As pretty much everyone who reads this blog no doubt knows, Bush nominated Scalito to replace O’Connor. Not only should this have shored up his base (though there’s reason to doubt that he succeeded), it also distracted nicely from the whole Plame game scandal.
Fortunately, Minority Leader Reid was having none of it. In a brilliant piece of political theater, he forced the Senate into a closed session to discuss the virtual rape of pre-war intelligence, which ties back to the Plame scandal, the whole Iraq mess, and why we’re trapped there instead of focusing on Al-Qaeda and its vile cousins.
Not that Democrats are necessarily rolling over on Alito, though the early news is discouraging. In spite of Armando’s note of optimism, the article in question (warning: it’s the NYT, so the link may not be good for long) isn’t as promising:
“I have not heard any of my Democratic colleagues in the Gang of 14 talk of using the F-word – filibuster,” Mr. Nelson said, adding that he hoped that the coalition ends up playing no role in the Alito nomination. “We would hope that the process would work without requiring anything from us.”
Let’s just say the article isn’t about “give ’em Hell Harry.”
Nevertheless, it looks like we’re on the brink of total political warfare here. The theocons clearly believe they’re about to break Roe v. Wade, and it’s equally clear that the plethora of scandals dogging the steps of the GOP make a Democratic resurgence a real possibility in 2006. That would, essentially, put an end to their dreams of theocracy.
The last time the stakes were this high, Robert Kennedy and Rev. King were assassinated. We still won. This may be the last gasp of reactionary madness, but only if we beat it back. Otherwise, we could be looking at The Handmaid’s Tale. All the commentary on the nomination indicates that this is the fight the theocons wanted, though they may be unhappy to learn that Alito’s anti-choice stand is being heavily downplayed by the White House. Regardless, they got the fight they wanted. It’s time to make them regret it.
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(/) Roland X
Hope is a phoenix
Robin
Robin Phoenix (formerly Roland X, they/them): A lifelong liberal/progressive, I’m proud to be part of the struggle for environmental, social, and economic justice. As a mixed race, non-binary neo-pagan, I’m also a living progressive Bingo card. *g*