Posted on
Dem Daily
"This was a fight over principle. Trying everything in our power to stop an ideological coup on the Supreme Court was the right thing to do. Everything in Judge Alito's record shows that he will actively work to erode civil rights, discrimination and privacy protections. The time to fight was now, before the irreversible decision of confirming a new Supreme Court Justice was written in stone.
"We knew we faced steep odds, but we also knew that once Judge Alito becomes Justice Alito, there's no turning back the Senate confirmation vote. It wouldn't matter if we spoke up after the Supreme Court has granted the executive the right to use torture, or to eavesdrop without warrants. It wouldn't matter if we spoke up only after a woman's right to privacy was taken away and only after the courthouse door was slammed in the faces of women, minorities, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor. This was a debate worth having, and a debate we had no choice but to have today."
more after the break...
Kerry's floor speech from today is on his
website, for those who missed it.
And I have my own tribute here and here.
the good fight
I want to take a moment to pay tribute to my two wonderful senators, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, for fighting the uphill battle to filibuster Alito. They fought with conviction, with passion, and I could not possibly be prouder of both of them than I am right now.
They argued forcefully against taking a step backwards towards a country where women have individual rights only after they answer to their husbands. Where a woman does not have the right to decide whether she will or will not bear children. Where the president is czar. Where the right to take their grievances to court is not an option for the little people. Where police can shoot first and say "oops, sorry" later, when it's too late.
You democrats who voted for cloture today may think we'll forget, but I sure as hell won't. And I am not alone. I don't care why you got in line with the republican bullies; what matters is that you got in line. Shame on you, every one of you.
Akaka (HI)
Baucus (MT)
Bingaman (NM)
Byrd (WV)
Cantwell (WA)
Carper (DE)
Dorgan (ND)
Inouye (HI)
Johnson (SD)
Kohl (WI)
Landrieu (LA)
Lieberman (CT)
Lincoln (AR)
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Pryor (AR)
Rockefeller (WV)
Salazar (CO)