Every Kossack, Every Lurker: Wage WAR on Alito!
Tue Jan 10, 2006 at 11:30:27 PM PDT
I agree with
Jane and
Chris Bowers: This turkey can be beaten. There is so much about him that is unappealing, if the case is made to the public. The strip search, the membership in a clearly
racist group, his bizarre evasions, his lying on Vanguard. Remember the polling that said a substantial majority of Americans will oppose him if he's going to overturn Roe v. Wade? Remember the documents in which he lays out a strategy for overturning Roe v. Wade?
This stuff is not a bunch of rarified abstractions. Most Americans, if they hear these things, will be repulsed.
In addition, the Republicans are just not in a good position right now. Polls are showing a lot of 'throw the bums out' sentiment, the Abramoff situation is breathing down their necks, and Harry Reid has indicated that if they try the 'nuclear option' he has the power to make their lives a living hell -- and he showed with his recent Senate shutdown that he really can run circles around Frist with this sort of thing.
So, I think we can win. And there's nothing like the power of Kossacks to bring that about.
I propose that every single Kossack, including every single lurker, should send an email to every Democrat on the judiciary committee, and then to Harry Reid and your own Dem. senators if you have any, demanding a filibuster if that is what it takes. The Democrats may just need a little shove to do what is right, and if each one of us sends such a message, that will be a heck of a shove. Here's a link to contact info for the whole Judiciary committee.
Then, each of us should send a LTE to our local paper. Again, if we all do that, the papers will get a tsunami of anti-Alito vibes. Here's a fine example. A couple hundred thousand of these would do the trick...
I propose that for the next week or so, we all just focus on this, and kill this nomination. There is a real sense in which the future of our democracy is at stake; it scares me to think of the ratifier of President-as-King-as-long-as-he's-Republican on the court for life.
If you remember Horton Hears a Hoo, there is a scene at the end in which Dr. Hoovey is trying to get all the Hoos to make as much noise as possible, to save their world. The whole population seems to be making noise, but somehow the messaage still isn't getting out, so he runs through the town looking for anyone who is not doing his or her part. Finally, he finds a kid who is not making any sounds, and Dr. Hoovey brings him to the top of the mountain, where the kid says "YOP!" and that breaks through and shows the outsiders that the Hoos exist, and saves their world.
I'm thinking -- this is kind of like that.
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P.S. My email, for what it's worth:
Dear Senator:
I have seen enough -- Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court must be filibustered. He is not acceptable for a lifetime appointment to the Court.
He has lied under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee (previously, about committing to recuse himself from Vanguard cases; and now, obviously, about the Concerned Alumni of Princeton).
He will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. A glance at his history of past statements makes this clear.
He will expand Presidential power beyond what is an appropriate or constitutional. He helped forge the strategy of Presidential 'signing statements' as a way of allowing the President to ignore laws he does not like; and he will clearly permit Presidential lawbreaking such as the illegal warrentless NSA eavesdropping.
And, not least, be belonged to an organization committed to keeping blacks and women out of Princeton, and bragged about this as recently as 1985.
We cannot accept this man on the Court. He can damage a great many lives. Since the GOP will vote for him, we need to invoke the filibuster. Democrats need to stand up for principle -- and to be SEEN by the whole country as standing up for principle. And if the Republicans dare to invoke the 'nuclear option,' which is itself a violation of Senate rules -- my prediction is that the outrage that act would provoke would return control of the Senate to the Democrats in the coming fall.
Best regards,
Sincerely,
jem6x
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