senator leahy, opposing mukasey --11.02.07

[nrf91]

Nolo... you've fallen prey to what many of us like to call "conventional beltway wisdom". Had the Dems used a fillibuster, the votes would not have been there to confirm. As I'm sure you know, 60 votes would be needed to break the fillibuster, and the Republicans have been using that standard since they fell back into the minority.

Only 53 Senators voted in favor of Mukasey.

[nrf91]

As for whether Mukasey is better than the interim appointee, what does it matter when the guy you're accepting can't figure out if torture, a war crime, is illegal? And what does it matter when he believes that Americans can be detained for years without charges?

What the Dems SHOULD have done was threaten to cut off executive branch funding or IMPEACH unless Bush gave them a better nominee.

[nolocontendre2007]

impeachment -- a tactic i like -- takes

more than the remaining 18 months.

the clock will run out -- i favor indict-

ments of cheney and then bush. but more

on that at my blog. check it out. p e a c e

[nrf91]

As I recall, it took 3 months to impeach Nixon. Impeachment would serve the additional role of preventing war with Iran.

[nolocontendre2007]

actually -- you are forgetting quite a lot.

w a t e r g a t e :

9/15/1972 -- indictments for break-in;

4/30/1973 -- hadlerman and ehrlichman ousted;

7/29-30/1974 -- articles passed; and

8/9/1974 -- nixon resigns.

we are just after 4/30/73 on that time-line.

and so -- 18 months away.

p e a c e

[nolocontendre2007]

i am no "prey of false wisdom, beltway, or elsewhere. filibusters only delay. considering that the alternative is worse -- a continuingly-brazenly-poli- ticized DoJ -- i accept the outcome. i hate it -- but i understand it. our reply is waiting -- at the ballot box. let schumer and di fi know; let our new president know. p e a c e ps: a note on your math -- seven did NOT vote at all -- thus my feel on the futility of filibuster.

[nrf91]

Four of the non-voters were Dem. presidential candidates. They would likely have been pressured to support the fillibuster, especially Dodd. A fillibuster would NOT have been futile. Look how many times it has worked for the fascists. We can't get anything passed because they fillibuster everything.

Sorry, but I have no respect for the spineless, cowardly behavior of the Democratic leadership, including Mr. Leahy.

[nolocontendre2007]

you need not apologize -- you are

preaching to the choir, here.

i think the ballot box is the most

realistic alternative, at this point.

well-met!

p e a c e

[nrf91]

;-) ... Unfortunately, there is so much more damage that can be done by the Bushies in the next 12 months that I fear it will be a mistake to wait for the elections to try and turn things around. I hope I am wrong about that. I just don't see them going quietly into the good night.

[nolocontendre2007]

i hear you.  keep on fightin'

the good fight -- i am backin' it.

[nrf91]

Good video. Unfortunately, Pat Leahy didn't have the courage to go beyond voting "no" and actually take the kind of action that could have blocked the Mukasey nomination - leading a fillibuster.

[nolocontendre2007]

i hear you, nrf91 -- i guess it would have

been futile, in any event, as the votes were

there to confirm. blaming leahy for schumer's,

and di fi's defections seems a stretch.

finally, i think many reacted to the idea

that muksey is better than the puppet serving

in the 18-month interim.

p e a c e