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Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey?

By Jeralyn, Section Sam Alito
Posted on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 11:28:53 AM EST
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Republican Lincoln Chafee will vote against Alito but for cloture. Too bad. Lieberman has not yet decided on cloture, despite what CNN said. Call or fax his office now.

Jeffords will vote against cloture. Keep those calls and faxes to all who oppose Alito, particularly those in the Gang of 14, now. It's not over till it's over.

Let's send Judge Alito back to New Jersey. Numbers are below the fold, thanks to Reddhedd and Armando who are way out in front on this:

The Gang of 14 includes:

Republicans
* John S. McCain III, Arizona * Lindsey O. Graham, South Carolina * John Warner, Virginia * Olympia Snowe, Maine * Susan M. Collins, Maine * R. Michael DeWine, Ohio * Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island

Democrats
* Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut * Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia * E. Benjamin Nelson, Nebraska * Mary Landrieu, Louisiana * Daniel Inouye, Hawaii * Mark Pryor, Arkansas * Ken Salazar, Colorado

Armando says:

The only Senators of interest here are those who have announced themselves as No votes. Their names are marked in italics. The rest SUPPORT Alito so they are not doing anything that is inconsistent.

Here are phone numbers for Senate offices for Senators who either haven't announced a position or who are still a little shaky -- or who haven't spoken about how they will vote on cloture.

PHONE NUMBERS:
Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D- AR), 202-224-4843
Joseph I. Lieberman (D- CT), 202-224-4041
Thomas R. Carper (D- DE), 202-224-2441
Daniel K. Inouye (D- HI), 202-224-3934
Tom Harkin (D- IA), 202-224-3254 (Says he will abstain on cloture -- if Harkin is your Senator, tell him thank you. Carrots are as important as sticks.)
Evan Bayh (D- IN), 202-224-5623
Barbara A. Mikulski (D- MD), 202-224-4654
Carl Levin (D- MI), 202-224-6221
Mark Dayton (D- MN), 202-224-3244
Max Baucus (D- MT), 202-224-2651
Frank Lautenberg (D- NJ), 202-224-3224
Jeff Bingaman (D- NM), 202-224-5521
Jack Reed (D- RI), 202-224-4642
Maria Cantwell (D- WA), 202-224-3441
Patty Murray (D- WA), 202-224-2621
Herb Kohl (D- WI), 202-224-5653
John D. Rockefeller, IV (D- WV), 202-224-6472
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), 202-224-3954
James M. Jeffords (I- VT), 202-224-5141
Bill Nelson (D- FL), 202-224-5274
Daniel K. Akaka (D- HI), 202-224-6361
Mary Landrieu (D- LA), 202-224-5824
Byron L. Dorgan (D- ND), 202-224-2551
Olympia Snowe (R- ME), 202-224-5344

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]

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    • Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? | 27 comments (27 topical)
    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 11:54:23 AM EST
    Still for Alito Byrd, Robert D (202)224-3954 Nelson, Ben D (202)224-6551 (202)228-0012 Johnson , Tim D (202) 224-5842

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#2)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 11:55:36 AM EST
    It looks like the filibuster threat is just a big pose at this point, aimed at the wilfully gullible. I like Alito myself, and dislike filibusters on principle. But if I felt about both the way the Left does, I'd at least want my so-called representatives either to fight or to tell me why they won't, rather than see them take a dive on cue in the 2nd round and call it a moral victory. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they really will fight after all - their base is willing - but I doubt it. Congratulations to Justice Alito.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Slado on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 12:26:02 PM EST
    I welcome the fight because it will put a giant torpedo in whatever chance the democrats had to take back the house and Senate. That being said if the dems do chicken out is the left willing to back up their uproar and not vote for democrats who didn't go the extra mile? Or is the "base" as week kneed as the senators that represent them? Just asking. When the president tried to pull a fast one with Myers the republican base went inot an uproar and the Senators listened. Will the Democrats?

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 12:43:20 PM EST
    Nice graphic. It occurs to me that Alito could get run over by a truck or a bus sitting out in the middle of First Street like that. Big city... lots of traffic... dangerous... anything could happen. "Wha.. huh..." Sorry... I must have dozed off for a minute there... what a weird dream!

