If the Democrats are afraid to filibuster then they've already lost the filibuster

I was talking over dinner with Jamal Simmons, the former press secretary for General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign. Jamal made an interesting point about the filibuster issue, and GOP threats to repeal the right to filibuster from the Senate rules if the Democrats ever use it.

To paraphrase Bismarck* (and Jamal), there is no point in having a filibuster if you're afraid to ever use it. That is not an argument for using the filibuster against Judge Alito, but rather to say that fear of the GOP "going nuclear" and changing the Senate rules in order to take away the filibuster is hardly a reason NOT to use the filibuster if you think you should. On the contrary, if the Dems cave to a threat by the GOP to get rid of the filibuster, then for all intents and purposes the filibuster is already gone.

If you're afraid to use it lest you lose it, then you've already lost it.

(*The Bismarck quote is: "You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them.") Read More......

Libby and Cheney used to Carpool

So how close is Libby to Cheney? According to the Washington Post:

No one would ruminate on the record about Libby's motives, but there is speculation that perhaps Libby is falling on his sword to protect Cheney, not only his boss, but also a personal friend. The two ride into work together in Cheney's motorcade most mornings. Although Libby testified otherwise under oath, his own notes indicate that it was Cheney who first told him that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. What is not known is whether Cheney was aware of -- or sanctioned -- Libby's effort to discredit Wilson and his wife.

Aww, how cute. They used to carpool together. But hey, indictment of Libby isn't a big deal.

You can try with Scalito to "push the reset button" Mr. President, but as more and more of this comes out at trial, it's going to be death by a thousand cuts. And don't worry, we'll be there to pour salt in every single one of them. Just to make it hurt. Read More......

Everything is A-OK at the White House

They don't need to make any changes...and they can't talk about it anyway:

The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way. Bush ignored reporters' questions during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Plus, now that Bush has kissed the butts of the theocrats by giving them Scalito, everything is peachy keen in his world, again. So now he can once again ignore these realities:

Friday's indictment of I. Lewis Libby and the continuing investigation of Rove were a blow to Bush's already troubled presidency. The president's approval rating has tumbled to the lowest point since he took office and Americans are unhappy about high energy prices, the costly war in Iraq and economic uncertainties.

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Alito is the GOP

Make no mistake. George Bush picked a nominee who truly represents his vision of both the GOP and America. And, his party's leaders have reacted as expected:

Senate Republicans leaders welcomed President Bush's nomination of federal appeals judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court today and called for quick confirmation, but Democrats described the pick as a sop to the extreme right and warned that they would not act hastily.

And the GOPers want the fight:

Republicans said that any attempt to deny Alito a yes-or-no vote would return the Senate to the brink of a showdown that was avoided last spring only when seven lawmakers from each party brokered a compromise. This time, they said they would crush Democratic opposition.

GOP lawmakers sounded relieved to be rid of the Miers appointment, which collapsed last week after it became clear she faced an uphill climb in winning confirmation.

"Let's give Judge Alito a fair up-or-down vote, not left or right," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

The question is whether the American people are where Bush and the GOP are. And, this is a question for the GOP "moderates" like Lincoln Chafee, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. They cannot claim to be pro-choice and vote for a Supreme Court nominee who wants to end the right to choose. It's not much more complicated than that. Read More......

Open Thread

So, if you care about basic rights in America, it has been a scary Halloween. Read More......

Alito supported discrimination against people with AIDS

Yep.

From the Rude Pundit.

...according to the Washington Post, on September 24, 1986, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sam "Motherfucker-in-training" Alito helped author a Justice Department policy that "said that discrimination based on insufficient medical knowledge was not prohibited by federal laws protecting the handicapped. Employers, it said, may legally fire AIDS victims because of a 'fear of contagion whether reasonable or not.'" The Justice Department's position was rejected by many states, including some that reacted by barring discrimination against people with AIDS. Alito, whose work helped foster some of the hysteria about AIDS during the Reagan era, said, "We certainly did not want to encourage irrational discrimination," but the reaction to it "hasn't shaken our belief in the rightness of our opinion."

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Oh that's right, only Republicans can kill nominees based on their "conservatism" or lack thereof

Lindsey Graham must be feeling some heat because he's crawled back under his arch-conservative rock of late. His quote in today's NYT is cute, but absurdly hypocritical, considering the GOP just torpedoes Harriet Miers because she wasn't far-right conservative enough.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, fired back Sunday, saying that if the Democrats staged a filibuster against Judge Alito or Judge Luttig because of their conservatism, "the filibuster will not stand."

