What with Finestain supporting Scalito, is there any real reason to

[Doctor_J]

vote Dem this November? Even if we manage to get a slim majority in both houses, there are enough DINOs like her around so that the RW agenda will be in no jeopardy. So why bother? :shrug:

[tedzbear]

1. I am voting Green Party.

Go Green go, rah, rah, rah!

:bounce:

[mike_c]

2. me too....

eom

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. More and more are reachign this conclusion

now time to let the state party know... maybe they will get teh good senator to ahem bow out from the race

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. As goes Califiornia goes the nation

And I think we are seeing the beginign of a grass roots movement agaisnt the DLC \ Neo Cons...

[David Dunham]

4. Wrong. Feinstein said she'd vote AGAINST Alito, but no fillibuster

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. We need the fillibuster and you know it

no filli no vote from me...

[ruggerson]

21. The filibuster is ineffective

if the senate votes to scrap the filibuster in the case of judge selection (the nuclear option).

And the repubs only need 50 votes to change the standing rule.

A filibuster is totally symbolic at this point, so what's the point?

[BlueCaliDem]

26. Only in and BY itself...

...but hypothesizing here:

Let's say that the Democrats all agree to filibuster (after Wednesday speeches that can lay the groundwork for this choice).

The Republicans will go "nukular", and the Democrats answer by shutting down the Senate and House, thus effectively shutting down Congress.

It's all about making a point; taking a stand; showing the growing number of disillusioned Democratic voters (and some disgruntled republican constituents as well) that the Democratic Party has balls after all!

Would that be more ineffective a choice, than say, letting Bush run roughshod over our government and the American people instead?

If the Republicans go on ahead and confirm Alito (by some caveat heretofore unknown), then it gives the Democrats the opportunity to point out to the American people, that we are indeed, no longer a democratic republic, but a dictatorship.

You gotta break the eggs in order to make the omelet.

[ruggerson]

27. I don't know if shutting down congress

will win the election for us in '06.

I honestly don't know the answer to that.

[BlueCaliDem]

28. According to all the polls, what makes you think we have a...

...chance? According to the polls, the Republican slide in poll numbers don't seem to benefit any gains for the Democrats.

My opinion regarding this is because Democrats in the past have looked "weak"; unwilling to fight (remember the day no senator stood up with the Black Caucus on the floor of the Senate in Jan. 2001?).

Americans don't like losers. We root for because we like winners, and if wrong's been done, we EXPECT our leaders to fight for what's right.

Why do you think Rep. Jack Murtha's become THE Democrat everyone is cheering for? He bucked the traditional wisdom of "not speaking ill of the war or be cast as a terrorist enabler" and came right out, and told it like it is, and gives back as good as he gets!

We LOVE that! Republicans LOVE that. Ted "the liberal lion" Kennedy is LOVED for his knack of speaking out without being afraid of republican smears.

Democrats have looked spineless, and cowering since the 2000 theft of the Presidency, although the Alito hearings showed we've got tough Senators if they wanna be, asking tough questions that at times made ME blush and wince, yet all the media is covering this as if the Republicans are all mighty strong, and the Democrats are "in disarray".

We Democrats, and Progressives KNOW what we saw, and we've learned to see the media for what it really is, and we believe our eyes, not their lying words anymore, but Alito was allowed to pass on answering any questions--thanks to whipped Specter who was in full attack mode of the Democrats, but gave the likes of tear-jerker JERK in-the-closet-gay Lindsay Graham all the room to make Scalito's wife cry.

Add to that, that the Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S machines are still pretty much here in most of the states, do you honestly believe the Democrats can win in '06?

Like Rep. King (R-NY) said ON TAPE: "It's all over but for the counting, and WE'LL take care of the counting."

We WON in 2000. We WON in 2002. We WON in 2004.

Yet, we're still out of power, and Bush happily slips one rightwing loyalist judge after another into the very SCOTUS that gave him the WH while the Democratic Leaders (we REALLY need to get rid of Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska--a rightwinger in democrat's clothing) are punched left and right, and don't hit back.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather go out FIGHTING then go down whimpering.

[DCal]

8. If there is no filibuster, it guarantees Alito gets in.

Feinstein, by opposing the filibuster, is helping to ensure that Alito gets confirmed.

[Jane Austin]

14. If any anti-Alito Senators don't support a filibuster,

it's probably because they can count.

Maybe she thinks filibusters should be saved for issues we can win, such as the ANWR vote.

I devoutly hope Harry Reid can twist some arms in the Dem caucus, and we need to be writing Susan Collins, Olympia Snow and Lincoln Chafee, but wishing we could magically win doesn't mean the numbers are there.

[radio4progressives]

18. Don't you get it yet? With Alito on the Court - ANWR is a DONE DEAL

:banghead:

[ruggerson]

24. exactly

and all this yapping about the filibuster is pointless because the republicans only need 50 votes to scrap the filibuster, not 60, since they will just change the standing rule.

