"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. Its when you know you are licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
Atticus Finch-To Kill a Mockingbird
DO DEMOCRATS HAVE COURAGE?
We lose elections because we don't stand for our beliefs...we don't follow them through even if we lose-when my liberal girlfriend says "Kerry didn't take stand by his beliefs, he never took a stand"-I have to agree-How do we say something is so important, and yet, back down without a fight...why not face the fire and use losing to our advantage, America loves an underdog and one way to push the GOP is to hammer away at "they want to take over America"...like a schoolyard bully, they know they can do it again and again...but I see this from the Rocky Mountain News:
WASHINGTON - Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colorado, is working with a bipartisan group of senators trying to avert a showdown over filibuster rules and President Bush's judicial nominees this week.
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Salazar has joined Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., on a proposed compromise that could clear the way for votes on five of the president's nominees while three others remain blocked.
Spokesman Cody Wertz confirmed Monday that Salazar had several conversations with Democratic and Republican colleagues Monday and was involved in Nelson's compromise.
Under the proposal, Republicans would pledge no change through 2006 in the Senate's rules that allow filibusters to delay judicial nominees.
In return, Democrats would commit not to block votes on Bush's Supreme Court or appeals court nominees, except in extreme circumstances.
The Associated Press reported that Democrats involved in the compromise would vote to end a filibuster blocking final votes for three 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominees, Richard Griffin, David McKeague and Susan Neilson.
They also would clear the way for final votes on William H. Pryor Jr. for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and Janice Rogers Brown for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Three other appeals court nominations would continue to be blocked under the offer: Henry Saad for the 6th Circuit, Priscilla Owen for the 11th Circuit and William G. Myers III for the 9th Circuit.
When he was Colorado attorney general last year, Salazar praised Myers in an endorsement letter. Salazar later said that as a senator, he had additional responsibilities to scrutinize the full record of Myers, who faces opposition from environmentalists because of his past lobbying for mining and grazing interests.
The filibuster fight spawned a recent war of words between Salazar and Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family.
The group's founder, James Dobson, has rallied evangelical Christians, accusing Democrats of blocking the judicial nominees because of their strongly held religious views.