You see, Republicans can shoot you down for being "liberal," and they can shoot you down for being conservative but not far-right extremist conservative. But if Democrats have concerns about which way you lean politically, well that's just uncalled for.

Terri Schiavo, here we go again. Read More......

The Democracy Alliance is giving millions to...

The same old people, I hear.

I just got word, from a reliable source, that the Democracy Alliance, a new coalition of rich liberal donors, has selected these new "upstart" organizations as their beneficiaries:

- Center for American Progress
- Media Matters
- America Votes

Lovely. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those fine organizations. If they had to give to established groups, I can't think of 3 more worthy. But it would be nice if these donors would start earmarking some of their funds for proven activists who need 1/100th of the money the large groups are getting. (A certain $17,500 we still need for a new server and platform comes to mind...) Read More......

Open thread

If Scalito turns out to be as bad as initial reports indicate, would you support a filibuster?

I would, in spades. Read More......

God hates jack-o-lanterns

Some holiday spirit from the radical right lobbying group Focus on the Family. Apparently, Halloween is evil so they need to give their followers something more Christian-right to do with the kids.

My favorite line is the one about how knifing a pumpkin's guts is like what Jesus does to you to get rid of sin. Okay...:

What to Do About Halloween

The Pumpkin Gospel

What you need:

* pumpkin
* newspapers
* sharp knife
* spoon
* large bowl
* candle
* matches
* Bible

What to do:

Prepare a place for your pumpkin carving. Set newspapers on a table and get out the knife, spoon and bowl. Cut an opening in the top of the pumpkin. Have your kids pull out all of the seeds and scrape out the inside of the pumpkin.

What to talk about:

* How is the stuff we pulled out of the pumpkin like sin in our heart? (They’re both yucky; sin is inside us; it’s sticky and smelly.)
* How is the way we cleaned out the pumpkin like the way Jesus cleans us out when we confess our sins? (All the yucky stuff is taken away; Jesus scoops out the sin.)

What to do:

Draw a happy face on the pumpkin, then use the sharp knife to carve it out. When you are finished, read aloud 2 Corinthians 5:17 and/or Ephesians 2:10.

What to talk about:

* How have we made this pumpkin a “new creation”? (It has a face now; it used to be just a pumpkin, but now it’s a jack-o’-lantern.)
* How do we become a new creation when Jesus comes into our hearts? (We learn to love Him more; we’re no longer filled with yucky stuff; we become God’s children.)

What to share:

When Jesus comes into our hearts, we become new creations, just as our pumpkin became a new creation. Read Matthew 5:14-16. Then light a candle and place it in the pumpkin. Turn off the room lights so everyone can see the candlelight coming through the pumpkin’s face.

What to talk about:

How is the way the candlelight comes through the pumpkin like the way God wants our light to shine? (God wants others to see how much we love Him; God wants our light to be seen by others.)

What to do:

Sing age-appropriate songs such as This Little Light of Mine (younger children) or Shine, Jesus, Shine (older children and teenagers.)

Read More......

Alito is a Chertoff crony, big surprise

God forbid somebody get chosen who's actually not a Bush administration crony. Read More......

Alliance for Justice's preliminary report on Alito

Here. Read More......

Would Rosa Parks vote for Judge Alito?

The question crossed my mind today, what with Alito conveniently doing a photo op by Rosa's coffin. Read More......

I'm watching Rosa Park's memorial service, live, on C-Span

Put it on, it's really good.

You can watch it live online. Read More......

Alito, the Army Reserves, and Vietnam

Oh yes, it's that old story again. How did a guy who's draft number was 12 get a coveted spot in the reserves, which basically meant no duty in Vietnam?

Just askin'. Read More......

October deadliest month in Iraq in a while

Did we win yet? Read More......

Scooter has a court date

Book 'em.

Bush can try to distract us, but Reuters reports that Scooter has a court date this week:

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, who was indicted last week in a CIA leak investigation, is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Thursday for an arraignment, a court official said on Monday.

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Mr. Bush, Rosa Parks' dead corpse is not a photo op

How fortunate for President Bush and Judge Alito that Rosa Parks chose to die last week. I mean, why spend money on an expensive public relations stunt with flags and soldiers when you can get the whole kit and caboodle for free?

Rosa Parks' body is not a prop for partisan publicity stunts. Well, it wasn't definitively one until today. When the Congress decided to let Rosa Parks lie in state in the US Capitol building, I admit to worrying, just a bit, that this was more GOP publicity stunt than a truly heart-felt gesture to honor one of the heroes of the civil rights movement. After all, the GOP is not beyond using dead women - well, brain-dead women, at least - as props for their political passion play. So it was understandable that more than a few of us were a bit uneasy about the GOP suddenly wanting to honor the US civil rights movement only months after one in four Republican Senators refused to sign a resolution against lynching.

