Posted on 05/24/2005 12:11:35 PM PDT by Gopher Broke
FROM MOVEON.ORG
The power grab has failed!
Last night, 14 senators struck a deal that, for now, takes the nuclear option off the table. It's a big blow for Bill Frist and the radical right, and a win for democracy. Join us at 8pm ET/5pm PT for a call with Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid, the MoveOn staff, and other members nation-wide. Join online or get the conference call number here.
Dear MoveOn member,
President Bush, Bill Frist and the radical right-wing of the Republican Party have failed in their attempt to seize absolute power over the courts. Together, we've stopped the "nuclear option" — for now.
Last night at 7:30pm, with only hours to go before Senator Frist rose in the Senate to try to break the rules and seize power to appoint extreme judges, 14 senators announced they had struck a deal. As powerful far-right leader James Dobson put it, "This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats...The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain in effect, and nothing of significance has changed."
For once, we agree with Mr. Dobson. With 7 Republicans pledging to oppose Frist's scheme as long as the Democrats stick to the standard for filibusters they've used all along — only using them in extraordinary circumstances — the "nuclear option" is dead unless Republicans break their word. And if that happens we will be in a much stronger position to stop them.
Over the past months, hundreds of thousands of us have made calls, wrote letters, supported ads, and gone to local events to help stop the nuclear option. So tonight, we'd like to invite you to a victory conference call and debriefing session at 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 PM PT with Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic Leader in the Senate, to talk about what this really means and what's coming next, and answer your questions. We hope you can join us.
To join the conference call with Senator Reid, just go to:
http://www.moveonpac.org/victorywebcast?id=
Last night's resolution was a real victory, but it came at a heavy price. Three of the nominees the Democrats agreed not to filibuster, Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen, and William Pryor, will now head to confirmation votes in the Senate where they may well be approved. Their record of corporate bias and outright hostility to the basic rights of ordinary Americans poses a serious threat that we will have to contend with for years to come.
You can see the full, original text of the agreement at: http://www.c-span.org/pdf/senatecompromise.pdf)
Had Senator Frist succeeded in executing the "nuclear option" we wouldn't just be facing three terrible judges on the US Courts of Appeals — we'd be watching one party take absolute control of all branches of government for the first time ever. And radical Republicans would have had complete power to stack the Supreme Court with unchecked extremists and to roll back decades of progress on all our most cherished rights.
Of course, the Republicans could still decide to go back on their word and break the agreement at some point in the future. But even if that happens they have already failed in their primary goal: to eliminate the filibuster now, before there's a vacancy on the Supreme Court -- before Americans are watching and it's clear how much is at stake.
So why wasn't Republican Leader Frist able to translate his 10-vote advantage in the Senate into 51 votes for his "nuclear" scheme? A large part of the answer is you.
Over the last few months MoveOn members have racked up a simply amazing string of accomplishments in our fight to save the courts. Together, we have:
Submitted 59,645 letters to the editors of 3,162 newspapers
Placed 118,016 calls to Congress (that we know of!)
Held 1,539 house meetings to form local organizing teams
Placed tens of thousands of signs in your windows, all across the country
Gathered at over 1,000 theaters to pass out "Save the Republic" flyers to Star Wars fans
Knocked on thousands of doors to spread the word, in almost 1,000 neighborhoods nationwide
Raised $1.3 million to fund the campaign, with an average contribution of $43
Supported the creation and placement of 4 television commercials, radio commercials, and 2 print ads running in target states and nationwide
Organized 192 simultaneous rallies in all 50 states
Submitted 580,371 signatures and comments opposing the nuclear option
Organized round-the-clock emergency "Citizen Filibusters" in key target states, and signed up to organize 108 more nation-wide — before breathing a sigh of relief when we won before it was time to start. Frist couldn't get 50 of his 55 Republicans to support the "nuclear option" in large part because we and our allies convinced them it would be political suicide to do so. If there had been no grassroots movement to stop the "nuclear option," it's almost certain that today George Bush and Bill Frist would hold absolute power to stack the Supreme Court and we would be powerless to protect our most basic rights. Preventing that nightmare is an accomplishment to feel proud of.
The fight to protect our courts and, as the Star Wars fans say, to "Save the Republic," goes on. There are more Republican assaults we need to block, from John Bolton to Social Security privitization, and we'll need all hands on deck to help shift the balance in Washington in the 2006 elections. Our next immediate focus will be on Tom DeLay and Republican leaders' abuse of power in the House — starting with petition deliveries to local Republican offices next Wednesday (more on this soon).
With a failed Republican leadership transparently consumed with power and out of touch with the nation, and a growing, powerful grassroots community churning out victories against overwhelming odds — the prospects for change are looking good.
Thank you — really, THANK YOU — for everything you've done. Democracy won the night, because of you.
Sincerely,
–-Ben, Eli, Carrie, Matt and the MoveOn PAC Team Tuesday, May 24th, 2005
PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. ******************************************************** PFAW
Dear xxxxx,
First thing’s first: we defused the “nuclear option!”
