Cheryl Seal
FILIBUSTER UPDATE: Fight separates wheat from chaff
Mon Jan 30, 2006 13:13
FILIBUSTER UPDATE: Jan 30, 12:00 pm
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff: Key Senators Prove they are Driven Exclusively by Self-Interest
By Cheryl Seal
Boy, oh boy are the Democrats making it easy to identify which ones need to be given the boot from office and replaced by legislators who have what it really takes: A. a spine and B. real concern for America's future. The filibuster fight has proven to be one big eye-opener on how too many of our reps operate, and it ain't a pretty picture. It's a picture of self-interest, playing both sides and hoping not to get caught, and cowardice.
At least three Democrats are voting FOR Alito, simply because they fantasize that it may win them some political favors from the Bushie camp and placate their noisiest rightwing constituents back home, while 7-8 say that they will vote against Alito, yet not support a filibuster. They are far bigger cowards by far than the three voting openly for Alito. Why? First of all, they don't even have the guts to stand up and say who they are - instead, they are hiding out, hoping not to be named until it's all over and they can run for cover. Second, and just as bad, they KNOW that Alito is the wrong choice and KNOW what the consequences are likely to be, yet see the situation as a chance to scoop up personal political capital from both sides of the fence at no real risk to themselves. If they vote for a filibuster, they know that they will piss off the Bushies and will possibly lose some political favors. If there is no filibuster, the odds are Alito will be confirmed and they can still scoop up the payoffs (or so they imagine) from the Bushies, while shedding a phony crocodile tear for their Democrat constituents and fellow legislators and claiming "Well, I tried." But it is all a big fat phony show motivated solely by self-interest. Any one of them who says otherwise is a bald-faced liar.
The slickest operator of them all has proven to be Barak Obama, who came across in his campaign speeches and a few select senate speeches as a "fiery progressive." Yeah, right. Obama's rap has amounted to a big fiery show, all right - the same sort of show the holy roller teleevangelists put on: a sound and fury signifying nothing and designed only to gain followers. Obama at first opposed a filibuster (real fiery, eh?), then when it looked like maybe he'd lose a few followers, he shifted to a "both sides of the bread" position: Well, I will support a filibuster, but I really don't want to, I think it's a waste of time, and it won't work anyway, etc. etc. Statements like this - played loudly to the press - are designed to be discouraging and help push a movement that needs REAL FIRE toward failure. So Obama, whom I once admired, has shown himself to be a member of the big fat phonies club, afterall. What a goddamned shame.
In the end, help for getting the filibuster off the ground may come, ironically, from outside the Democratic party - Jim Jeffords of Vermont, one of my heroes for his heroic shift from the GOP to the Independent Party, who has not proven to have feet of clay, plans to vote against Alito and now may support a filibuster. He is a TRUE independent. In addition, if Olympia Snow (R Maine) could find the guts, she also would vote for a filibuster, as she is strongly pro-choice and comes from a state where Bush's approval is plummeting by the day. I am from Maine and I can tell you, if Olympia votes for Alito, she is finished in the Pine Tree State. Another pro-filibuster possibility is Lincoln Chaffe, (R-Rhode Island). Chaffe is similar in his independent stances to Jeffords. I'm not why he keeps clinging on to the GOP - why go down with a rotten ship?
Here are the outright sellouts who plan to vote for Alito:
Ben Nelson (NE)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mark Pryor (AR)
Robert Byrd (WVA) (proving he never really left his neo-Confederate mindset behind)
But here are the people I most strongly suspect of being the self-interested sell outs blocking the filibuster
Kent Conrad (ND)
Byron Dorgan (ND)
Joseph Leiberman (CT)
Dan Akaka (HI)
Daniel Inouye (HI)
Marie Landrieu (LA) - even AFTER Bush, to all intents and purposes, spit on her state!!! What does she think -that if she grovels and wimpers enough the Bushies may throw LA a few more crumbs?
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
HERE'S AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SENATORS - CALL YOUR OWN SENATOR AND INSIST THEY UPHOLD AMERICAN DEMOCRACY BY SUPPORTING A FILIBUSTER. THEN CALL THE CREEPS LISTED ABOVE AND TELL 'EM WHAT YOU THINK OF THEM!
http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
You might want to call these non-Democratic senators and encourage them to support a filibuster, if they haven't already decided to:
Lincoln Chaffe
Olympia Snow
Jim Jeffords
Then thank these guys for leading the charge:
Harry Reid
Ted Kennedy
John Kerry
Hillary Clinton
Debbie Stabenow
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff: Key Senators Prove they are Driven Exclusively by Self-Interest
By Cheryl Seal
Boy, oh boy are the Democrats making it easy to identify which ones need to be given the boot from office and replaced by legislators who have what it really takes: A. a spine and B. real concern for America's future. The filibuster fight has proven to be one big eye-opener on how too many of our reps operate, and it ain't a pretty picture. It's a picture of self-interest, playing both sides and hoping not to get caught, and cowardice.
