Posted by Nili
Warning: Tirade ahead. CNN is reporting that an umbrella group of the usual human rights organizations is calling for scrutiny of Alberto Gonzales, the man who would be Attorney General. So far so good. “But the coalition of more than two dozen groups — including the NAACP, ACLU and Amnesty International — stopped short of opposing the nomination.”
WHAT???? Do they not want to offend anyone? Like several other Bush appointees and nominees before him, this is a person who has shown total disregard for the rule of law and total disregard for human dignity. He is widely regarded as having made Abu Ghraib legally possible. Who would have to be nominated in order to get beyond, “they should be thorough and ask tough questions?” Mike Tyson?
Carpetbagger has pointed out many times the tactics used by the GOP when they were the opposition party. Part of the problem is that the Dems seem to think of themselves as the minority party, not the opposition party. Not me, friends and neighbors.
This token opposition to the nomination is worse than doing nothing. It’s like acknowledging that our will is being subverted and giving up before we start. Why? What do we expect to get in return from our GOP overlords? Because whatever it is, it isn’t coming.
Each time they get away with something egregious, the next time will be worse. Don’t we see that? The left desperately needs some bulldogs on our team. Guys and girls who know how to play the game the way the Republicans do. Being on the right (um, correct) side of an issue is clearly not enough. If it was, we’d be in power across the board. But as evidenced in a post by Carpetbagger a couple of weeks ago, many voters do not understand issues, or even know what they are. But they do show up and vote.
Take the gloves off. Unfortunately bringing a knife to a gunfight would be a step up from the way liberals (that’s right, I call myself one unapologetically) are handling being in the opposition. Many GOP leaders are ruthless even in the way they handle procedural things. I am not advocating partisanship for its own sake. But for the love of God, this nomination is about ideology, right and wrong, and averting disaster. Rice’s hearings will be, too, but I bet we won’t event “not oppose” that nomination.
Let’s get up off the mat and do it the Bill Clinton/James Carville way: Hit the bully in the mouth, and do it in the same news cycle.