Harry Fumbles the Ball Again
I suppose by now you have seen that the (very proper) decision by a Texas judge to throw out Texas' latest blatantly illegal attempt to crush abortion providers was promptly overturned by a Federal appeals court, all three of whose miserable, corrupt judges were appointed by George W. Bush. We'll leave aside the fact that letting George W. Bush pick federal judges makes about as much sense as letting your parrot repair the brakes on your car. What I want to focus on here is the fact that, since Richard Nixon's experience with getting the open racist William Rehnquist on the Supreme Court, the Republican party has engaged in a continuous and systematic campaign to appoint as many far-right, corrupt, corporate owned Federal judges as possible, while using every stalling tactic possible to prevent Democratic Presidents from appointing any judges, no matter how moderate (as the ones chosen by Obama have invariably been. Where, for example, is an appointment going to Lawrence Tribe or Erwin Chemerinsky?)
This is simply a malicious and anti-Constitutional attempt to do the exact thing that right wingers have disingenuously railed against the left about for decades- achieve through activist judges what they could not win through elections and legislation. It has now reached a new height with the serial misuse of the "filibuster" to prevent virtually any of Obama's appointees from being confirmed. Thus, the Republicans hope to achieve through bullying and belligerence what they likely never again will win through the ballot box- and so far, it's working out for them.
Over the last two months or so, we have seen John Boehner subjected to withering attacks for placing retaining his position as Speaker of the House over his obligation to the country. This criticism is totally valid, as Boehner risked a cataclysmic collapse of the world economy in order to stay Speaker. Now, I think, we can make an almost identical criticism of Harry Reid. In the face of endless betrayals and broken promises from Republicans, who continually promise to act responsibly in the future, but never do, Reid refuses to change the filibuster rules to end this abuse, because he does not have the moral courage for the fight to do the right thing. And let me be clear- though this is a slow-moving train wreck, unlike the spectacular explosion that Boehner risked, it is just as fatal in the long run to the continued existence of the United States as anything other than a third world backwater.
Reid has been the weakest majority leader in my lifetime, and it is long past time that he should have gone. We need someone that is going to protect us from this fatal infection of our judiciary, and after several years of his vacillating and dodging the issue, he is obviously not the person.
This is simply a malicious and anti-Constitutional attempt to do the exact thing that right wingers have disingenuously railed against the left about for decades- achieve through activist judges what they could not win through elections and legislation. It has now reached a new height with the serial misuse of the "filibuster" to prevent virtually any of Obama's appointees from being confirmed. Thus, the Republicans hope to achieve through bullying and belligerence what they likely never again will win through the ballot box- and so far, it's working out for them.
Over the last two months or so, we have seen John Boehner subjected to withering attacks for placing retaining his position as Speaker of the House over his obligation to the country. This criticism is totally valid, as Boehner risked a cataclysmic collapse of the world economy in order to stay Speaker. Now, I think, we can make an almost identical criticism of Harry Reid. In the face of endless betrayals and broken promises from Republicans, who continually promise to act responsibly in the future, but never do, Reid refuses to change the filibuster rules to end this abuse, because he does not have the moral courage for the fight to do the right thing. And let me be clear- though this is a slow-moving train wreck, unlike the spectacular explosion that Boehner risked, it is just as fatal in the long run to the continued existence of the United States as anything other than a third world backwater.
Reid has been the weakest majority leader in my lifetime, and it is long past time that he should have gone. We need someone that is going to protect us from this fatal infection of our judiciary, and after several years of his vacillating and dodging the issue, he is obviously not the person.
Comments