I am aware of the likelihood that we will lose on the Roberts nomination

[bluestateguy]

I don't believe that all battles are worth fighting, but sometimes you just have to take a stand, even when the odds are against you, to draw a line in the sand, and let the voters sort it all out in 2006. With the exception of a handful of red state Democrats up for re-election in 2006, I don't see Democrats paying a price for vigorous opposition. Because Roberts is a white male, it will be hard to make him out to be a victim. A black, Hispanic or female nominee would be able to play that victim card in ways that Roberts cannot.

There are some people here who want the Democrats to filibuster every last Bush judicial nominee, every Bush cabinet nominee, every Bush appointee for ambassadorships and every Bush appointee for undersecretaryships. I am not one of those people. If John Bolton becomes the UN Ambassador, that's not good, but he'll be gone from that job in 3 years or less. Even a lower court judgeship is not a catastrophe because there are hundreds of other federal judges at other levels of the judiciary.

I want the Democrats to go down fighting in this case. The stakes are just too high to defer to the Joe Liebermans and Mary Landrieus of the Senate cloakroom, senators who seem more interested in social acceptance from the DC elite and their corporate allies, or having nice things said about them on Fox News. This is the Supreme Court, not some pissant ambassadorship to a tinhorn country, or some deputy undersecretaryship of an obscure agency. The USSC is the ultimate arbiter in the culture wars, as well as such issues as affirmative action, the Patriot Act and corporate power over individuals. Stand for something, and take your case to the voters in 2006. That's how you mobilize your supporters and build a party has clear, crisp principles. That's also how you get visionary leaders like FDR and JFK.

[DistressedAmerican]

1. Can I Get An Amen!

[Mr_Spock]

2. I appreciate your pragmatic approach to this issue.

I agree, the exploding heads here don't represent a viable solution - we simply can't filibuster all candidates. OTOH, I expect a VERY vigorous questioning of this fellow. One thing Dumbfuckbya did by trying to distract from Rove is give us 5 WEEKS! to find out every bit of information on this fellow. I expect that if he doesn't answer certain questions properly, then he WILL still be a candidate for a filibuster - we really have to give him a chance to speak first before we pass judgement. Now, turn Rove over, he's done on that side - let's make sure he's well done

[bryant69]

3. I haven't necessarily made up my mind yet

But there are political concerns beyond being on Fox News.

How do we win and how do we lose? Well victory can't be wrapped around blocking the Roberts Nomination (that's not likely). So what is victory? Victory is using this nomination fight to showcase the moral weakness and arrogance of this administration. If we can show the American people exactly why this candidate is so bad and why President Bush was wrong to nominate him, we can "win" and we should carry the fight all teh way.

But if the story becomes that this guy is a conservative but a moderate conservative who is really a reasonable guy, and the Democrats are blocking the nomination just because they want to stop everything that PResiden Bush does, well that would hurt us.

Bryant
check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Toots]

4. I agree with you completely but it is just Wishful Thinking

They have to be Principled to take a Principled stand.

[Gyre]

5. a price will be paid

for 2 chimp terms. What the hell did you all expect? The less we resist, the faster they'll trip on their dicks. Let's just record our opposition and move on to Rove et al.

Gyre

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

6. Investigate Him

It's important to spend the next 5-7 weeks checking into this guy, but don't let it take away At All from the focus on TREASONGate. That is the big "elephant" in the room.

Don't give Roberts a free pass, but keep in mind that any confirmation hearings are at a minimum 5-6 weeks away, In September! Plenty of time to look into his history, and also keep the focus on the High Crimes this administration has committed in relation to the Plame situation.

[proud patriot]

7. I agree ,the line must be Drawn at the Judiciary

We won't go back

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

8. I'm right with you.

We've got 5 weeks to dig up as much as possible on this guy. Opinions, lectures, speeches, etc. Anything that could get people to wake up to what an uber-conservative in sheeps clothing he is. (Personally, I'm praying for pictures of him doing something somewhere -insert your own personal fantasy here.)

We may not find anything, but we've got to go down fighting.

best

[Son of California]

9. AMEN

"I have never needed the hope of victory to spur me on to fight!"

[Sam_Lowry]

10. Only that which passes unattepmpted is impossible

I agree. We can't know whether we win or not if we don't fight it. My opinion is that even if we lose here, and this guy gets in, he'll have a few decisions next year that will show just why it was a good idea to oppose him. More material for campaign 06...
Plus, we'll flex the politcal, rhetorical, and media muscles we need to develop sooo badly. We (dems) are way behind in this. I've heard talk show hosts here in the bay area already saying this guy is "bulletproof", so the rhetoric is already set. Let's take our shots and see what happens. If we try and fail, we fail that individual battle, and move on to the next. If we fail to try, we don't belong in the arena, and John Q. Voter will remember that in 06.


(1st post...I'm so proud! hehe )

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

11. welcome to DU

Sam-Lowry!

best

[Straight Shooter]

12. If he's bulletproof, we need to find political Kryptonite

We need to look for his Achilles heel. Believe me, he's got one somewhere, effin' sainted look and all.

Welcome to DU. Most excellent first post.

[yellowdawgdem]

13. well, what aren't we losing

these days? I mean, yes, we should fight to keep Roberts off the sc, but so far dem response has been tepid. That bad deal they signed regarding fillibuster is going to keep them from really fighting this one imo. I do think we should keep the pressure on the Rove issue, but that also could prove to be another loss for us. It just seems that, if the water gets too hot, they just will have the doj appoint a new investigator. I really hope that does not happen, and that we actually get somewhere with this. But I also don't think we ought to hang every hope onto it, because these people have consistently wiggled out of every single crime to date. This one might be a little different, and one can only hope that it is.