During the run-up to the confirmation hearings on Justice Roberts, there was considerable debate as to whether he should be filibustered. Many of the firebrands wanted to storm the battlements and take a do-or-die stand on Roberts.
I, myself, was of the "keep-our-powder-dry" contingent. Trading Rehnquist for Roberts cost us little, if anything. And given the fact that the folks who pull Chimpy's strings wre going to nominate a conservative in any event, trading a Rehnquist for a proto-Rehnquist was, IMHO, no big deal.
So, we have all this dry powder. What do we do with it?
More below the fold....
There are only three possible courses of action for the Democrats in the Senate: 1) Fight and win; 2) Fight and lose; 3) Run away.
If the Democrats choose Option 3, I'm done with them. They're dead to me. I will make it my mission in life to recruit my fellow West Virginians to team up with the vestiges of the Mountain Party and make a 3rd party go of things here in WV.
The only remaining option is to fight, win or lose.
If we fight and win, we have turned back an effort to replace a swing vote with a hard-core wingnut who would install the Preznit as a "unitary executive" with powers far beyond those anticipated by the framers when they established our system of checks and balances. In short, a system in which the will of the executive is law, regardless of the enactments of the Congress and the authority of the Judiciary. (See my "Black Sky Theory" post, here
If we fight and lose, I fear we (and the Constitution) are in for some hard times. But we will be able to face our fellow Americans and say, "We went down fighting for your rights. Join us to fight another day!"
If the playground bully is kicking your ass on a daily basis, you can be sure that tomorrow will be just like today. Your future will be, in the words of Orwell, a boot stamping on a human face, forever. But if you take a poke at the bully, draw some blood, give him a taste of his own medicine....then you just might earn some respect.
The biggest objection I heard from independents and moderates regarding Kerry was that he was wishy-washy, that he would say anything to get elected. He did nothing to earn these voters' respect.
If our Democratic Senators wont poke the bully in the nose, the Democratic party will not deserve their respect, and it will have lost mine in the bargain.
If the Democratic party is to have any credibility as an opposition party, it's about fucking time they OPPOSE something! Filibuster or run away. Those are the choices. I wish I could be confident as to which if these our Democratic Senators will make.