And now we know the rest of the story. Bush's Supreme Court pick, Judge Alito, will be visiting the Hill today and, oh what a coincidence, he's going to pay homage to Rosa Parks in state. Oh, and, gosh, do you think there will be cameras there to capture the Kodak moment?

Now, maybe this isn't a stunt to use Rosa Parks' corpse as a tool to further a far-right extremist agenda that she would never endorse in a million years. But if that's the case, that this is simply a heartfelt gesture to honor a great woman, then I'd like to know if Judge Alito was coming to Washington anyway to pay homage to Rosa Parks, whether or not he was going to be the Supreme Court nominee. If not, then this is a PR stunt.

Oh, and one final question for Judge Alito. Did he ever visit Rosa Parks when she was alive? Read More......

Open thread

Lots to discuss. Read More......

PFAW's extensive fact sheet on Sc-alito

Here Read More......

Harry Reid on Sc-alito

Reid Statement on the Nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court

Washington, D.C. -- Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid issued the following statement regarding the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court.

The nomination of Judge Alito requires an especially long hard look by the Senate because of what happened last week to Harriet Miers. Conservative activists forced Miers to withdraw from consideration for this same Supreme Court seat because she was not radical enough for them. Now the Senate needs to find out if the man replacing Miers is too radical for the American people.

I am disappointed in this choice for several reasons. First, unlike previous nominations, this one was not the product of consultation with Senate Democrats. Last Friday, Senator Leahy and I wrote to President Bush urging him to work with us to find a consensus nominee. The President has rejected that approach.

Second, this appointment ignores the value of diverse backgrounds and perspectives on the Supreme Court. The President has chosen a man to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, one of only two women on the Court. For the third time, he has declined to make history by nominating the first Hispanic to the Court. And he has chosen yet another federal appellate judge to join a court that already has eight justices with that narrow background. President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club.

Justice O'Connor has been the deciding vote in key cases protecting individual rights and freedoms on a narrowly divided Court. The stakes in selecting her replacement are high.

I look forward to meeting Judge Alito and learning why those who want to pack the Court with judicial activists are so much more enthusiastic about him than they were about Harriet Miers.

Read More......

Schumer, Kennedy blast choice of Alito

Key Democratic Senators on the Judiciary Committee aren't happy. Game on.

Schumer:

``It is sad that the president felt he had to pick a nominee likely to divide America instead of choosing a nominee in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor, who would unify us,'' said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.

Kennedy:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., pulled no punches. "Rather than selecting a nominee for the good of the nation and the court, President Bush has picked a nominee whom he hopes will stop the massive hemorrhaging of support on his right wing. This is a nomination based on weakness, not on strength."

Read More......

White House, Frist politicizing Rosa Parks Tribute with Alito

AP reports that Alito is being taken to the Capitol for a photo op at the casket of Rosa Parks:

Wasting no time, the White House arranged for Alito to go to the Capitol after the announcement.The schedule called for Senate Majority Leader Bill First to greet him and accompany the nominee to the Capitol Rotunda to go to the coffin of the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

That is especially callous given Alito's record on the bench, via Think Progress:

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by “immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate was the result of conscious racial bias.” [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]

Read More......

Scalito: "Activist Conservativist"

Bush just lied saying that Scalito didn't want to make the laws from the bench. Not so say those who have tried cases in front of him. From US News:

Alito's conservative stripes are equally evident in criminal law. Lawrence Lustberg, a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer who has known Alito since 1981 and tried cases before him on the Third Circuit, describes him as "an activist conservatist judge" who is tough on crime and narrowly construes prisoners' and criminals' rights. "He's very prosecutorial from the bench. He has looked to be creative in his conservatism, which is, I think, as much a Rehnquist as a Scalia trait," Lustberg says.

With the nomination of Scalito, we can see Republican's true colors:

• Replace O'Connor with a woman? Bah, who needs that, let's go with a man who wants to curtail women's rights - it'll make Sandra proud she decided to leave during Bush's administration!
• Don't like "activist judges"? Too bad, this one's a Republican, so he's OUR kind of activist judge.
• Believe in separation of church and state? Screw off, we want our Ten Commandments.
  

Republicans believe in nothing. It's war. Read More......

