Bush's handlers get wise, neutralize Dems on Supreme nominee
It appears from what can be known at the moment that Bush's nominee to fill the slot of Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court will likely have no problem being confirmed.
Rather than continue to act in the prediciably arrogant, in your face manner in which he has in previous nominations for various positions, Bush (Rove) instead threw a curve ball.
Bush had previously insisted on sending up confrontational nominations of blatantly extreme right wing ideologues. Even when they'd been blocked, he continued to send them back time and time again rather that proposing a conservative, but less extreme nominee.
But now he's slipped in a nominee for the big court that, while reliably conservative, appears to have no smoking gun paper trail to hang him with. Robert's resume is rock solid, and he comes across as extremely smooth and well-spoken.
The bottom line is that this was a deft stroke by Rove in that it takes the wind out of the Democratic sails. The Dems and organizations such as Move On have been gearing up for battle for months, and were totally prepared to eviscerate anyone with any "incorrect" record on abortion rights, guns, etc.
Bush wins by actually doing something rational for a change.
While Roberts is firmly in the corporate toady camp and can be expected to reliably vote against the rights of consumers and the environment in favor of corporations, as well as toeing the conservative line on social issues, the fact remains that he doesn't offer any obvious hooks which the left can hang him by.
Already my inbox contains email from MoveOn which urges me to contact my legislators to block this dangerous conservative nominee, as well as one from Ken Mehlman urging me to do the same thing (plus call in to my local talk radio show and write letters to the editor.) to ensure this sterling example of a man gets a "fair" hearing and is confirmed.
A massive ad buy by some stealth group supporting Roberts is running about every 5 minutes on CNN, making Roberts out to be saintly while urging that he be given a "fair" hearing.
My prediction? Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer, Dick Durbin, and others make some token noises and appear tough while questioning Roberts, and we'll have to endure the gag-worthy spew from wind-bag John Warner, but there will be no "extrordiary circumstances" found to justify a fillibuster. Roberts goes through the motions and is confirmed.
Once on the bench, Roberts toes the conservative line and votes reliably with the Scalia/Thomas/Rehnquist block of the court. And he's so young that he'll be a reliable conservative vote for decades to come.
posted by The Inside Dope @ 7/21/2005
5 comments
5 Comments:
And that is why elections matter
Please fillibuster, this will help you communicate your policy agenda to the American people
As I said...please, please fillibuster, you have that right and I'm encouraging you to use it.
Maybe.... now, now. I must strongly caution you against assuming that right-wingers live in trailer parks. This is just more evidence of the right wing complaint that we liberals are all "elitists."
Now we all know that there's nothing wrong with living in a trailer home, particularly a double-wide, though tornados do have a real fondness for them it seems.
The fact remains that while the rhetoric of the right appeals greatly to the uneducated and uninformed who are prone to unthinking patriotic spasms and easily whipped up into a frenzy by offering them a group, culture, or religion on which they can focus their inner rage at the piss-poor state of their own lives, the fact reamains that there are many otherwise intelligent people out there to whom the right wing message has a great appeal as well.
There's those testostero-repubs... those macho armchair warriors who want to "nuke 'em all" and are all for manly stuff like lots of powerful guns and fancy themselves as quite the John Waynes.
Then there's the fundy-loons, who suffer from the sort of mass-hypnosis that organized religion has always been so useful for.
Then there's the very wealthy, who observe all this from lofty perches, amused at how all the rabble fight amongst themselves over meaningless crap, so easily led and so easily mis-lead, while the right wing politicians do their every bidding, constantly changing the rules and laws always to ensure that they get more wealth, with less risk, and pay less of their share for enjoying the benefits this country gives them.
And then there's the scared shitless right winger, who sees boogy men all around him, terrists, blacks, Mexicans, strong women, smart people, etc.
And then the spineless brand of rightie. They're right wing even though they're not sure why. But all their buddies are, and the rich people are, so maybe being Republican will cause some of that rich people mojo to rub off on them.
All of these groups have things in common. All of them but the ultra-wealthy are pathetic. And each and every one of them are attracted the the Republican party because it appeals to the very worst traits of human nature. Fear, irrational fear, misdirected fear, racism, sexism, avarice, cowardliness, disdain for the poor and disregard for the well-being of others.
It's a Grand Old Party.
But it's not just for trailer dwellers. Please be fair.
Maybe.... now, now. I must strongly caution you against assuming that right-wingers live in trailer parks. This is just more evidence of the right wing complaint that we liberals are all "elitists."
Now we all know that there's nothing wrong with living in a trailer home, particularly a double-wide. (though tornados do have a real fondness for them it seems)
While the rhetoric of the right appeals greatly to the uneducated and uninformed who are prone to unthinking patriotic spasms and easily whipped up into a frenzy by offering them a group, culture, or religion on which they can focus their inner rage at the piss-poor state of their own lives, the fact remains that there are many otherwise intelligent people out there to whom the right wing message has a great appeal as well.
There's those testostero-repubs... those macho armchair warriors who want to "nuke 'em all" and are all for manly stuff like lots of powerful guns and fancy themselves as quite the John Waynes.
Then there's the fundy-loons, who suffer from the sort of mass-hypnosis that organized religion has always been so useful for.
Then there's the very wealthy, who observe all this from lofty perches, amused at how all the rabble fight amongst themselves over meaningless crap, so easily lead and so easily mis-lead, while the right wing politicians do these multi-millionaire's every bidding, constantly changing the rules and laws always to ensure that they get more wealth, with less risk, and pay less of their share for enjoying the benefits this country has given them.
And then there's the scared shitless right winger, who sees boogy men all around him, terrists, blacks, Mexicans, strong women, smart people, etc.
And then the spineless brand of rightie. They're right wing even though they're not sure why. But all their buddies are, and the rich people are, so maybe being Republican will cause some of that rich people mojo to rub off on them.
All of these groups have things in common. All of them are pathetic. And each and every one of them are attracted to the Republican party because it appeals to the very worst traits of their human nature. Greed, fear, irrational fear, misdirected fear, racism, sexism, avarice, cowardliness, selfishness, willful ignorance, disdain for the poor, and disregard for the well-being of others.
It's a Grand Old Party.
But it's not just for trailer dwellers. Please be fair.
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