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#5)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 12:57:09 PM EST
    Slado, If the bases refuses to punish their Senators who won't fb, the base will become irrelevant almost overnight, taken for granted (and correctly so) by the power-brokers. But we're not there yet. Let's see how the vote goes, first.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#6)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 01:17:02 PM EST
    But we're not there yet
    Uhh, sorry ras, I know you consider yourself thoughtful and all, but really, if you don't think the Democratic Party has been taking American Progressives for granted for a long, long time, then you really have descended into the divine land of the silly. But keep touting your Talking Points. It's good for a giggle. As soon as you call Hillary Clinton a "left wing harpy," the comedic circle will finally close for you. We wait breathless, with hardly the bat of an eye. In reality land, every candidate for President and almost every Senator (I reserve some integrity for the late Paul Wellstone, for example), and just about every Congressman--all of the higher ups in the Democratic Party have been and continue to be far to the right of, say, the Conservative Party in your own country. We don't need to wait and see what they do on Alito to find out if we've been abandoned. We knew that a long time ago. But some of us have allowed ourselves to be used because of the whole "lesser of two evils" thang. And that's wearing out quicker and quicker. For some, like, me, the cord has already snapped. Surely something good will be on television come election day November 2006.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#7)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 01:24:54 PM EST
    glanton, We wait breathless, with hardly the bat of an eye. Watch for the green glow of my aura, too! You know it's there.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#8)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 01:30:44 PM EST
    good answer if this were a schoolyard taunting game. But to translate ras into adultspeak: "I have no answer, nothing to say except what they feed me."

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#9)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 01:39:55 PM EST
    glanton, You really gotta lighten up - that was not a taunt. As for your apparently longstanding disillusionment with the Dems, either go to a 3rd party or go home, right? [And that's not a taunt, either. Deep, steady breaths, glanton, deep steady breaths]

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#10)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 01:49:12 PM EST
    ras, in all seriousness: you have been suggesting for weeks that this Alito confirmation represents some sort of watershed moment. No doubt you think that because of television and the internet (hence the double entendre within my intiail television comment). But if you would clear your head long enough and actually looked at some voting records, some policies, etc., then you'd see that the "power brokers" of whom you speak have indeed been taking progressives for granted for years and years. The recent thread about Salazar illustrates my point. Democrats excel not at advancing progressive goals, but rather at "me-tooing" when it comes to things like God, guns, and gays. Remember John Kerry's "debate" with Bush? The part where he outlined Bush's economic record and pontificated: "Now I ask you, how is that conservative?" ras, I know the narrative is fun for you. But Alice in Wonderland is fun too, yet no adult not on LSD believes it as fact when they read it.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#11)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:01:52 PM EST
    glanton, If - as you say - the Dems have been taking progressives for granted for that long, then progressives sure must be wimps and doormats to let 'em. "Betray me again, I promise to be complaint and vote for you anyway! Please, sir, may I have another!" Seriously, is that what you're saying? That's not the impression I get from other Lefties here, such as Dadler or Sailor. But there's really no other reason to let yourselves be taken for granted like that, other than if you don't really believe your own rhetoric. I actually think the best Lefties do believe what they say (however much I may disagree), and I expect them to split the Dem party and either take over what's left or form another one of their own. Alito represents a fundamental split w/in the Dems at present, one of principle, not particulars, and no way a party that divided can retake majority status. Once they figure that out, both sides will want to split. BTW, word has it that cloture just passed. What remains in confirming Alito is called "mopping up." Fight's over.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#12)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:15:53 PM EST
    "Betray me again, I promise to be complaint and vote for you anyway! Please, sir, may I have another!"
    Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. But it isn't so much a question of machismo (I love how you righties are always trumping up your masculine contructs) as it is pragmatism for many: i.e., a question of having little to no place else to go.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#13)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:19:26 PM EST
    glanton, Cut the whining. If there's no place else to go, then make one, instead of crying that others haven't done it for you. Always somebody else's shortcoming, isn't it? If progressives want a party they can call home, they know what to do.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#14)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:35:58 PM EST
    Call it whining, call it honest reporting for a change, no matter what you call it, it remains true. The point on this thread, ras, is that the little narrative you've been pushing for months is becoming embarrasing in its redundancy, its long distance from reality, and perhaps most of all, its rather ineffective pretense of earnestness.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#15)
    by jondee on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:38:45 PM EST
    Yep, all we need to do is raise two hundred million dollars, hire a completely hollow but high-name-recognition celebrity spokesperson, recruit some sycophantic carpet kneelers like ras, and we'll be in the game.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#16)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:42:42 PM EST
    glanton, So then tell me, after all these years, why haven't progressives just formed their own party already? My own analysis is that they need to mask their agenda behind the longstanding Dem brand name, cuz they know it'd never be electorally palatable on its own. But if there's some other reason you guys stick around, just say so. Is there? Sounds like you feel you're taking a lot of abuse and that you think other progressives feel the same. So why are you guys still there?

