Letters to the Editor
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Recess Appointment
Oh Bush will do a recess appointment alright. That's not the big question mark. The big question mark is what will the Democrats do about it. Given their track record so far, however, this, too, is not so much of a mystery: they'll do nothing but whine.
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You always have the upper hand if you don't care about the nation
As Greenwald points out, Bush can just keep nominating people the Dems will reject (or buckle under and support) and keep dependably corrupt Paul Clement in there. The result is that all the time and air are taken up with hearings that won't matter.
The problem here is that Democrats are in a bind: either don't take hearings seriously, or derail all other actions of Congress. If you're Bush and you don't give a shit about the nation (and would happily derail Congress from actual oversight), it's perfect.
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Stop it, Glenn, you're killin me!
"One would hope, though not necessarily expect, that Harry Reid and company would treat that as the serious violation of their agreement that it would be and respond with full retaliation."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
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Ché Pasa
not everyone has to have the same answers or response. with glenn's writing talent and analytical skills, i think he's doing exactly the right thing. for those of us without those talents, nonviolent direct action might be one (of the many) alternative actions to consider. some people are drawn to electoral politics, some to social movement actions... writing a LTE, or just trying to be informed and communicating what we've learned are important actions also.
isn't it possible that change is aided by all these things? but that doesn't mean each of us need to do it all.
my only wish is that we see eachother as allies instead of competitors or enemies. we're all on the same side, nothing wrong with different people using different tactics (so long as immoral means are rejected).
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Salon's War Room
Tim Grieve is following the story, with frequent updates, at Salon's "War Room".
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@Glenn
Thanks for reading and responding to my letter. It's more than my very powerful, judiciary committee member senator will do.
You are right that there is a difference between debating tactics and declaring all is hopeless. And under more than a few circumstances, your preferred tactics of careful legal underpinnings and through-the-process democratic representation and vote, are also mine.
I am a great believer in the Aesop's fable about the tortoise and the hare. But I can also see that if the hare were allowed to change the rules of the race, the course, and the finish line, the outcome would be quite different, and the moral lost.
Since we're debating tactics, I am seriously considering hacking. It should be possible to put together a Kazaa style peer-to-peer data mining program that would be expansive enough and real-time enough to tap the tappers. Perhaps the values of sunshine and the perils of corruption would take on a whole new balance if the price of revelation were to drop from Larry Flynt's $1 million a pop to "flip a coin, heads says you get exposed today, tails says tomorrow". Whistle blowing gets untraceable if the number of sites you can divulge on increases exponentially -- the best corporate and government mining programs weren't able to trace the mp3 posters.
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If the TX Bar....
is investigating any of the complaints that I'm sure have poured in, and looking at trifles such as lying to Congress, I wonder if that has anything to do with this turn of events?
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What a Yawner!
I am about as exorcised about Gonzalez leaving as I was about Harreit Miers' SCOTUS nomination being withdrawn. Which is to say, "Yesssss!"
My complaint with Gonzalez was that he didn't get right back in the Dems' faces and defend the independence of the Executive and the DoJ to pick and choose its AG's. I wanted much more combativeness from Gonzalez, not less.
I predict that Gonzalez's departute will represent the same kind of resounding success for Democrat partisans that Samuel Alito's appointment (in place of Miers) to the Supreme court was. How'd that one work out? Pretty effing great, in my opinion.
And yeah, I'd think that in this climate, Senator LeahySchumerKennedyDurbinClinton will oppose any movement conservative as AG. Which will make a recess appointment much more likely, if not inevitable. Yawn.
I'd like to say to those Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee: You're Number One with me. Can you see which finger I have raised in your honor?
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Che Pasa
Failing that, I think we can rely on our experience with this group to recognize that they will go out of their way to be polite, that a few will bluster, and that in the end, they will approve the BushCheney appointment to AG, no matter all the phone calls, cards, letters, and emails they receive from us. No matter how much the so called lefty bloggers huff and puff and snark. We've seen this over and over and over again, and there is no sign, whatsoever, that the current crop of Senators have changed their spots over the summer.
If there is any sign and I've missed it, please, anyone, show it.
The difference is that on the past issues, they could argue, not inaccurately, that because of Blue Dogs, they couldn't get the votes to do what you wanted them to do (de-fund the war, rescind habeas, block the FISA amendments). Here, they don't need Blue Dogs to block an appointment.
You can say that's a difference that will ultimately be irrelevant. But it is still a difference.
We also need to understand that Glenn, along with nearly all Big "Lefty" Bloggers, is antipathetic to direct public action by The People of the United States -- apart from, of course, calls, letters, votes at appropriate times and places, emails and blogging. "Taking it to the streets" gives them the willies.
This is total nonsense and garbage. I do not argue against demonstrations. I never try to dissuade anyone who wants to organize or attend them to do so. I doubt I have ever written a word in any post against street marches. The only time I have ever addressed them is when, in comments, someone says that what I am doing is irrelevant, that only fist-pumping revolution will work. I make clear that I don't agree. That's it.
I have a great idea, Che - if you think that only demonstrations will work, get off your ass and go organize them. Start a blog and urge people to action. Sitting here whining that I don't support them is pathetic, really -- completely contrary to the revolutionary spirit that you think you embody.
"Big bloggers" are you call them didn't get to be that by lottery pick. People choose which bloggers they read. There ARE BLOGGERS who believe in street demonstrations and urge them on. If they don't have a large audience, it must be because there isn't a big market for people who believe in such protests.
But to blame "Big 'Lefty' Bloggers" for the lack of street protests is just sad. Nobody owes you agreement with what you think. I have never seen a "Big 'Lefty' Bloggers" expend a molecule of effort trying to impede them. The Internet allows all sorts of opinions to be voiced and efforts to be organized. In light of that, why would anyone sit around complaining that Blogger X isn't doing enough in that regard -- rather than use that time and energy complaining to make it happen instead? Nothing is stopping you or anyone else.
And that's fine. But what we don't know is what he thinks is -- or would be -- more effective.
Over and over we see the question, "Well, what would you do, Glenn?" No answer. Just more mockery, denunciation, and misrepresenting the positions of advocates of direct public
action.
I obviously think the work I'm doing is productive. I think shaping the public discourse and pressuring people to report things better and differently and doing that work oneself can have a positive impact. When readers here join in that, bolster it, it matters.
I think one sees changes - slowly but clearly. That hasn't come from street protests. It's come from people outside the mainstream discourse yelling and screaming and demanding to have their views heard, and slowly - in various ways - they are. That's what I believe in - persuading as many people as possible to think differently. That's what I do here.
I support and talk to other bloggers who focus more on organizing - calls to Senators and the like. I'm not an organizer. I don't work on campaigns. But I think that helps, too.
If you think all that'ss irrelevant, or more is needed, I promise I will never do anything to stop you from doing it. And you know that. But depicting me as some sort of barrier to the glorious revolutionary marches relieves you of the obligation to do it yourself -- "nothing is happening that is meaningful because street marches give the Big Lefty Bloggers the willies and so it can't happen. Boo hoo."