Never Surrender

By Meteor Blades

Even though we knew it was a dicey proposition from the get-go, many of us are righteously furious about the cloture vote, especially furious that so many of the Democrats who crossed the line couldn't even fall back on the rationalization that their "aye" was essential in order to survive politically in a swing or red state.

I'm not naming names. The list is up for all to see. And each one on that list has just made my life more difficult. Because every time I walk a precinct or call somebody for a financial contribution this election year, I'm going to run into a lot more "Screw the Democrats. They don't stand up for me." And my only reply will have to be a sheepish, we have to elect more Democrats so those unwilling to stand up for you don't weigh as heavily on the party.

That pitch for more Democrats - made again today by Markos - is absolutely true. We need more of them, obviously. And I plan to work to get more. But what do you say at the front door or on the phone when somebody asks, "How do I know the extra Dems will be any better than the ones who already refuse to fight?" That even if they don't fight they're better than Republicans? Ayi. Scarcely persuasive at cinching the deal.

Therefore, don't think because of what I'm about to say that I am taking this cloture vote lying down. I'd like to kick the aisle-crossers all the way down Pennsylvania Avenue and back.
But ...

For now, I'm laying off the recriminations. Instead, the first thing I'm doing as soon as this is written is to call my two Senators - Boxer and Feinstein - to tell them I appreciated their "No" votes. And I urge others to do so as well.

But, more important, I urge others to put their energy into a new fight. Because the Alito nomination is all over but the final vote, and we need to invest the next week into making something useful out of next Monday's Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on "Wartime Executive Power and the NSA's Surveillance Authority."

Given what an atrocious job most of the Democrats on the committee did in querying Samuel Alito, particularly bad when it came to follow-up questions, and in framing the issues of concern raised by Alito's extensive judicial record, it is incumbent upon us to try to ensure that Democrats ask tough questions at these hearings. We need to push the Dems away from playing enabler for what is sure to be Attorney General Gonzales's efforts to make the hearings nothing more than a forum for the idea that the Administration's evasion of FISA is being done to protect us from the bad guys.

Many of us are, I know, psychologically exhausted from seeking victory that we knew since November would be a long shot. And I've seen a fat chunk of comments saying: what's the use, the right wing has won, there's no point in fighting anymore. Understandably. But a battle is not a war. And, disappointing as it was, and as devastating as Alito's tenure on the court may turn out to be, giving up is simply not an option.

No matter what the odds, and no matter how few of our elected representatives we can count on to stand with us on this matter, and a hundred others, we have to keep up the fight. The war against Big Brotherization is as crucial as that for abolition, for women's suffrage, for civil rights.

In every case, the warriors in those wars suffered immense setbacks, repeatedly so, and found it hard to get the politicians to speak up and stand up for them. Eventually, however, because they refused to surrender, and because they took the fight beyond the electoral arena, they won.

We will, too.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

I remmeber 2004 feeling the same way the day after the elction and was just as inspired by your writing then. These things take time. Bush will be preznet until 2008, so in a certain sense, get used to it, give him the hard time he deserves over this SOTU speech, watch the R's destroy themselves by electing a corrupt Leader on Thursday (whoever it is), and move on.

[janinsanfran]

I've been saying this all over; might as well say it here too.

This isn't the end of the world. When the country was founded, a majority were outsiders -- not white, male property owners. The outsiders have progressively forced their way inside. The current Right wants to shove a lot of us back out. So we have to organize like outsiders, expecting very little from the Democrats except when we make them behave.

Been telling people that at the doors for years. No change here. I remember canvassing Richmond, CA after Bill Clinton screwed the women of that community with welfare "reform."

Sure, it is awful. But there really is no choice.

[Meteor Blades]

Yep. I remember 1964 when the Mississippi Freedom Democrats weren't seated at the Democratic Convention because Lyndon Johnson wouldn't use the murders of three civil rights workers (and all the civil rights workers killed or beaten up before them) as leverage to tell the apartheidist regulars in the Mississippi Party to go fuck themselves.

I could have given up on the Democrats right then and there with every justification. And I had plenty of excuses over the next four years, too, as LBJ and the Best and Brightest kept sending Americans to grind and get ground up in Southeast Asia.

Remind me again who I would have supported?

[emptypockets]

Conventional wisdom went, in the course of a week, from Alito being a shoo-in, a foreordained conclusion, to rumblings of discontent from the masses, to a call to block him in the Times and in a major blog post from John Kerry, to an attempt to filibuster being brought to the floor of the Senate.

Never surrender? Shit, I'm ready to re-enlist. A week ago I never thought we'd get as far as we did.

[DaveB]

i still feel that this was all for show. Liberal democrats got to kiss up to blogers, a conservatives got to show that they are independant from activists while still voting against Alito in the end.

Chaffee gets to do the same thing. If Kerry really did want to fillibuster, maybe he could have asked for a caucus meeting oh say January 2nd? And not the Friday before the vote. Boy he sure is a good organizer. I appreciate that he did that and that he posted on Kos, but I still will never vote for him in a primary, I will never work for him during a primary and I will hold my nose if I have to vote for him in November 2008. But that won't happen anyway.

[Fr33d0m]

I agree with DaveB somewhat. Mounting a last minute bid for filibuster is not what we expect from these guys. If they can't plan better than that they may as well not run! My senators both voted to continue debate. If they hadn't, they would have had a hard time getting my vote. No I wouldn't abandon them to a repugnicon challenger, but I would certainly look long and hard for another viable option. I was going to do that anyway but they now have another yes-tick next to their name. The more ticks the more likely I will work for and vote for them.

But we are as much at fault here. I know I need to start writing letters urging our team to put a plan together early on. I had what I considered huge problems with Alito early on but I waited too late to voice them. I too must do my part here.

[4jkb4ia]

Posting this at dKos would instantly make me extremely unpopular, but I actually think that Hamas winning was worse than Alito getting confirmed. All the people who voted for Hamas knew that they were murderers and it is more difficult to believe they will be restrained by anything like respect for law, as one could possibly believe in the case of Alito.

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