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#17)
    by ltgesq on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:47:56 PM EST
    Won't be seeing ras until tommorrow when he clocks back in as professional Republican troll.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#18)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:48:35 PM EST
    ras, those are good questions, there aren't easy answers to them. I know you love soundbites but that's the way it is, not everything can be wrapped up with a shiny bow. But isn't it better to be asking real questions, to be thinking about them, even if you can't get a Snicker's sized answer in a thirty second slot, than to try and look sincere while you say "Here it is! now we'll find out if the establishment Democrats care about progressives"?

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#19)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 02:52:47 PM EST
    Oh wait, for a moment ras, I gave you too much credit. You already have a Snicker's sized answer--or what you call, laughably, your "own analysis":
    My own analysis is that they need to mask their agenda behind the longstanding Dem brand name, cuz they know it'd never be electorally palatable on its own.
    Come up with that all on your own, did ya? Funny, every time I turn on Rush he's saying the same thing, and so is O'Reilly and Me-Too Mort and the rest of the All Stars; and so is the WashTimes and the NY Post and the WSJ and on and on the blog we go. Dear, dear ras, it hurts to tell you this (well, not really), but that's not called "analysis." It's called parroting a Talking Point.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#20)
    by jondee on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 03:01:06 PM EST
    "Electorally Palatable" ie: raise two hundred million dollars. Ras's party has given me tremendous hope in that theyve pretty much proven that with the right amount of seed money you can get an orangutan elected and convince "the people" theyre getting what they want at the same time.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#22)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 03:21:30 PM EST
    glanton, jondee, You gonna keep this up for years? I guess so, since that appears to be the status quo. It's just too darn tough to start a party for you poor little us's? Progressives have got Soros & any number of rich celebs on your side, plus millions of supporters across the country and it's still just too darn tough, is it? OK, I have my answer. You guys can resume wallowing now. Poor kids, no wonder you're angry.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#23)
    by Sailor on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 03:44:31 PM EST
    Ras, don't gloat, it truly doesn't become you. I personally don't think only the dems lost, I think the country lost. Does anyone think that corporations and the goverment have not enough power already?

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#24)
    by jondee on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 03:46:03 PM EST
    Youre over your four posts and taunting on top of it dipsh*t. How characteristic of the party of ME. After all, its your blog right?

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#25)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 04:03:59 PM EST
    Sailor, I'm not gloating; I can do that over at the Rightie sites today. But I do get tired of glanton's kind of attitude, that Dems are no good to him in spite of his always coming back for more, and boo hoo there's nowhere else to go. It really was a good effort by the Left's grassroots, tho. Can't say I'm sorry it failed, given my own politics, but even as I disagree with the Left's judgement on Alito, I can respect the feelings that drove it (and dismiss the posers and the whiners, as should those on the Left who actually want to get something done).

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 04:48:20 PM EST
    Ras, aren't you way over limit?

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#27)
    by ras on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 05:26:23 PM EST
    TL, Over my limit, Occifer? Yeah, I think so. Sorry about that - some dialogs got going. I know this puts you in an awkward spot: on the one hand, some Lefties sure do love to debate me and the debates can be informative for both sides; on the other, you've gotta enforce your policy if it's to mean anything (bad policy that it is notwithstanding!) There's no easy answer really in a format that's designed for conversation (aot a one-way medium like a newspaper). So anyway, as long as I've got your attention ... do you see a split in the Dem party? If so, how would you resolve it? Those seem to be the big q's of the day for you guys, and probably for many days yet to come.

    Re: Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? (none / 0) (#28)
    by rMatey on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 05:54:22 PM EST
    Still like the state motto contest from the Stuart show.....New Jersey, It Doesn't smell that bad!

    Alito: Can We Send Him Back to New Jersey? | 27 comments (27 topical)