Kerry gets it! Do the others?? --- FILIBUSTER is the ONLY Moral Option!!

[pat_k]

Great News from IanDB1. Kerry chooses the ONLY Moral option: FILIBUSTER!

Let's make things crystal clear to the rest of our "leaders." It's simple, they have three options:

1. Filibuster;
2. Vote Yes to Confirm; or
3. Get Out!

Any Senator who Opposes the Filibuster, Supports Alito's Nomination.

Either publicly throw your support behind the Filibuster OR Vote Yes.

Hypocrites who make a useles and phony display of Voting NO while refusing to support the Filibuster are exactly the kind of weasels we no longer need.

--------------------------
BTW, In case you missed it, our efforts to date are definitely causing a stir. (Poor Novak doggedly pushes the company line -- "Despite the consensus that Alito performed well in his confirmation hearings"). They comfort themselves with the notion that the pressure is astroturf created by "leaders of liberal organizations." The truth -- that people are spontaneously demanding what they want in no uncertain terms -- is just too frightening.

Let's show them that they ain't seen nothin' yet!

[NashVegas]

1. Is This Still Unconfirmed?

I wouldn't tap dance until it is.

[pat_k]

2. Confirmed or not, make it clear -- FILIBUSTER, Vote YES, or Get Out!!

Whether or not the staffer's statement on Kerry's position has been confirmed, we can cite what we've heard as we contact other Senate offices. For example, you could say something like this:

"I hope Senator X doesn't think that Voting NO to confirm is enough. If the Senator won't join the Filibuster, he/she is paving the way for Alito to take a seat on the court. If the Senator refuses to join the Filibuster, the only honest vote is a vote for confirmation. Hypocrites who think they can make a sham display by Voting NO, while obstructing a Filibuster, are just the kind of weasels we'll make sure are challenged in their next primary.

We're hearing that Senator Kerry supports a Filibuster, so apparently, he understands that pushing for a Filibuster is the only moral option available to anyone who knows Alito is a threat to our most basic tenets."

[Clarkie1]

3. Alito is going to be confirmed.

I'm not happy about it either, but it's time to get real around here, folks. The only way Alito will not be confirmed is if he dies, becomes gravely ill, or a major scandal of some sort emerges.

Incidently only 30% of Americans oppose Alito, and even if this poll is off by say 10%, that's still a pretty significant number:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/23/alito/index.html

[pat_k]

4. Pronouncements that defeat is assured are wrong more often then they ...

...are right.

Victory or Defeat, we must keep pushing them until the very last minute.

Unfortunately, too many on the center/left do not act because they believe defeat is assured, and therefore action is futile -- "a waste of energy" (as if we have some limited pool of energy that we need to conserve). This type of rationalization is perhaps the biggest barrier to action we face on the center/left. It is very deeply ingrained. Over and over we allow appeals to "practicality" and "realism" immobilizes us. One of the primary reasons Democrats are viewed as wimps is their failure to "fight the good fights," come what may.

Like an addiction, "Won't happen, don't bother" is terrible habit that reinforces itself. People don't fight for something because "it's futile." The something never happens because people aren't fighting, "proving" the futility.

Conventional wisdom assured us (even mockingly) that we would never get a Senator to stand up and object to the Ohio electors on January 6th. No mainstream good government entity even considered fighting to make it happen. They were too busy whipping themselves for losing, when Kerry had in fact won. Citizen lobbyists took up the fight. Mainstream folks didn't jump on board until it was clear that the effort itself was energizing people in a way they might well capitalize on.

Had they acted sooner, who knows? We might have inaugurated President Kerry on January 20th, 2004. And acting "sooner" could have been as early as December 12, 2000. Who knows? We might have inaugurated President Gore on January 20th, 2001.

There are so many other examples.

We like to think of ourselves as reasonable people, but it is not reasonable to guarantee failure with the notion "can't be done, so don't try." That only makes sense if you believe in your own omniscience.

It is time to be truly reasonable and spend our time acting. Even when we don't think anything will work, we must still act on principle.

[Jim Sagle]

5. I don't trust those who say defeat is assured and I'll bet you don't,

either.

[il_lilac]

6. my feelings exactly

I know I will crash hard emotionally if he is affirmed simply because I won't...can't give up hope. I will continue to call and fight til the last vote is in.

[pat_k]

9. Even if . . .

. . . some in the Senate rationalize their way out of fulfilling their moral obligation to Filibuster, we MUST recognize what we gained in the fight -- regardless of the outcome.

I know for a fact that we ALREADY have more members willing to stand up on this then we have had for a LONG LONG time.

Not long ago -- and I mean less than 2 years ago -- pressure from the "Democratic base" was unheard of; a joke. We ARE getting through. If some in the Senate fail us, we need to KEEP making calls AND visiting their offices to find out WHY and to challenge the rationalizations they invoke for their inaction.

When you boil them down to basics, their rationalizations don't change much from fight to fight. It serves us to challenge their rationalizations before -- to prompt them to act; and after -- to prompt them to act on principle in the next fight.

[pat_k]

7. Whatever the motives, defeatist proclamations must always be challenged.

I tend not to consider the "trustworthiness" of the defeatist.

I know there are some who make their defeatist proclamations out of "bad intentions" (i.e., intentionally spreading propaganda to immobilize). But, most of the defeatism I run into on "our side", is just a bad habit. Their intentions aren't bad, but they've internalized propaganda or they view themselves as "realists" and "practical" people, and harbor the mistaken belief that cynicism=realism. Usually, they don't realize how baseless and damaging their pronouncements are. These folks can usually see the error of their ways.

Whatever the motives, I think it is critical that we challenge defeatism in all its forms. Time will tell whether or not the defeatist meant well or ill.

[orleans]

8. this is a great post.

i was calling senators (all senators) today and telling them (the dems anyway) that a polite "no" vote is gonna land that guy on the court. and that is why the filibuster is the only option.

i've called ALL the senators (repukies as well--just to let them know that not all of us think alito is a good idea for the supreme court) and i've called about half of the senators two and three times. i sent 25 faxes out today, a couple last night, and i've emailed all of them twice on this.

damn! i'm exhausted. and i wish i had said exactly what you are saying: either filibuster, vote yes or GET OUT!

oh well. hindsight is always 20/20 (to quote a much overused phrase for lack of creativity to come up with my own)

[pat_k]

10. Thanks! Hope others agree and vote it UP!! n/t

[pat_k]

11. And, it sounds to me like you were telling them EXACTLY what they needed .

. . .to hear.

No kicking ourselves. Every action -- and you have done MORE than your share -- makes a difference!

[il_lilac]

13. thanks for all you're doing

you've inspired me to keep calling too.

[orleans]

14. glad to hear it. i wrote everything i wanted to say quickly

and timed it. it was slightly over two minutes. i cut it down to one and a half minutes. some answering machines (voice mail) gives you only a minute. the ones that give you a longer time i'd just add some things i had to cut.

(down to a science--one senator's message even said you have two minutes to leave a message and then he cuts you off after about a minute. i forget which one it was though.)

yes. please keep calling.

[EVDebs]

12. Sen Reid & Co. need to make sure the rules are followed

Do it right and make it last at least a week. Besides, keeping them filibustered keeps them out of trouble ! Congress's idle hands were already the devil's workshop for too long anyhow !