Democrats took one to the solar plexus on Monday, and it wasn’t pretty. I am encouraged by the anecdotal evidence of rammed switchboards and the genuine emotion expressed by probably tens of thousands of blog readers and their friends, but it’s difficult to look at the unsuccessful filibuster as anything but a total loss. The foundation for this failure was of course laid in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections where too many people just didn’t realize the threat posed to our civil rights and privacy by George W. Bush and his many enablers. For that, we all share responsibility. But those in power, those we selected to speak for us in D.C., fell down on the job when they needed to stand tall.
The Supreme Court confirmation hearings of both John Roberts and Samuel Alito made a mockery of advise and consent. Whether or not one believes that either or both should have been confirmed, no one was served by the Senate Judiciary committee’s kabuki show. It wasn’t any easier to watch committee Democrats pontificate with elaborate questions that were met with a lawyerly “no comment” and no follow-up than it was to watch the Republicans prattle on about judicial activism and original intent as if their definitions didn’t hinge on favorable rulings. Roberts and Alito were just as enigmatic after days of questioning as they were at the start, hardly acceptable when a lifetime seat on the highest court in the land is at stake. If Republicans were so sure that their ideas were resonant, and if Democrats truly wanted to stop either, the time was at these hearings.
Last Friday, I wondered about John Kerry‘s motivation in calling for a filibuster. While it’s still unclear whether he was doing it for politics or principle, it’s crystal clear that he never had the votes to mount a serious challenge to Alito, and when that became clear, he lost even more votes from colleagues not wishing to be part of a losing gambit. The damage done by the loss and its exaggerated margin really isn’t much more than it would have been in the absence of the filibuster, but the 19 Democrats who voted for cloture made a serious miscalculation and added to the narrative of The Ineffectual Democrat.
If there are two themes that I have stressed over the years here, they are these:
One argument that anyone following the hearings heard ad nauseam was “Well, Republicans allowed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to sail through, but now the big bad Democrats are obstructing.” In addition to the rebuttals I made based on Orrin Hatch‘s virtual selection of Bill Clinton‘s nominees, I forgot a much more obvious one that relates to point one above: Republicans have no standing to carp about the game changing because they changed the game. Republicans hold House votes open for hours on end while they bribe their own to support their caustic plans. Republican Bill Frist became the first Senate leader to campaign against his counterpart. Senate Republicans dreamt up the “nuclear option.” If they are getting misty for the good old days, just say the word, I’m sure that there are some cowering Dems who would love to take it back to the friendly days of yore.
While we’re certainly used to the hypocrisy spewing forth from Republicans, it’s no more of a surprise to see Democrats unaware of point two. A quick look at the list of Democrats voting for cloture (Akaka, Inouye, Cantwell, Rockefeller, Byrd, Bingaman, Lieberman, Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Baucus, T. Johnson, Dorgan, B. Lincoln, Salazar, Conrad, Landrieu, Pryor, Carper, and Kohl) reveals a heavy concentration of Senators up for reelection this year, both red-staters (in bold) and shaky blue staters (in italics). The majority of the rest will face difficult campaigns in 2008. The fact that doesn’t fit is that many of the yes-on-cloture crew will be voting against Alito today despite ample evidence that the distinction they make is meaningless. Dobson and his ilk will target red-state Dems whether they vote in his interest or not; they are targets because they hold a seat, not because they filibustered or didn’t. The ones who voted for cloture and will vote against Alito sold out their party for the illusion of safety because they haven’t been paying attention to the new rules.
The only thing that we can do is continue to remind our leaders that we are watching. They missed a crucial opportunity this time, and the consequences will be painful and swift. But there are other battles ahead, and we need to lead our leaders if we want this country back.