Morning all — coffee’s on and I’m settling in for another morning of “the more things change…”

How is everyone?

Morning Christy, Democrats need pull it all together and call the rethugs out for what they are – “Party First”

I just wish the bipartisan zombies meme would expire. It’s utter and complete crap. And far too often used to herd Democrats into the corner than to actually signal any real working together across party lines.

And I’m sick and tired of the media doing the GOP herding dirty work in the name of kumbaayah.

It gives me the willies when I ponder that Harriet Miers was a serious nomination from the White House, and had the support of Sen. Harry Reid. The choice has to be a wise choice.

I do wonder about that Miers conversation. How did that come up, do you think — Shrub says slyly “what would you think about nominating Harriet?” and Reid stifles a laugh as says “That’s an excellent idea, Mr. President. She’s a lovely person and she sends out the nicest cards.”

*g*

With all the windmills left to attack, you’d think the GOP would recognize a lost cause and move on.

Good morning Christy.

It starts at the top. When you have a President who keeps pushing the bipartisan cart over the cliff, the sheep in Congress will fall over with it.

I really do want solutions to our problems, and in theory bipartisan has potential, however like a lot of theories, in practice, especially with this crew it’s poison.

Oh, thank goodness. My coffee’s finally ready. Ahhhhh…

I was “treated” to one of the Senate’s resident racists, Jefferson Sessions, drawling on NPR about why he will vote against Sotomayor. Yesterday it was Kyl lying and distorting about health care. Why do the Republicans dominate the airwaves? Am I just imagining that their voices are heard on NPR more frequently?

Exactly so — bipartisanship only works when everyone comes to the table in good faith. And that isn’t exactly happening is it? Not with McConnell ginning up and NRA sandbag to whip the GOP side of the vote.

This is only trouble if Obama nominates the liberal Judge Bork, which is not likely. 5 Republicans already lined up for Sotomayor and examples such as Collins, Snowe, Lugar, and Graham are tolerant of a range of ideology.

Part of the problem is the names of the parties. We should have a party called the Corporist party and a Peoples party.

Sessions has been all over the last few days making the media rounds. But it was also Nina Totenberg at NPR who exposed the McConnell/NRA whipping deal, too.

I haven’t had time to listen as much to NPR of late, so it’s tough for me to say if there’s been a tilt one way or the other. Any thoughts from folks who have been listening?

And there isn’t likely to be a nomination of a liberal “Bork” from the WH, at least from what I’m hearing, so that’s not really going to be a problem for Collins, Snowe, and company.

The Corporatist party would have excellent high class cocktail weenies. And the Peoples party would be stuck with tap water and toast because we wouldn’t have the funding for anything else. *g*

No it’s not happening. One thing I will say for the GOP they do fall in line and stick to their “principles’ no matter how bad they may be.

The scotusblog poll during the hearings is now invisible, but if she can get 70, and she still can, there will not be much talk about partisanship. Also scotusblog pointed out that even as the Republican senators voted against her in committee they spoke about her moderate philosophy on the bench. So some of this united voting is games playing for the base rather than Pres. Obama.

There are still 15 outstanding votes which belong to Senators who haven’t publicly voiced a voting preference according to C-Span’s tally. So anything is possible.

Bipartisanship, to the Republican Party, is getting your way when you are in the minority, and using the media to twist Democrats’ arms when in the majority.

On the one hand, that lockstep mindset can lead to some really awful ideas getting pushed through no matter what (gutting habeas, anyone?). Competing viewpoints are useful for testing things out within the Dem party that never get publicly discussed otherwise. On the other hand, there are times when a little message discipline would go an awfully long way.

Real idiot on C-span now. Risch from Idaho voting against Sotomayor against extending cash for clunkers.

I haven’t been keeping a tally, but I listen to NPR every morning when I’m getting ready for work, and it seems that dating back to the stimulus days the majority of people interviewed are the Republican nay-sayers. I’ve written to complain, but of course my lone voice doesn’t count.

