The Nuclear Option: It's a Mofo

Once again, Politics Talk at the Washington Post Forum.

I think we're getting to the real Profiles in Courage-type stuff, with the pressure on a few Liberal Republicans and Blue-dog Democrats.

From:
chinshihtang
3:49 am
To:
JohnFBDC unread
(117 of 117)

4988.117 in reply to 4988.116
I think you guys must be getting tired with your extended debate debate and the various technicalities of the judicial positions of these nominees--all of them technically proficient putzes who've been cloistered too much and exposed to the real world too little, so let me try a little different tack:

This fight is about majority rule and how far it can legitimately be taken in a democratic republic. Are we going to respect the checks and balances in the current system or not?

The article about Terrence Boyle (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051102029.html?nav=mb) which was supposed to set the stage for this particular forum was quite instructive. That article points out how Jesse Helms, using a privilege of the Senate in Committee, blocked the confirmation of judicial appointments Clinton sent for federal judges in North Carolina. Not 40 Senators, one. That wasn't even a rule; it was some kind of courtesy afforded Helms. Compared to this, I think the Democrats have plenty of "right" to block the up-down vote of any nomination as long as the Republicans do not have the votes to invoke cloture.

More to the point, Frist's plan seems to be to run roughshod over the Senate's rules, which I would characterize as having been designed to protect the minority but allow for purposeful debate.

It is to the credit of several Republican senators that they have openly protested this attempt to impose the tyranny of the majority. I feel some sympathy for Liberal Republicans that the extremists in their party force them into this position, in which they are pressured to vote against their judgment--and for what? to allow judges that they know should not be approved to reach the floor?-- but they have made their deal with this Bushite Revolution.

I do not believe the Democrats will shut down the Senate if they do not get their way this time. The minority leadership has clearly shown that they will fight, but that these judgeships are not important enough for a death match.

These judges are merely the opening skirmishes for the battle royal that will come with a future Supreme Court nomination. Not the replacement for Rehnquist--that's a reactionary's seat and a new reactionary will not alter the balance of the Court. Not even the Scalia elevation to Chief Justice--that's just symbolic. The real war will come when the first Bushite nomination to replace one of the more moderate judges comes. Then the Democrats will shut the place down, and they will be right to do so. The Senate minority is merely setting the stage for that drama now, and the majority shows no sign they will not push this to the brink at that time.

What can you or I do about this? I think we can warn our Senators of both parties that they will be punished if they permit this war to erupt--but they already know that. We can pray for wisdom to prevail, but I fear that the hands of these men and women are neither free nor driven inevitably by a Supreme Being to some righteous outcome.

For now, I pray for the health of the moderate and liberal Supreme Court judges. That seems the only check we have right now on the lust for power of the Bushites, who have nearly gained total political control over the greatest center of power on Earth, and have already repeatedly shown their inability to govern wisely.