Roberts Rules

Wow...did I screw up that call or what. Let this be a lesson to you boys and girls. It is only cool to call your shot if you actually then follow up by swatting the ball out of the park on a frozen rope.

Otherwise your just a dork with delusions of grandeur...

Right then...to business...

So who is the Dread Judge Roberts from the DC Wingnut District Court of Appeals and how on earth did we not see this guy coming. Well, he's only been around a little while. Most of his more relevant decisions can be found parsed out in blog-form at Supreme Court Nomination Blog.

But to my mind, you can forget nearly all his history of jurisprudence. There is only three things and three things only you need to know about this fscking wingnut:

One: He was a partner in the law firm that sued Al Franken on the part of The O'Reilly Factor after William got a hard look from Franken and cried like a sissy to Roger Ailes who then filed suit against Franken, which summarily got laughed out of court.

Two: He was a senior member of the legal team in Bush v. Gore, which signaled the official end of the rule of law in America.

Three: He has a weird fetish for "law and order" -- no, not the horrible TV show (although he is probably weird for that as well) but for the kind of law and order that has him pimping strongly for Mandatory Minimums and denying right to counsel and other such opinions as can be found at the aforementioned SCOTUS Nomination blog.

So how typical is this for Maximum Leader to put up a guy with next to no history, who's legal career focuses on pimping criminally stupid conservative causes, making sure W gets his way, regardless of the rule of law and treating the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution like a two-dollar hooker... This is absolutely the guy W wants on the bench in the War on Terror®.

Right, this guy's an evil reptilian from the Sirian League threatening to be the last bit of noise that will crash the waveform of our Constitution. So where does that leave us all now in this?

To me, the saddest part of all of this, including most of the conversations I have been reading at some of my favorite blogs, seem to be focused on entirely on "how do we look good losing" as opposed to "how do we win against bad odds."

If we are to win this thing, it isn't going to be in the well of the Senate. It is going to be in the hinterlands and in the electoral math of some key states with shaky GOP Senators facing reelection next year.

However, I think Lindsey over at Majikthise is absolutely right. This all begins and ends with absolute party discipline. Look we all know what is at stake, this is no time for any of the typical self-involved Democratic temper tantrums to erupt, like they always seem to. Any Dem Senators step out of line, then fsck 'em, they get spaced out the airlock...I am looking at youDiane Feinstein!

And that goes for any slack-jawed moderate Democrats in the House, too...no one so much as opens their pie hole, or gets their grill on the chat shows without being in full-throated support of the game plan, the end!

Harry Reid and Dr. Dean need to get on the same page about this. I know asking Democrats and progressives to get together on something like this is like herding cats, but it's not going to work any other way. Decide if you can do that now, and if not, then fine, go ahead and continue shopping for funeral accessories. I'm sure it will be a lovely wake for the Republic...

But if we decide we can, then the next step is going to start by getting the right pressure in the right places. There must be five or six GOP Senators facing sketchy reelection fights next year. They need to feel the branch creak.

Bush is vulnerable right now, he has no coattails and doesn't really have any leverage in the Senate now, anyway. Don't make this about Bush, make this about the Senators and whomever of their numbers are thinking about 2008.

Next, this guy might not have much of a resume, but what there is needs to be out there, and as far as the "Nuclear Option" goes, then fine, I am all ready to see the well of the Senate get vaporized in a procedural mushroom cloud. Cool, let Bill Frist ride the bomb all the way to ground zero just like Slim Pickens in the end of Dr. Strangelove.

If we fight hard -- and more importantly, fight smart-- we can do this. We can punk this clown and get the machinery moblized for the midterms and get rolling on 2008 all in one shot.

Sorry, this turned a bit more into a rant than I thought it was going to. My bad.

The 2008 race starts right now.

Any takers?

mojo sends