I listen to a broadcast stream, since my local NPR station is horrid, and I time my shower so I miss Cokie and Juan. My own quiet protest!!

John McCain last I heard was against Sotomayor he lives in a state with a decent sized Hispanic population in fact he was pro immigration reform before.
Does his move against Sotomayor say I’m retiring Hispanic votes don’t matter? Or I’m backtracking on my principles and kowtowing to base because I John McCain plan to run again in 4 years?
Has John ever not voted for a Supreme Court Judge?

You know, I’d ROFL at that if it weren’t so sadly true. *g*

Here’s a blast from McCain’s past on SCOTUS nominees:

“When President Bill Clinton nominated Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg to serve on the high court, I voted for their confirmation, as did all but a few of my fellow Republicans. Why? For the simple reason that the nominees were qualified, and it would have been petty, and partisan, and disingenuous to insist otherwise. Those nominees represented the considered judgment of the president of the United States. And under our Constitution, it is the president’s call to make… It is part of the discipline of democracy to respect the roles and responsibilities of each branch of government, and, above all, to respect the verdicts of elections and judgment of the people. Had we forgotten this in the Senate, we would have been guilty of the very thing that many federal judges do when they overreach, and usurp power, and betray their trust.”

Guess you shouldn’t try to hold someone to what they said on the campaign trail in 2008, though, eh?

Am I just imagining that their voices are heard on NPR more frequently?

Ain’t just npr…..add c-span and, of course, anything else that exists on *our* public airways. :-(( SPIT!

Why are there 3 dems and 3 repubs on the senate finance committee working on health care. This is a big FU to the people who worked to make it a 60- 40 majority.

I was thinking the other day that when Dems were out of power, the “Dem” voice that most often got on-air time was Joe Lieberman. Ugh.

Yes, message discipline is very important. I like the Democrats because there is room for diverse voices, and in the course of debate about issues that’d needed.

So how do you encourage that discussion, and have a disciplined message without the appearance of being hypocritical, as in you said this, but voted this way? Distilling down the concept of diverse voices yet speaking as one voice into a 10 second sound bite as the brand so to speak is a real challenge. The very nature of being diverse doesn’t fit into the sound bite narrative of today’s media.

When it comes to a Supreme Court nominee it’s fairly easy, on other issues however it does present a challenge.

This is something I always think about from a communication perspective.

I thought Sotomayor was the most experienced judge in how many years to be nominated?

Why is the GOP screaming Hispanic more than Abortion this time like they did with other Dem judges? Is racism really more important than rallying the religious branch of the GOP?

good morning Christy……. today is chemo day ….. all this non-sense is just that… when you are fighting for your life……. all this is sillyness…

There is one big difference here in AZ is that many hispanics do not consider Porto Rico as part of their group. There are latinos and hispanics….. there is a difference……

OMG another 112 degree day

Hey — good to see you! May you have a smooth and easy chemo day, with a gentle hug to you from me. Have been thinking about you!

Hey Christy. Nice to be able to log on just like folks, again. Lotsa catchin’ up to do which, of course, is hopeless. You and the pups have been moving at light speed. I feel like a newbie all over again, other than trying to keep up with Jane’s petitions et al *G* Good on you and all the pups! ;->

OT: I just finished watching the arrival of the two journalists freed from North Korea. It was the most moving moment I’ve witnessed since the convergeance of people on Grant Park on election night. I’m not ashamed to admit that my wife and I both had tears streaming down our cheeks. It confirmed that I’ve been for the right people, the good guys, all along and wipes out the foul taste from a thousand teabag protestors and their instigators.

(((((Katymine)))))

OT Refreshed and wound up here
http://webhelp.qwest.net/main?…..0-am-et%2F

A big dose of love and light for you.

Just because something looks like a done deal is that a good reason to abandon your principles? Tell that to the Firefighters in Connecticut.

Whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, you should have principles that you fight for.

Sotomayor has experience but her rulings give me pause.

