Fuck bipartisanship. The Dems need some discipline. And the Repugs need to be made to filibuster. If Arlen wants to spend a day gassing (and when doesn’t he feel like that), make him do it. The whole day, the Dems need to be feeding “they don’t want anyone in the OLC who won’t say it’s okay to torture”. Tie them to it so fast that you can run ads in ‘10 and ‘12 saying that a vote for whoever is a vote for torture. If those ads also have quotes from Wilkerson and others saying that most people in Gitmo were just guys they picked up for being Afghan, boom.

It really is appalling, isn’t it? I’ve been struggling to come up with some good way to call the most egregious, craven behavior that’s been on display lately.

CHS, isn’t most Republican obstruction, such as objecting to the Dawn Johnson nomination, posturing for one’s own reelection and ideology? It’s near impossible to imagine that conservatives in Congress don’t get together in various clandestine ways and discuss strategies that will help keep them from sinking further in the electorate’s eyes.

In the case of Dawn Johnson, the OLC has much to say about how the laws that the AG’s office administers are enforced – selectively or objectively – and about new administrative strategies with agencies such as the EPA – which can change it’s focus to come down hard on Republican-friendly polluters – and continuing to expose Republican wrongdoing from the recent past can only hurt conservatives as their corruption and expediency is exposed.

Tom

There are many reasons the king keeps fools. Every barn and castle needs a disposable lightning rod.

This is a warm-up for replacing Souter, possibly as early as August. Which is why progressives need to get their act together and make this happen. No Dawn Johsen, and you can forget a credible Supreme Court pick.