Scalito had major conflict-of-interest issue

Another ethically challenged Bush appointee according to the Washington Post:

Three years ago Alito drew conflict-of-interest accusations after he upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit against the Vanguard Group. Alito had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested with the mutual fund company at the time. He denied doing anything improper but recused himself from further involvement in the case.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars and it didn't raise ethical concerns for him. So how much did he have to have invested with Vanguard before it became a conflict-of-interest? This should get an enormous amount of scrutiny. Read More......

Scalito's extreme right wing record

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley just told the Today Show that there would be no one to the right of Alito on this Supreme Court. He also said Alito was the choice of the right wingers to overturn Roe v. Wade. Think Progress has already posted some of the key cases from Alito's judicial record. You'll want to take a look:

ALITO WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE: In his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito concurred with the majority in supporting the restrictive abortion-related measures passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in the late 1980’s. Alito went further, however, saying the majority was wrong to strike down a requirement that women notify their spouses before having an abortion. The Supreme Court later rejected Alito’s view, voting to reaffirm Roe v. Wade. [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by “immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate was the result of conscious racial bias.” [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW DISABILITY-BASED DISCRIMINATION: In Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, the majority said the standard for proving disability-based discrimination articulated in Alito’s dissent was so restrictive that “few if any…cases would survive summary judgment.” [Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1991]

Read More......

Bush playing solely to base with Alito

By choosing Alito, Bush is responding to the right wing theocrats who control his presidency:

With the embarrassing withdrawal of the Miers nomination last week, the rising death toll in Iraq and Friday's indictment of top vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Bush's approval ratings are at the lowest point of his presidency. Polls show Democrats and most independents don't approve of his job performance, leaving the conservative wing of his party the only thing keeping Bush afloat politically.

In fact, yesterday, Minority Leader Harry Reid warned specifically about Alito:

"That is not one of the names that I've suggested to the president," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told "Late Edition" on CNN. "In fact, I've done the opposite. I think it would create a lot of problems."

Reid said Bush would be making a "mistake" were he to settle on a hard-liner simply to appease the far right in his party, especially after conservatives' wrath undermined Miers' nomination.

The White House is trying to spin him like Roberts, but he is really a Scalia. Bush's approval rating is 39%. If he wants a battle, let's give him one. Read More......

Bush to Nominate "Scalito" - It's War

If you're a woman, you better get permission from your husband before you take off your burka. From AP:

President Bush will nominate Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, rebounding from a stinging rebuke over his first choice by tapping a conservative federal judge to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate.
...
While Alito is expected to win praise from Bush's allies on the right, Democrats have served notice that his nomination would spark a partisan brawl. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Sunday that Alito's nomination would "create a lot of problems."

Unlike Miers, who has never been a judge, Alito, a 55-year-old jurist from New Jersey, has been a strong conservative voice on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since former President George H.W. Bush seated him there in 1990.

So consistently conservative, Alito has been dubbed "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite" by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
...
Liberal groups, on the other hand, note Alito's moniker and say his nomination raises troubling concerns, especially when it comes to his record on civil rights and reproductive rights. Alito is a frequent dissenter on the 3rd Circuit, one of the most liberal federal appellate benches in the nation.

In the early 1990s, Alito was the lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case in which the 3rd Circuit struck down a Pennsylvania law that included a provision requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

"The Pennsylvania legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived problems Â? such as economic constraints, future plans or the husbands' previously expressed opposition Â? that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion," Alito wrote.

The case ended up at the Supreme Court where the justices, in a 6-3 decision struck down the spousal notification provision of the law. The late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist cited Alito's reasoning in his own dissent.

Well folks, after 40 years, the game is finally on. Miers wasn't Conservative enough, so they pick a guy who wants to bring Taliban-style rulings to our Supreme Court. This is the big fight folks and this one, we're going to win. Bully Bush is weak, and it's time we gang up and take him on.

Ready for hand-to-hand combat? It's time to take these bullies on "big time"! Read More......

Italy to pull out of Iraq?

It sure sounds like it. Berlusconi will meet with Bush and is making every effort to distance himself from the Iraqi disaster, now saying that he tried to convince Bush not to go to war. Uh huh, right. Berlusconi has to get out of Iraq, a war that has never had much support in Italy because that at least removes one of his problems at home. Curing the sick and feeble Italian economy is much bigger so he still has an even larger mess to clean up which won't happen easily or quickly.

Sorry George but the Coalition of the Going is about to grow once again. Read More......

Open thread

And off to bed. Joe should be picking up the early morning from Maine, where he's spending the week. Read More......