[shance]

5. Write to her, here.

http://feinstein.senate.gov /

"Please ask her to reconsider her objections to an Alito fillibuster. Special thanks to DU'er Tspokely who gave me the email to begin with" (per DanCa's thread*)

[jackpan1260]

9. Give me a break.

Democrats are the minority party, making it harder for the them to snuff a nominee like Alito. Your solution is to make them even more of a minority? If you had your way, in 10 years everyone would be wondering why our 30 democratic senators can't get anything done.

If we had the majority that republicans had, even with a few DINOs we would be get much more done. Republicans have a majority and even with their Chaffeys and Hagels are still able to accomplish their bad agenda.

Don't get me wrong, playing defensive for the minority party has brought out the worst in many democrats. But hearing you say "why bother" reminds me way to much of the people who said "why bother" choosing between Gore and Bush in 2000.

[mom cat]

10. I am voting for my principles. If that means voting for a few

democrats, I am willing....but not for dinos and DLC sellouts.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mike_c]

13. there's no reason to be uncivil about it....

You should change your subject line, IMO.

[Moochy]

17. What mike_c said..

ditto on being uncivil. That's a big deal, coming from me, someone not known for civility. :evilgrin:

[radio4progressives]

22. uhhhh... EF You Back. This is NOT about "Politics"....

Your "analysis" such as it is, is simply full of it.

this is honestly as close as we have ever been to a Constitutional crises that we have been in my life time.. Judge Aito and I are just about exactly the same the age. We were born in the same year. 1950.

I've been around a little, I've seen a few things happen to this country, I've lived through a few crises, like the murder of popular and respected Progressive leaders (coicidentally those individuals are in this administration today) and lived through Watergate.

But we've never faced the crises we are in now, in my lifetime.

Compromise is important and appropraite when working out issues, legistlation and so on, but this is NOT about POLITICS, and if you think it is, then you haven't been paying any attention all.

[Doctor_J]

32. Easy there, Wraith

Maybe you haven't noticed, but all semblance of the Republic that I have lived in for 49 years is hanging by a thread. As soon as Scalito takes the bench, wiretaps against war protestors, torture, election rigging/fraud/theft, bombing of women's health clinics, and fundie/government collusion (like in Afghanistan) will become legal. This sure as shit is important to me, and any Senator who won't do EVERYTHING IN HIS/HER power to stop it needs to go away, now.

[Jane Austin]

12. Feinstein said she is voting against Alito.

Why do you say otherwise?

[nancyharris]

15. She may be voting against Alito

But her remarks indicate that she will be voting FOR cloture

[Jane Austin]

16. Perhaps she can count, and doesn't want the Dems to fire all their bullets

in a losing cause.

Anyway, voting for closure is not what the OP said.

[nancyharris]

19. Oh I see

"Perhaps she can count, and doesn't want the Dems to fire all their bullets in a losing cause"

Another Democratic "Profile in Courage" - That's what I admire most about my representatives; their ability to refrain from action unless they are sure in advance that they can win.

[Doctor_J]

30. Please.

Are you going to tell me that ANWR drilling is more important that Smirk having a sound majority on SCOTUS?

[radio4progressives]

23. She's catapulting the propaganda that Alito is good enough, and should

be confirmed, and that she is WARNING NOT TO FILIBUSTER.

she may as well be voting for the bastard.

[Doctor_J]

29. By saying that she won't support a filibuster,

she's saying that we have to accept him for the SCOTUS. That sounds like support to me. Would you be happy if I changed the subject line to "With Finestain supporting Scalito's appointment to the court,..."

[janx]

20. It is all the more reason to do so!

Let's get some new blood in there! Go to the DNC site and find out who is running in your area. Then spread the word, and don't forget to vote!

[Rainscents]

25. DiFi is FRAUD democrat!!!

This is what I am going to call her from now on!!!

[NativeTexan]

31. Actually, it seems to me that Kaleeforeneea......

.....Democrats, should sometime soon find a good primary opponent for her. She is like Lieberman.....way too much in the Republican camp.

[Clarkie1]

33. If the right wins again in 06...

It's your fault, and the fault of other short-sighted individuals on the far-left. We can't win unless we win overwhelmingly in 06' and 08' to overcome the "Diebold effect."

In order to achieve that, we need moderates as well as those on the far-left to vote in massive numbers for Democratic candidates. We are going to go after the moderate vote and persuade them to come around to our point of view, and if the far-left is stupid enough to stay home and not vote or vote third-party, they will be responsible for the end of the Republic as we know it.

Can I make it any clearer to you?

[rasputin1952]

34. Locking

Senator Feinstein has, on numerous occasions, stated her position as voting against Alito. This Thread is flamebait.

Thank you for your understanding.