It's pronounced "Nucular Option" in the White House...

...so nobody gets confused and calls in the Strategic Air Command.

More Post Politics Talk:




From:
chinshihtang
1:30 am
To:
winters0 unread
(130 of 130)

4988.130 in reply to 4988.127
Although I would agree that the Constitution itself is not endangered in this struggle, I don't take the whole thing nearly as mildly as you. The ground which is seriously in play is the small range of federal power which lies outside the imperial Presidency buttressed by Congressional majorities.
Currently, we're in Year 3 of Caesar W. Bush II's reign, which dates from the '02 midterm elections. So, in that sense, we are talking exactly about that bit of American Republic--as opposed to Empire--that remains.
And don't get me started on this thread about how the voters will settle this. I'd be surprised if The Senate Nafu (or its other framing names: "Countering the Judicial Activism Threat", "future Supreme Court nomination wars", "Nuclear/Constitutional Option", etc.) ever pops into the top 3 concerns of voters in the next decade (though I admit something similar might have crept in there once in the past, during the Clinton-Gingrich impasse). The substantive bit here is the battle of rival elite organizations for power on the ground, not the circus of superficiality which is mass-media-driven electoral politics.
This is a classic Bushite manufactured crisis, developed to divert attention from the embarrassing absence of creativity to address any domestic or international issues of the moment. And a sop to true conservatives appalled by the Bushite practices of fiscal irresponsibility, centralization of power, poaching on civil liberties, and military adventurism. Though Bush himself has sought to keep himself personally out of it, the whole embroglio has been conjured up in the White House's political affairs area upon the death of the Social Security initiative.




From:
winters0
May-15 5:15 pm
To:
JohnFBDC
(127 of 130)

4988.127 in reply to 4988.126
Caswell may have been along straingt party lines but I think it too had an element of bipartisanship. That is what truly makes this case unique. We are facing the party leadership leading a fillibuster. Want to know what really irks me about this? You and I probaly now know more of the history of filibustering judicial nominees than our Senators. My wife won't watch the news with me now because she has gotten tired of me spouting out, "That's not true". :)
All said and done though our Senators will hear from the electorate and the issue will be solved in the next decade or so. The Republic will not collapse. It is just another bump in our political evolution.

and here's another bit, posted on buffalobeast.blogspot.com:

Chin Shih Tang said...
I was struck as I randomly fell into your blog that we're on the same wavelength for many things, such as the recent "Voinovich Cave", "The White House's Nucular Option", etc. I've been pounding away on the Washington Post forums lately under this pseudonym, if you're interested. When it comes to third parties (and fourth, etc.) I also agree. I'm most willing to encourage dissatisfied Republicans to find new homes, and Indpendents to find a political home, even if it's Green, Libertarian, or Whatsnot. It's a question of really knowing what you believe in. In that regard, though, I have to disagree with those abandoning the whole Dem party because a few sold out on the bankruptcy bill. In the anals of Bluedog Bushite Salad Tossing, this one's a relative dingleberry. (As compared to the Medicare prescription legislative log, or even some Democrat voting for Brick Bolton on the floor to safeguard those vulnerable Presidential prerogatives!)Before the Card Industry and I reached a mutually amicable separation recently, I worked in the credit shops for many a year, and I can tell you that bankruptcy fraud is big, and that honest consumers end up paying for it.Sure, the rejected amendments would've made it a more humane legislation, but there is a real rationale beyond the usual Affirmative Action for the Privileged one.
16/5/05 2:39 AM