Thursday, September 29, 2005

Someone 'Splain This To Me...

The Heretik has a nice post excoriating the 22 spineless so-called Democrats who voted to confirm Roberts as Chief Justice. And here's the thing I don't get: Every time this sort of cave-in happens and it's explained rather than just swept under the rug (see: Reform, Bankruptcy), the explanation is some variation of "The Dems want to keep their powder dry for really important Issue/Confirmation Fight X."

Frankly, this sounds about as rational to me as the argument that gay marriage somehow diminishes straight marriage. Are the Democrats somehow constrained on how many times they can oppose the Republicans? Do they have a quota of No votes? They're the opposition party, it's their job to oppose - do any of them really think the American people are going to take them less seriously when they oppose Rush Limbaugh for Sandy O'Connor's swing vote seat because they also voted to oppose Roberts? I just don't see it, and worse yet, they can't even be counted on to show up for the fight they said they were saving themselves for (remember the filibuster compromise that was supposed to be such a great deal 'cuz it would let them filibuster the next Supreme Court nominee?).

Can some more knowledgeable politics-talkin'-guy (or gal) please explain this to me? And use small words - I don't think real good since the bad thing happened.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, you see, if they oppose Roberts, they'll also have to oppose all sorts of Republican initiatives. And then, by golly, some people might think they're an opposition party. And they most assuredly do not want that.

Eli said...

Opposing corrupt governments is hard. It's hard work.

DuWayne Brayton said...

Republicrats suck ass - both sides of the aisle - they just suck. . .

Phila said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Phila said...

Look, you can bitch about the Dems all you want. But I guarantee, when the Republicans come up with a plan to harvest the organs of ghetto children and cook them into mince pies that will be sold at Christmas to finance the development of remote-control killbots for President-for-Life George W. Bush's "Coastal Purification Project," the Dems will stand as one and politely suggest an alternative course of action.

Eli said...

Except maybe for Joe "Howard Dean doesn't speak for me" Lieberman...