If any of them are found, please contact Harry Reid.
Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, along with a small number of other Senate Democrats, have threatened a filibuster to block the vote for Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, FOX News has learned.
"Judge Alito has consistently made it harder for Americans to have their day in court. He routinely defers to the power of the government, no matter how extreme. And he doesn’t believe women have a right to privacy that’s protected by the Constitution," Kerry said in a statement.
"The president has every right to nominate Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. It’s our right and our responsibility to oppose him vigorously and to fight against this radical upending of the Supreme Court," he added before announcing he would return to Washington early on Friday from Davos, Switzerland, where a Senate delegation was attending the World Economic Forum.
But a senior Democratic leadership aide told FOX News on Thursday that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and a majority of Democrats "do not support this action by Kerry and Kennedy. It is not politically advantageous for us."
You'd think that if our very freedoms were threatened by Alito sitting on the SCOTUS, Reid and Co. would fight the good fight and not worry that it isn't politically advantageous for the Democrats to block him.
What's more important political advantage or the Constitution? Yeah, it's a rhetorical question, Democrats only dust off the Constitution for perusal when it is politically advantageous for them.
It certainly isn't advantageous for them because most Americans aren't buying the smear job. Alito's record and those that spoke on his behalf are simply more credible than all the bluster Biden, Durbin and Kennedy could muster.
R.I.P. Steven Malcolm Anderson
Minion
of the Week
But a couple of other points need to be made here:
- Trigger a filibuster,
- force vulnerable Republicans like Chaffee to vote up-or-down on cloture (either way he pisses off the constituencies he needs to be re-elected),
- get another few days of us-versus-them speechifyng,
- then release the Democratic members of the Gang of 14 to vote yes on cloture.
It's the move with the highest return on investment.That's what I don't get, if they truly believe that Alito is a danger to our rights then it shouldn't be about what is politically advantageous, it should be about what is right.
Look, I like Alito and I want him confirmed. I think that his opponents are shrill and wrong. That said, I do think that Kerry deserves A LOT od credit for doing this, even if he's doing it from Switzerland. I think Kerry and Kennedy are dolts but at least they are standing up for their principles, no matter how misguided, that says more about them than Harry Reid and Dick Durbin. So what if they haven't got the votes to sustain, if you believe in something then fight for it.
I'm shocked -- SHOCKED! -- to discover gambling in this establishment.
:^)
I think that for the most part you and I agree on this one: When losing is inevitable, HOW you lose makes all the difference.
P.S. I'm such a political junkie. If the filibuster occurs, I want to see who votes for and against cloture. There might be a few surprises in there.
P.P.S. I loved the Drudge headline: "Le Filibuster." What a wanker -- where Kerry's at (Davos), they speak German, not French.
But of course, most of his readers probably couldn't even find Europe on a map.
But of course, most of his readers probably couldn't even find Europe on a map.
I don't read Drudge but you obviously did... ;-)
The Drudge Report is just like the Enquirer -- "nobody" reads it, but it is consistently one of the highest ranking sites on the Internet.
I just wonder, as everyone's freaking out about Alito WHO'S running the bleeping country!????? Could we STOP with all this uselss crap and get back to the 9 million problems at hand??!!
Some of these Dems need to get a serious hobby.
9 million problems at hand??!!
Jeez, man, you make it sound like the entire country is going to hell in a handbasket.
What's up with that?
No problem about the other thing. In general I don't do sanctimony, I'm more of a sarcasm kinda gal. I don't usually get up on a high horse, cuz I'm scared of heights.
It isn't about SCOTUS Rose, here it is in simple terms.
Many Democrats epsecially those on the far left simply view the Supreme Court as nine extra Senate seats. (Dick
Morris parahprased)
Prediction: NO FILIBUSTER for Alito.
You're right on Kerry.
And/But the filibuster will happen -- it just won't survive a vote on cloture.
Sandi:
Many Democrats epsecially those on the far left simply view the Supreme Court as nine extra Senate seats.
I'll go you one further -- why do we need another Justice? We already have Bush to intrepret the Constitution for us. What more do we need?