Back when most of the public had no idea what Senate Majority Leader Frist was planning, and many progressives had written off any chance to save the filibuster, you fought with “People For” to raise the profile of this battle and turn it around. You were part of the checks and balances. This conclusion to our nuclear confrontation has flaws, but we have preserved the filibuster for future nomination battles –particularly the Supreme Court.
We must now move together to defeat the radical nominees who will have a vote on the Senate floor.
As a result of the agreement reached by seven Republicans and seven Democrats, Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor were, unfortunately, promised votes. These are out-of-the-mainstream jurists who threaten our rights and liberties.
Justice Priscilla Owen has a consistent record of judicial activism in favor of corporations and against consumers and individual rights. Even her current and former colleagues have criticized her efforts to rewrite the law from the bench to impose her own beliefs.
Justice Janice Rogers Brown has a record of hostility to workers’ rights and victims of discrimination. She said that 1937 (the year that the courts upheld New Deal legislation) "mark[ed] the triumph of our own socialist revolution."
William Pryor is a leading architect of the recent "states’ rights" or "federalism" movement to limit the authority of Congress to enact laws protecting individual and other rights. He has advocated the view that the Constitution should not apply to some of the most critical issues pertaining to individual rights and freedoms — including reproductive choice, gay rights, and school prayer — and that these matters should be decided by the states, based on majority vote, regardless of whether constitutional rights are violated.
More on the nominees: http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=
To prevent confirmation of these nominees, we will need every Senate Democrat, the one independent senator, and at least six Republican senators to oppose.
So we must forcefully make our case to every Senator in the chamber who will listen to reason – especially those who were involved in the compromise. The negotiators are Senators Byrd, DeWine, Nelson, Lincoln, Landrieu, Lieberman, Salazar, Inouye, Warner, McCain, Snowe, Collins, Graham and Chafee.
Many Republican senators had openly expressed their doubts about the wisdom of the nuclear option. Now that they have guaranteed votes to some of the filibustered nominees, we must convince them that those nominees do not deserve confirmation. It’s up to us to make sure that getting a vote does not mean getting confirmed.
Democratic Senators who played a role in the deal should take the lead in opposing these awful nominees. They have an obligation to demand that those with whom they made the deal explain why confirming these divisive nominees is a good thing for America.
Thank you again for your time, funds and commitment. Everyone in Washington knows what a formidable team we have become, and progressive leaders around the nation (including prominent elected officials) have showered praise and thanks upon our efforts. You should know how much credit your work has garnered.
Ralph Neas
President
"Just like a liberal; trying to polish a turd!"
So what of the 6 million that moveon spent to keep those dangerous rightwing judges off the federal bench.
This fight is not over.
No fundraising organization can do otherwise, in yakkage to its donors, than to declare victory at every turn. Expect similar "We won!" garbage from the RNC.
I just gotta laugh, though, at the lies of MoveOn, starting with the notion that Bush and the Republicans were going to "seize absolute control over the courts." By, y'know, wanting up-or-down votes on nominations? Shyeah.
I hope someone is sending that e-mail hourly to the traitors.
"This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats...The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain in effect, and nothing of significance has changed."
With 7 Republicans pledging to oppose Frist's scheme as long as the Democrats stick to the standard for filibusters they've used all along — only using them in extraordinary circumstances — the "nuclear option" is deadEven a stopped clock is right twice a day--and socialists sometimes speak the absolute truth. (It's rare, but it happens.)
The democrats have never controlled all branches of government???
LMAO. INstead of voting for Cloture today, and then Taking each of the next two through the 100 hours process, they condeded the first three, and then....
The Republicans agreed not to nuke the filibuster,as long as the Democrats didnt use it.....
Yet Move-on feels...Vindicated?
Heh heh. I'd like to be a fly on the wall when these tools finally figure out that they are about to be swamped in yet another Perfect Rovian Storm.
Many of those radical right-wing judges are now going to get on the bench.. what exactly did the MoveOn toads win?
President Bush, Bill Frist and the radical right-wing of the Republican Party have failed in their attempt to seize absolute power over the courts.
Oh stuff it Soros, you psychotic elfin Tolkien creature. It's not as if Bush is appointing a judge to every federal bench in the nation, and his appointing judges to vacancies is now more an "attempt to seize absolute power over the courts" than any other president acting in his constitutionally-appointed role in making judgeship appointments.
Finally, before you get too maniacally full of yourself, just keep in mind even if the other 7 judges aren't brought to the floor for an up or down vote, Bush will just appoint someone else. So it's not as if those appointments are going to be Democratic nominees.
So go back into the hollowed-out knot in a tree you live in Georgie and let the adults run the country while you and your enormous eyebrows try to figure out your next move in undermining the nation.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory...
The RNC is acting like Terry McAuliffe after he lost after every election. He would come to TV the following day and declare victory, just like the RNC is calling this compromise a victory.
A large part is George Soros's money. I wonder how much each of the Seditious Seven stand to receive.
Goodbye troll
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