Courting Conservatives

This makes my skin crawl and my heart ache. Oh, how those crafty conservatives must be doing a "you-liberals-think-you're-so-smart-but-WE-WIN!" dance right now, and justifiably so. I don't hate that they get to do that dance because they're conservatives; I hate it because they seem to take such ridiculous GLEE in chipping away at my personal freedoms.

I'm starting to realize how right Molly Ivins is when she complains about Democrats who try to walk the safe political line and thereby fail to take a stand on anything. OK, liberals (specifically Democrats in Congress): Enough caving. Enough compromising. Enough cringeing. Decide what you stand for, what you believe, and then WORK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. Do it out in the open, or take a page from the conservatives' book and plot, plan, and pull strings behind closed doors. Stop worrying that Republicans will make fun of you; it's time to stand up to that schoolyard bully and GET THINGS DONE.

Posted by Lori in politics at 10:52 AM on January 30, 2006

Comments (2)

nj:

I only caught a little of the confirmation hearings, but what I heard wasn't the Democrats caving; there was plenty of antagonism there. What I couldn't stand was the bloviation. They didn't sound like smart people cleverly interrogating a candidate, they sounded like tired old men reading prepared speeches. They didn't sound convincing at all, even when they were reading talking points that I agreed with.

Lori [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Ugh. I heard some of the hearings, too (I apparently hit on C-SPAN radio or something while driving back from NYC a couple weeks ago), and I agree. But that's just the Judiciary Committee -- which includes Edward Kennedy, one of the two senators supporting a filibuster.

What I hate is that Democrats seem so unfamiliar with the concept of coming up with their own plan. All they do is react to what the Republicans are doing... and without a majority, the reactions are virtually meaningless. I'm not saying they should have filibustered, but I do agree with Kerry that NOW is the time to speak up, BEFORE Alito's confirmed, not after.

The Democrats right now really do remind me of kids who are afraid of the schoolyard bully -- and who try to find weaker kids to pick on themselves to avoid the bully's wrath. They seem more interested in disassociating themselves from Kerry and Kennedy than in standing up to the Republicans.

Comments

I only caught a little of the confirmation hearings, but what I heard wasn't the Democrats caving; there was plenty of antagonism there. What I couldn't stand was the bloviation. They didn't sound like smart people cleverly interrogating a candidate, they sounded like tired old men reading prepared speeches. They didn't sound convincing at all, even when they were reading talking points that I agreed with.

Posted by: nj at January 31, 2006 12:40 PM

Ugh. I heard some of the hearings, too (I apparently hit on C-SPAN radio or something while driving back from NYC a couple weeks ago), and I agree. But that's just the Judiciary Committee -- which includes Edward Kennedy, one of the two senators supporting a filibuster.

What I hate is that Democrats seem so unfamiliar with the concept of coming up with their own plan. All they do is react to what the Republicans are doing... and without a majority, the reactions are virtually meaningless. I'm not saying they should have filibustered, but I do agree with Kerry that NOW is the time to speak up, BEFORE Alito's confirmed, not after.

The Democrats right now really do remind me of kids who are afraid of the schoolyard bully -- and who try to find weaker kids to pick on themselves to avoid the bully's wrath. They seem more interested in disassociating themselves from Kerry and Kennedy than in standing up to the Republicans.

Posted by: Lori [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 31, 2006 12:52 PM

Comments are now closed.