Filibuster: Praise and Damnation
So, 25 Senators voted to keep talking — and lost. Was that good or bad? Was 25 pitiful or impressive? Measured against what, would be a first obvious question.
Do you know how many voted against Scalia? 2 — and the Dems were in the majority.
We shook things up. People like Joe Biden and Barak Obama were extremely irked about being put on the spot. Diane Feinstein changed her vote, and it’s entirely possible others did likewise and we just didn’t hear it. We forced those who voted for cloture into publicly opposing us, and now we know where things stand. And everyone across the political spectrum knows we’re here now. They are starting to get a glimmer of the kind of muscle we can put behind something we believe it. It was a great moment, a grand and noble fight and I am so proud of each and every one of you for taking part in it.
Digby has some things to say:
I didn’t expect it to get more than 25 votes and I’m frankly stunned that we did as well as we did. Indeed, something very interesting happened that I haven’t seen in more than a decade.
When it became clear that the vote was going against the filibuster, Diane Feinstein, a puddle of lukewarm water if there ever was one, decided to backtrack and play to the base instead of the right wing. That’s new folks
Over at Kos, Meteor Blades:
For now, I’m laying off the recriminations. Instead, the first thing I’m doing as soon as this is written is to call my two Senators - Boxer and Feinstein - to tell them I appreciated their “No” votes. And I urge others to do so as well. But, more important, I urge others to put their energy into a new fight.
Mary Scott O’Conner, also posting at KOS, however, says I hate ‘em one and all, goddamn their eyes…
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January 31st, 2006 @ 12:40 am
I was just watching on CSpan2 the Citizens Impeachment Hearings, which included some great discussion with Ramsey Clark, Cindy Sheehan, David Swanson, and a man named Zeese, I believe. Oh, also a woman who was a former ambassador in Mongolia and elsewhere. Their message? Go after every elected official at every level, Democrat or Republican and have them answer the question. If there was a move to impeach Bush for lawbreaking and lying us into Iraq, would you support impeachment or resist it?
Good question? If they would resist it, find a pro-impeachment person, regardless of party affiliation to run against that incumbent. And on the state level, elect representatives to the state legislature who would support impeachment. Why? Because this panel pointed out that a state legislature can vote to submit a call for impeachment to the U.S. House of Representatives. Right now they’re working on the District of Columbia to do this very thing, because the rule applies to territories that are not states, too. The irony is that Congress would never allow D.C. to have membership in Congress, but it still can have standing to request impeachment.