking points from Karl Rove.

[henslee]

57. The fact they kicked it into "SHUT IT DOWN" mode is a good sign. First,

no matter what happens -- they will be forced to put some of their own in the cross hairs. 2nd, they and their manuvering will now be part of the story --

[henslee]

58. yup.

[seabeyond]

64. they are having a MEETING. do we KNOW they are going against

filibuster, or is that cnn take on it. i am telling you, MEDIA is giving WRONG information

do we have comfirmation that gang of 14 have decided to FIGHT filibuster

per turks

[Edgewater_Joe]

65. The Fact That They Are Even MEETING Is Good News

It shows that the White House has sufficiently been scared enough to try to get them to "uphold" their "bargain."

So keep shoving. Who knows where else we'll end up?

[iconoclastNYC]

66. dKOS debunks CNN's speculative spin

http://feeds.dailykos.com/dailykos/index?m=2513

The Gang of 14

CNN's Ed Henry (given his shilling ways and frankly, inaccurate reporting in the past, take this with a grain of salt) reports that the Gang of 14 is ending the filibuster. How they are doing this exactly is not explained by Henry. Presumably they are voting Yes on Cloture. But the question is are they doing so as a Group action? Or as individuals? See the individuals have mostly announced they are voting for cloture so Henry's "scoop" is um, pretty thin. These are the Gang of 14:

Republicans * John S. McCain III, Arizona * Lindsey O. Graham, South Carolina * John Warner, Virginia * Olympia Snowe, Maine * Susan M. Collins, Maine * R. Michael DeWine, Ohio * Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island
Democrats * Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut * Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia * E. Benjamin Nelson, Nebraska * Mary Landrieu, Louisiana * Daniel Inouye, Hawaii * Mark Pryor, Arkansas * Ken Salazar, Colorado

The only Senators of interest here are those who have announced themselves as No votes. They are bolded. The rest SUPPORT Alito so they are not STOPPING anything.
Senator Lieberman, you do Ned Lamont a great favor if you vote for cloture.
Senator Chafee, you do Sheldon Whitehouse and Matt Brown a great favor by going back on your word and voting for cloture on anti-choice Alito.
Senators Inouye, Pryor and Salazar, your vote will be remembered as Alito is seated on the Court for next quarter century. You were unwilling to continue to discuss and try to persuade on a nominee YOU REJECT! The debate can continue a week without damage to the Republic. Your votes are hard to understand. Democrats will find them hard to understand. History will not understand.

[insane_cratic_gal]

5. But wasn't it Lindsey who said we made Mrs Alito cry?

I don't have a whole lotta hope for the 14 in that room. Especially considering 5 are DLC .. who came out against the filibuster!!

Joe's already said he won't, Mary too.. and Byrd.

Bless Kos for being optimistic, but all signs don't bode well for a "filibuster"

We don't need a magic 8 ball here to know what's about to happen.

[Catrina]

68. Then they will pay a price, imo ~ they have heard from their base

and from others deeply concerned about this country more strongly on this than on anything else so far. In a way, this is a line in the sand for them. They may win this battle, which is still in doubt, btw, but they will be severely weakened as far as their future in the Senate is concerned.

I see this a trick. They 'let' the potential nominees look like they're 'with us' because it's safe since they know they have other operators to defeat every issue that's of importance to the people of this country.

I may be wrong, but I've seen it too often now over the past year of Bush's nominations. Seems to me they take turns as to who they allow to support us ~ this time it's Hillary ~

Meantime, it's time the Republicans heard from the people also ~ put pressure on Olympia Snowe and Lindsey Graham who was white-faced after he saw the torture videos. Interesting that those who oppose torture, over-reaching executive powers etc when they are spouting off on television, can't put their votes where their mouths are. We need to clean out this government, almost all of them are tainted by this administration, imo.

[jus_the_facts]

71. kicked 'n' nominated

...fwiw. :nuke:

[The Backlash Cometh]

72. How do you know the media isn't bluffing like they always do?

No one backs down now. Let the bad guys reveal themselves.

[inchhigh]

73. Done

fax and e-mail Thanks for the link

[mom cat]

74. Consider the source: CNN ...PsyOps

[EagleCountyDem]

75. Salazar calls for meeting of GANG of 14

This is what my Senator has to say today. He says he is acting to protect bipartisan resolve. But how can there be real bipartisanship in this Alito case? What is he saying and what is he thinking?

Apparently Senator Salazar finds the arguments of the Republicans and their
echoes in the media commentary convincing. For me, what the Republicans are saying is deliberately designed to mislead the public and specifically to satirize and discredit any Democrat.

Every argument the Republicans make can be better addressed to themselves (special interest groups, partisan attacks, bla bla bla). How would they know what to criticize if they are not guilty of it themselves?

Harvie Branscomb

Sen. Salazar Helped Convene Gang of 14 to Ensure Continued Bipartisanship

Washington, DC – Today, Senator Ken Salazar helped convene the ‘Gang of 14’ in advance of an expected vote to invoke cloture on the debate for Judge Alito’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Sunday, Senator Salazar spoke with Senators Warner (R-VA) and Nelson (D-NE) and suggested the meeting. His statement follows:

“In anticipation of today’s cloture vote on Judge Alito, I asked the ‘Gang of 14’ to come together to ensure the bipartisan resolve of the organization is sustained beyond today’s actions. It is imperative that as the Senate provides advice and consent to the President’s future judicial nominees, a bipartisan consensus will continue to be sought and the American people’s values upheld.”



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