I have a PhD and a lot of higher education experience but that does not mean that I am better than someone without a degree.

the idgit squads apparently are trying to claim Bill has lowered the Obama administration’s credibility, or standards, or some dang thing. i’d call bs on ‘em if it were worth it, but they just end up sounding clunk-headed stoopid!

Pretty sure that problem is with your provider. I wonder if they have some internal filter set up for us for some reason? Might be worth it to check with them and see why you are having issues. It doesn’t seem to be our end of things that is causing the problem — but I alerted the tech folks on this yesterday and they are double-checking for me.

How about, instead, a “grow up, you people are Senators, so stop gaming the rule of law for your electoral needs?”

That would be good. At this point, I would settle for a factual presentation of the relative treatment of nominees, rather than any Democratic “no” vote (not matter how well-justified) on a Republican nominee being treated as a partisan affront, and Republicans’ massive blocking of Democratic nominees for years afterward being treated as a reasonable response to those affronts, and therefore ignored.

I wish someone would ask these strict constructionist to identify in the Constitution where the 60% requirement for Senate confirmation is.
When the Constitution wanted something other than a bare majority in the Senate it said so, as is the case with impeachment and treaties.

Well, that would require research and analysis, now wouldn’t it? It’s so much easier to just throw things against the wall and see what sticks. SIGH

I have to believe that the majority of people can’t help but be deeply moved by this and will see the petty, nasty carpers and snipers for what they are. Laura Ling described how she and Euna Lee waited daily to be shipped to a hard labor camp, were told they were going to a meeting, walked through a door and saw Bill Clinton. The whole thing is a heart grabber. You have to see Euna Lee and her little girl. The officials involved are the ones who want to reform health care, the carpers are the ones who don’t.

Sorry for the interruption.

I absolutely cannot imagine how this must have been for the journalists (and for Clinton). What a powerful moment, that first encounter. (Yeah, tears.)

(((Katymine))) Be well, darlin’.

It’s really tough to see the downside of release of American hostages as secured by a photo-op with an ex-President, I have to say. Spencer’s Yosemite Sam characterization is spot on for the cranky among us. *g*

i’d ask them, but i’m too much of a softy, I guess. I’m stuck at simply being embarrassed for them. they do not seem to respond to “gravity” in any sense of the word. they’re so mean-spirited, it’s worth a little pay-back in my book just to let them hang out there looking ridiculous wrecking their own house, and senate.

but there’s a limit to my tolerance for idiocy with vicious intent.

sessions, huckleberry, haggis, hatch, the batch: they wear the dunce cap so proudly. Astounding! Totally tone-deaf. Sick, sad, and inexcusable in any public forum, much less the exalted status they presume to command.

I agree. Laura Ling’s description of walking into the room and seeing the Big Dog was emotionally powerful.
Laura Ling really did an excellent job this morning. She was exceptionally composed and articulate.

agreed. except, what are you apologizing for?! ;->

Yes, and I also like TBogg’s promise to Kim Jung Il, that we wouldn’t have a single harsh word for him if he took John Bolton. But, the blood vessels in my neck are already beginning to tighten and need to relish my better angels a little longer.

Conditioned response, the blood vessel thing. Oh, CT, there are better angels among us and in us. I really believe that. And I will never, ever, the longest day I live understand why/how a large segment of our population is so threatened by that. It simply does not compute. Thanks for being real with us!!

I just took a look at the Huffington Post. The banner headline in red states:
“Bill Upstages Hillary … Once Again”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

What a load of crap that headline is!

ot
Scarecrow has a real wiener up at Seminal
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/6953#Respond
NYT Front Page: Have You Hugged Your Health Insurance Company Today?

I really do not visit Huffingtonwood very often. That is such a bunch of spin on Clintons visit. Turning Gore and Clintons efforts as “upstaging” instead of support for these young women and the Obama administration.

hollywood kind of hogwash

O/T WaPo wants limbo nominees approved before Senate recess

If only Orrin Hatch supported the constitution and held the Bush administration accountable for their many serious crimes. We know Hatch was concerned about lies under oath about bj’s

and he has the nerve to lecture someone about the constitution..what hypocrisy