You know what? It's just me.
I'm just tired and angry and bitchy.
I'm the only one who's detected a certain defeatist attitude nibbling around the margins of the conversation about Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement.
Yeah, it's just me.
I really need to go on vacation, don't I?
Yeah, fuck that.
See, because you know what? I don't care that this isn't the battle we wanted.
I don't care that this isn't the retirement we wanted.
I don't care that this isn't the time we wanted.
I really don't care who George W. Bush nominates to be the next justice on the bench of the Supreme Court.
I don't. I don't care.
It could be Bill Clinton, it could be Alberto Gonzalez. It could be a liberal, a moderate or, or--or it could be Rick Santorum. It could be Kang and Kodos for all I care. It matters not one whit to the ultimate success or defeat of our ideals.
And you know what else? I don't care that it took two hours for a Democrat to get on television to tell the American public that a strong moderate figure was needed to replace O'Connor. Sure, it took too long. Sure, we could have been quicker to the draw.
Cry me a fucking river.
Nor do I care that the Republicans control the House, the Senate, the Executive Branch, the media, the economy, or the fucking information superhighway between here and Timbuctoo.
It doesn't matter.
Because you know what?
WE ARE NOT DOOMED.
This battle ain't over until it's over--and it hasn't even fucking begun.
So we don't get the justice we wanted. So what? History shows that the last laugh is often on the president who did the nominating anyway.
And so we don't get the Supreme Court we wanted. So what? The SCOTUS has made bad decisions before. Terrible ones, ones that have been undone only at the cost of bloodshed, of hundreds of thousands dead.
Dred Scott, anyone?
And yet the republic made it. It wasn't easy, and the battle isn't completely won yet today, but it made it.
And you know what else? Life in these here United States sucked for the common man and woman for many, many years. The deck was stacked against them at work and at home. They couldn't organize unions to represent themselves without harrassment, they couldn't take political stands that were too controversial, they sure as hell couldn't be gay or ask for birth control. Many of them couldn't even vote.
Some had to live in fear of domestic terrorists.
But slowly, so slowly, they clawed out a better life, one halting step at a time. At great sacrifice, to be sure, at costs too staggering to be written off summarily.
But what was done once can be done again.
This battle ain't over, folks. It ain't even begun yet.
You know why?
Because we have not yet begun to fight, to quote some asshole.
We have not begun to fight, and we sure as hell haven't run out of fight. This battle won't be over until we are.
As long as we can fight back, the game is still on. We can take it to the courts again and again and again, and to the legislature again and again and again, and to the White House again and again and again, and to the streets again and again and again.
They can undo legal decisions--and we can fight back.
They can take away our well-enjoyed liberties--and we can fight back.
They can take away our basic rights--and we can fight back.
They can stomp and kick the snot out of us, they can even shoot us in the streets like dogs--and we can fight back.
They can kill us--and we can fight back.
This here battle, it ain't over until we say it is.
Am I inciting violence? No.
Am I promoting an apocalyptic vision of the future? No, I am not.
I believe that the hard right in this country has run out of ammo. They have nothing, utterly nothing. I am convinced that they have reached their high-water mark, and they next three years will be a slow-motion trainwreck for them, as the American public recoils in horror at their overreaching.
I do believe that this administration is going to nominate an extremist to the bench. They have thoroughly painted themselves into a corner with their base. They have no other choice.
Let 'em. It's going to be a disaster. I'm convinced of it. I could be wrong, and if necessary, I will eat my words. But for right now, I'm sticking with them.
But my point is simply this: if you think that this nomination is going to be the end of the world, think again. If you think that the fight over this nomination is lost already, think again. You are not seeing the entire field.
Because what this is, is one battle in the midst of a larger war. We may very well get pasted on it. We may very well get pasted on the next three battles, or the next six, or the next whatever.
But that doesn't mean the war is over. You don't believe me, you just think about the another epic battle that began today: Gettysburg. The South was winning the war hands down until they tried to punch through the Union lines about 50 miles due west of where I live. They failed, and the failure broke their army.
It took the Union another couple of years to build up some momentum and take advantage of the new situation. Even after Sherman's march and the surrender at Appomattox, had the Confederates chosen to engage in guerilla war, they could have tied the Union in knots, at the very least.
It ain't over until you give up, or you're dead. And my religion at least teaches that it ain't even over then. The scariest thing about Christianity may in fact be that there's a round two after death.
Think about that for a minute.
Well, whatever. You want to piss and moan today, fine. It's going to be a battle royale, and everybody knows it.
But get it out of your system, and tomorrow, get up ready to gird up your loins and mix it up.
Because you know what?
We're going to need you. For this fight, and the next one, and the next one...