"Push the button!" (Or, RE: Blox Vogoli 2.2)
Hugh Hewitt asks the blogosphere which approach to getting judges to the floor in the Senate is best; go with the nuclear option or navigate a way around it. I say "Push the button," and let fly!
The courts are the biggest domestic prize of the '04 elections. Allowing Dems the opportunity for blocking votes via the threat-of-filibuster can and should be stopped. Here's why:
- If Dems have real reasons for voting these nominees down, force them to articulate them and actually do it!
- The public has had 4 years to watch Dems block votes on judges who they know would be confirmed by the Senate-at-large. I believe John and Jane Q. Public understand well the fundamental unfairness of this approach. That equals political capital.
- Hugh and many of the other bloggers are correct when they say that Reid and the Dems shutting down the Senate over this is crazy. They don't believe we're at war, but the public does and I can posit no scenario where anyone might think shutting down Gov't. during such a time qualifies as a good idea! Even if the Dems thought they had a way to 'triangulate' and shift blame to the administration or the Republican congress, I believe that the obvious truth (see #2 above!) of the situation would negate the effort.
Finally, as a certain wise man is wont to say: If your enemy is in the process of self-destructing, get out of the way! "Push the button," and let fly!
2 comments:
I hope you won't mind a little niggle here, but you said that the public understands we are at war.
In reality one cannot aggregate the individuals and their opinions into a singular abstraction "public" and assign one single attribute. You have essentially created a fiction. Many individuals, including myself, believe that we are not at war. I know it is tempting to select only those opinions which you like and call that "public opinion," but the result is certainly a fiction.
Proudliberal:
Feel free to niggle, no offense taken. Just don't make it a habit!
Your point about creating an aggregate, stamping it "the public," and assigning attributes is a good one and well taken. However, I think it misses something.
How "at war," did you or your parents, grandparents feel during the Cold War? For fifty years our country battled a nation as distrusting and wary of us as we were or them--diplomatically, economically and covertly in a sort of shadow-war.
Just because you don't feel like you're at war doesn't mean you aren't at war.
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