So Who's Really Partisan About Alito?
Predictably, Senate Republicans and their mouthpieces have accused Democrats opposing Alito of playing partisan politics. It’s hard to know when the Dems are just taking it lying down – they do seem to do that a lot, don’t they? -- and when the media are refusing to air their voices.
But we do know the press has a hard time staying away from a good fight. So why aren’t the Democrats giving them some raw meat to work with, either taking it to them first or, at a minimum, angrily fighting back? It's a totally false accusation. Democrats are standing up for our most fundamental American principles: for the right of privacy that has been a central principle of Supreme Court decisions for a century; for the right of a woman to make her own moral decisions without government meddling in such deeply personal matters; for the historic checks-and-balances between the branches of government that the framers of the Constitution, unlike the modern Right-Wing Extremists who have taken over the Republican Party, knew were absolutely vital to a free country.
The real partisans here are the Republicans. Alito refused to answer questions honestly, has little interest in standing up for the right of privacy, and believes the President can decide for himself when to uphold the law passed by Congress or just make up the law himself and violate his oath of office. Alito is a standing rebuke of historic conservative Republican principles.
Indeed, Mr. Republican Robert Taft and Mr. Conservative Barry Goldwater are turning over in their graves, but do these Republicans care? In virtual lock-step, if not goose-step, they care not one bit whenever their supreme leader doesn’t. Now THAT’S partisan, and it is regretable that this kept press cannot recognize it. While we should not forget during our family squabbles that the most gutless members of Congress are the Republicans, it would be nice if the Democrats could learn to anticipate some of these attacks and be ready with a good counter-move. Once again, no such luck.
But we do know the press has a hard time staying away from a good fight. So why aren’t the Democrats giving them some raw meat to work with, either taking it to them first or, at a minimum, angrily fighting back? It's a totally false accusation. Democrats are standing up for our most fundamental American principles: for the right of privacy that has been a central principle of Supreme Court decisions for a century; for the right of a woman to make her own moral decisions without government meddling in such deeply personal matters; for the historic checks-and-balances between the branches of government that the framers of the Constitution, unlike the modern Right-Wing Extremists who have taken over the Republican Party, knew were absolutely vital to a free country.
The real partisans here are the Republicans. Alito refused to answer questions honestly, has little interest in standing up for the right of privacy, and believes the President can decide for himself when to uphold the law passed by Congress or just make up the law himself and violate his oath of office. Alito is a standing rebuke of historic conservative Republican principles.
Indeed, Mr. Republican Robert Taft and Mr. Conservative Barry Goldwater are turning over in their graves, but do these Republicans care? In virtual lock-step, if not goose-step, they care not one bit whenever their supreme leader doesn’t. Now THAT’S partisan, and it is regretable that this kept press cannot recognize it. While we should not forget during our family squabbles that the most gutless members of Congress are the Republicans, it would be nice if the Democrats could learn to anticipate some of these attacks and be ready with a good counter-move. Once again, no such luck.
posted by KISSWeb | 3:49 PM
2 Comments:
It can be really depressing can't it? It's hard to believe they couldn't at least start a food fight that would get the press's attention.
Right-- every single Republican senator, even the "pro-lifers" are voting for this man. There is no doubt where the partisanship lies.
As I have said elsewhere, I think opposing Alito's confirmation by all legal means is a matter of keeping the senatorial oath of office:
that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies [sic!], foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. . . .
Some Democrats who have renounced the filibuster have also (rightly) called Alito dangerous to the separation of powers. The mind boggles.
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