Alito Confirmed - Some thoughts on the votes:

[richardf8]

Senators who voted for cloture, but against Alito
(Also known as craven, lily-livered milksops)

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Chafee (R-RI)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-FL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)

If each of these people had had the courage to back up their opposition to Alito with a vote against cloture yesterday, his supporters would have been forced to resort to the raw power play of a senate rules change to seat their boy on the bench. Would they have done it? Who knows? The senators whose names are listed above are the ones so afraid to call that bluff that they were willing to leave the table emptyhanded.


The senators whose names are listed below are the Dems who supported Alito. We may regard them as traitors to the party, but we must acknowledge that they at least have the courage of their convictions, which is more than can be said for the ones listed above.

Byrd (D-WV)
Conrad (D-ND)
Johnson (D-SD)
Nelson (D-NE)

While we might wish to commend Lincoln Chaffee for being the only Republican to break ranks, and vote against Alito's confirmation, we cannot do so without also noting that his vote on cloture helped to assure that this no vote of his would be mere empty symbolism, with no ramification for the nominee. The fact that he was alone, while the Dems had 4 breakaways out of a smaller field says something about our respective party discipline.

As for what the future holds - well, the Bush administration has met or exceeded my expectations of it in every regard, and I expect no less of Alito.

Comments

[grassyneal.livejournal.com]

I thought a filibuster was supposed to be reserved for things you really really didn't want to happen, like civil rights reform laws back in the '50s and '60s.

Let's take specific Alito out of the equation for a minute, and let's make you a Senator from Minnesota (instead of Mark Dayton). Could you envision a nominee to the Supreme Court that you would vote no on, but would not filibuster? Is there some "bad, but not bad enough" threshold?

[richardf8]

let's make you a Senator from Minnesota
Sure, then I could get off Morgan's insurance, make a little more than I do now, and have access to a better Caf.

Could you envision a nominee to the Supreme Court that you would vote no on, but would not filibuster? Is there some "bad, but not bad enough" threshold?

Moving from a specific case to a hypothetical case is problematic. The question really comes down to this: do I want my "no" vote to matter or not? These people created a context in which their "no" votes would not matter.

Yeah, I can think of an example for you - Roberts replacing Rhenquist. And you'll note, nobody even tried filibustering that. Alito replacing Thomas or Scalia would likely also be a "bad, but not bad enough" situation. But Alito replacing O'Connor? This is an "if not now, when?" situation. I could go into the reasons, but we'd just disagree; that's why we affiliate differently. Many of the senators on this list are part of a group that made a deal when Roberts was first nominated to refrain from using the filibuster except in an extreme situation. I've examined Alito's record, which is one of the most anti-citizen that I've seen, and if this does not qualify as extreme, I am left to wonder what does.

[grassyneal.livejournal.com]

I would hope they have a better caf on Capitol Hill...otherwise, it would be too easy to drive those poor senators & congresscritters into the arms of lavish-meal-buying lobbyists..

I appreciate your willingness to acknowledge a window of 'honorable opposition', and I understand your (likely correct) assessment of the relative utility of discussing the specifics of Alito as a justice, relative to O'Connor, and relative to the makeup of the rest of the court.

I hope this story brings you some cheer that the right-wing lockstep march hasn't set in (or at least, not yet): http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.nationlede02feb02,1,5993944.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Man, Byrd once fooled me into supporting him when he wrote a nice anti-war editorial. I kinda expected Lieberman to be on the shorter list with him.

I hadn't noticed before that we have senators named Nelson and Rockefeller at the same time.

[richardf8]

I am quite confident that Byrd, an old Dixiecrat and former Klansman, found plenty to like in Mr. Alito's prior affiliations.

[lordrunningclam.livejournal.com]

I did write my Democratic senator (Nelson, D-FL) to support the proposed fillibuster of Alito. Of course he ended up in the milksop camp. I miss Bob Graham. Every once in a while he demonstrated that he has balls.