At least three Democrats are voting FOR Alito, simply because they fantasize that it may win them some political favors from the Bushie camp and placate their noisiest rightwing constituents back home, while 7-8 say that they will vote against Alito, yet not support a filibuster. They are far bigger cowards by far than the three voting openly for Alito. Why? First of all, they don't even have the guts to stand up and say who they are - instead, they are hiding out, hoping not to be named until it's all over and they can run for cover. Second, and just as bad, they KNOW that Alito is the wrong choice and KNOW what the consequences are likely to be, yet see the situation as a chance to scoop up personal political capital from both sides of the fence at no real risk to themselves. If they vote for a filibuster, they know that they will piss off the Bushies and will possibly lose some political favors. If there is no filibuster, the odds are Alito will be confirmed and they can still scoop up the payoffs (or so they imagine) from the Bushies, while shedding a phony crocodile tear for their Democrat constituents and fellow legislators and claiming "Well, I tried." But it is all a big fat phony show motivated solely by self-interest. Any one of them who says otherwise is a bald-faced liar.
The slickest operator of them all has proven to be Barak Obama, who came across in his campaign speeches and a few select senate speeches as a "fiery progressive." Yeah, right. Obama's rap has amounted to a big fiery show, all right - the same sort of show the holy roller teleevangelists put on: a sound and fury signifying nothing and designed only to gain followers. Obama at first opposed a filibuster (real fiery, eh?), then when it looked like maybe he'd lose a few followers, he shifted to a "both sides of the bread" position: Well, I will support a filibuster, but I really don't want to, I think it's a waste of time, and it won't work anyway, etc. etc. Statements like this - played loudly to the press - are designed to be discouraging and help push a movement that needs REAL FIRE toward failure. So Obama, whom I once admired, has shown himself to be a member of the big fat phonies club, afterall. What a goddamned shame.
In the end, help for getting the filibuster off the ground may come, ironically, from outside the Democratic party - Jim Jeffords of Vermont, one of my heroes for his heroic shift from the GOP to the Independent Party, who has not proven to have feet of clay, plans to vote against Alito and now may support a filibuster. He is a TRUE independent. In addition, if Olympia Snow (R Maine) could find the guts, she also would vote for a filibuster, as she is strongly pro-choice and comes from a state where Bush's approval is plummeting by the day. I am from Maine and I can tell you, if Olympia votes for Alito, she is finished in the Pine Tree State. Another pro-filibuster possibility is Lincoln Chaffe, (R-Rhode Island). Chaffe is similar in his independent stances to Jeffords. I'm not why he keeps clinging on to the GOP - why go down with a rotten ship?
Here are the outright sellouts who plan to vote for Alito:
Ben Nelson (NE)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mark Pryor (AR)
Robert Byrd (WVA) (proving he never really left his neo-Confederate mindset behind)
But here are the people I most strongly suspect of being the self-interested sell outs blocking the filibuster
Kent Conrad (ND)
Byron Dorgan (ND)
Joseph Leiberman (CT)
Dan Akaka (HI)
Daniel Inouye (HI)
Marie Landrieu (LA) - even AFTER Bush, to all intents and purposes, spit on her state!!! What does she think -that if she grovels and wimpers enough the Bushies may throw LA a few more crumbs?
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
HERE'S AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SENATORS - CALL YOUR OWN SENATOR AND INSIST THEY UPHOLD AMERICAN DEMOCRACY BY SUPPORTING A FILIBUSTER. THEN CALL THE CREEPS LISTED ABOVE AND TELL 'EM WHAT YOU THINK OF THEM!
http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
You might want to call these non-Democratic senators and encourage them to support a filibuster, if they haven't already decided to:
Lincoln Chaffe
Olympia Snow
Jim Jeffords
Then thank these guys for leading the charge:
Harry Reid
Ted Kennedy
John Kerry
Hillary Clinton
Debbie Stabenow
- Hey, I got worse news for than that! —Pat Rycz, Tue Jan 31 08:41
- Re: Hey, I got worse news for than that! —Researcher, Tue Jan 31 19:23
- John Kerry to Speak on Filibuster at 12:30 pm —Cheryl Seal, Mon Jan 30 13:17
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