Discussion for article #247350
How do you expect GOP senators to vote for a progressive?
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Don’t discount putting pressure on Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO. He’s more vulnerable than some might think. Jason Kander is quietly putting together a solid campaign.
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Street’s getting crowded. Trump thugs, Sanders followers and now those wanting a SCOTUS progressive…
Rallies and demonstrations are not going to persuade the Republicans to confirm a progressive nominee for the SCOTUS. Would rallies and demonstrations by the ratwing persuade Democrats to confirm Robert Bork? No.
What is going on? Do the people who claim that demonstrations and rallies will, for example, move Bernie’s agenda, just ignore all the demonstrations and rallies that were held during the Bush administration, starting with his inauguration? Or all the activism throughout the entire last 8 years. Or going back further, all the way to the 60s, the 30s???
Demonstrations and rallies do not move politicians more than one half an inch at best at the best of times. This is ridiculous.
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GOP Senators should read the polls. They are showing every likelihood a Democrat will be elected president and an equal likelihood that Senate balance will tilt toward Dems. Better the devil that you know than the one you don’t. They should consider President Obama’s nominee(s) because so far he is attempting to give them nominees they would be somewhat comfortable with. The next president may not need to be as accommodating and, as is being said, the balance of the court for a generation is at stake.
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This article strikes me as the sort of embodiment of many things that are wrong with the so called progressive agenda. Many people here understand that a progressive nominee for SCOTUS would be good; however, the average person is NOT a TPM reader (no offense to the website!) nor do they have the same outlook as many of us do. Many more Americans need to be gotten onboard for this progressive revolution and that’s what I’m not seeing happen.
Hasen says that people need to take to the streets. OK -
who’s organizing it
when is it happening
where is it happening
who is the message targeted to (everyone, conservatives) and how does it relate to them
how do you get conservatives on board with this because, - ahem, - Dems aren’t in charge of Congress and protests ALONE won’t get things changed (sorry to rain on your parade)
As with the Berniacs, the idea appears to be that “revolution” by the People (whoever that means) will simply happen.
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The most important point of this excellent article is this:
That means demonstrations and rallies not only in Washington, D.C., but in front of the offices and at the campaign events of the most vulnerable Republican Senators: Mark Kirk (R-IL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Rob Portman (R-OH).
Local news is what matters and holding rallies in front of your local Senator’s offices will get noticed (not so much rallies in DC). Also, write letters to the editor of your local paper. Doesn’t matter how many people read it, but some will and more importantly your local paper will hopefully see a trend and begin responding accordingly.
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I just spoke with Kander at the Clinton rally in St Louis Saturday (also was part of the back room to meet Secretary Clinton) and he is becoming more confident of the possibility that he can beat Blunt. Now that I have maxed out my HRC primary dollars I will be contributing to Kander.
And I know tomorrow is tight in Missouri for the primary but there was a very enthusiastic crowd for het and I saw and talked to lots of young people.
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I’ll be happy with a plain old liberal. I’m becoming a bit wary of those who claim to be progressive but are beginning to act with the same fanaticism as the GOPers.
Krugman had an interesting take on Sanders, by the way, in which he notes that Sanders is calling for the kind of ideological purification of the Democratic party (from which he has always kept his distance) of the sort the GOP went through a couple of decades back, when ideological consistency and adherence to one code and viewpoint must be followed.
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Better than rallies…get out and VOTE!
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The People’s Confirmation Hearings
The decision by Senate Republicans to deny even a hearing to President Obama’s Supreme Court nomination is unprecedented and demands a powerful response. Here is an idea. We should organize a People’s Confirmation Hearing to take place in Washington, D.C. in late August or early September.
The centerpiece would be hearings held by Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee with the nominee that would take place in an appropriate venue that can seat several thousand members of the public. But the Democratic National Committee working in collaboration with groups such as MoveOn.org and civil rights and environmental groups would also erect giant television screens on the Mall in Washington. These various groups would invite the public to come to Washington to listen to Obama’s nominee explain his or her judicial philosophy. The goal would be for this to be the largest public gathering in Washington, D.C. in the nation’s history. Millions of others at home would be able to tune in to the event through television or the internet.
Those gathered in Washington would pledge themselves to nonviolence and there would be a large force of volunteers who would work to prevent Republican provocateurs or others from engaging in any violence that could discredit this mobilization. Furthermore, every effort would be made to involve those who came to the event in the effort to turn out voters for the November election, so that Republican obstructionism would suffer a devastating defeat at the polls.
This event would help highlight the reality that today’s Republican Party has abandoned its commitment to democratic processes. This is evident in its obstruction of President Obama’s judicial nominations and in its refusal to adopt new legislation that would restore the Voting Rights Act that was gutted by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. It is also evident in Republican measures at the state level to disenfranchise voters with voter identification laws and the continued refusal of the Republican Party to protect the political process from the corrosive impact of big money. When politicians of one party refuse to play by the rules of democratic politics, it is time for the voice of the people to be heard.
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I agree, as a matter of tactics, with placing the issue at the core of campaigns against vulnerable Republican incumbents. I am not holding my breath for confirmation of an Obama appointee. Indeed, if we think the Democrat will win, and carry the Senate with it, we would probably prefer a nominee from Obama’s successor. Maybe even Obama himself, if one wants to jam the losers.
You don’t need to “take to the streets”. All you need to do is get everyone who cares about this to write a letter to their senator. It does not matter who your senator is. The entire senate becomes electrified if a mass of tens of thousands of letters per senator comes in on an issue. You guys are good at drama but not so good at advocacy.
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As a Vietnam war protester, I would tend to agree with you that protests have minimal impact on intransigent politicians, although we did piss off Nixon, and possibly, eventually shifted the peoples view.
I have been arguing for decades that the Supreme Court is one of the most important aspects of Presidential elections. Falls on deaf ears. Folks can’t make that leap, apparently.
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That sounds positively revolutionary!
I suspect most people can do both, although most people don’t. If wishes were horses, most people would subsequently complain about the extra shit!
Why wait until late August or September? Congress will be recessed until after Labor Day, and then there is little time left until the election to get anything done. If this rally is to be done, I’m all for early April, after the Senate has refused to acknowledge the candidate(s) that President Obama has actually submitted for consideration.
Movements aren’t hatched fully formed. They start with an idea. Rick is tossing out the idea. It’s for others to pick it up and flesh it out with the details that give it life.
I dont think they will do it, no matter how much pressure is brought to bear on them to do the right thing.
They just don’t have that in them and they are utterly committed to this course, consequences be damned.
It’s just how today’s RepubliCons roll. They think that this is somehow “strength”. The fools!