A Letter to the Editor
I just shipped this off to the old Santa Barbara News-Suppressed. If they don't run it, at least it will get some air-time here:
The Republicans in the Senate are considering whether to change long-time Senate rules and eliminate the filibuster as a tool for the minority party, which is still representative of 48% of the country, to have some say in the way our country is headed. This so-called “nuclear option” will lead to a political nuclear winter – if D.C. seems like the land of partisanship now, nothing will be accomplished after this power-grabbing move by the party that already holds the Senate, House and White House. It’s striking that the idea is so clearly wrongheaded that even some Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain, don’t think it’s the correct thing to do.
What’s worse is that Majority Senate Leader Bill Frist, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, wants to change these rules because he thinks the Democrats have held up too many of President Bush’s judicial appointments. Democrats have only blocked 10 out of 200 Bush nominees. On the other hand, during President Clinton’s time in office, the Republican Senate blocked 64 of his nominees.
And what of these ten blocked jurists? They are some of the most out-of-the-mainstream judges in America, people who have argued against abortion even in the case of rape, who have ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act did not apply to States, who have fought against the Voting Rights Act, which protects the right to vote for African-Americans, who have defended big oil companies sued for pollution, and who have argued that in marriage a woman should “place herself under the authority of the man.”
Call our two Democratic senators today and tell them you stand with them in stopping this severe shift to the right:
Senator Feinstein: 202-224-3841
Senator Boxer: 202-224-3553
The Republicans in the Senate are considering whether to change long-time Senate rules and eliminate the filibuster as a tool for the minority party, which is still representative of 48% of the country, to have some say in the way our country is headed. This so-called “nuclear option” will lead to a political nuclear winter – if D.C. seems like the land of partisanship now, nothing will be accomplished after this power-grabbing move by the party that already holds the Senate, House and White House. It’s striking that the idea is so clearly wrongheaded that even some Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain, don’t think it’s the correct thing to do.
What’s worse is that Majority Senate Leader Bill Frist, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, wants to change these rules because he thinks the Democrats have held up too many of President Bush’s judicial appointments. Democrats have only blocked 10 out of 200 Bush nominees. On the other hand, during President Clinton’s time in office, the Republican Senate blocked 64 of his nominees.
And what of these ten blocked jurists? They are some of the most out-of-the-mainstream judges in America, people who have argued against abortion even in the case of rape, who have ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act did not apply to States, who have fought against the Voting Rights Act, which protects the right to vote for African-Americans, who have defended big oil companies sued for pollution, and who have argued that in marriage a woman should “place herself under the authority of the man.”
Call our two Democratic senators today and tell them you stand with them in stopping this severe shift to the right:
Senator Feinstein: 202-224-3841
Senator Boxer: 202-224-3553
posted by George at 4:14 PM
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