Cloture vote: 4:30pm ET, Reid 4pm, Frist 4:15pm. Debate ongoing! Raw Story: GOP Chafee voting NO.
Armando urges us to keep working, and observes: “[Ted] Kennedy [made] critical point that there is absolutely no reason NOT to extend debate … it should be stressed to Senate traditionalists like [Sen. Byrd that] a significant number of Senators wish to continue debating … Why [end] NOW? … Senator Byrd has said … read all.”
Update [2006-1-30 12:56:23 by susanhu]: Armando reports that Lieberman, Chafee To Hand Political Gifts To Their Opponents … quote below (along with inspirational words from a friend) …
Update [2006-1-30 13:23:52 by susanhu]: Kos writes: “[A]s Joe Lieberman votes for cloture on the Alito nomination today, and you feel really, really angry, channel some of that energy to NedLamont.com.
Update [2006-1-30 14:34:14 by susanhu]: NEW ACLU urgent press release: “ACLU Urges Senate to Vote No on Alito Cloture Vote, Says Nominee Too Far Outside American Mainstream”
Update [2006-1-30 14:45:44 by susanhu]: Latest rumors & talk: Nag is listening to Young Turks live TV/radio, and reports that “It’s unofficial… a staffer told a caller that Mark Pryor, a member of the Gang of 14, is abstaining from this afternoon’s vote. HUGE! … And, ReddHead at FireDogLake and I have the same nose: We both think that Ed Henry at CNN is getting GOP-supplied info on the filibuster prospects — all he’s been doing is denigrating the Dems all morning. (He’s CNN’s answer to Norah O’Donnell of MSNBC … even has that same kinda Ken/Barbie look, and he’s red through and through.) … Sen. Frank Lautenberg is giving an excellent speech right now ….
E-mail Al Franken now and tell him to talk Alito/filibuster.
Senators Joe Lieberman and Lincoln Chafee are poised to hand their political rivals great gifts today. They will be energizing the opposition to their continued presence in the Senate.
CNN’s Ed Henry reports, and it appears to be correct, that the Gang of 14 will announce, AS A GROUP, that there are not extraordinary circumstances justifying filibuster of Sam Alito. Remember who is in the Gang of 14: … From Armando’s story
Update [2006-1-30 13:41:0 by susanhu]: Words of encouragement from lovely Deaniac friends — he is a retired professor of theology — whose home is in Port Angeles, Wash. but who are now in Tanzania:
TO OWN THIS GOOD AND EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FIGHT…THERE MIGHT BE A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM HARRY AND BONARO OVERSTREET FROM A FEW YEARS BACK….
” YOU SAY THE LITTLE EFFORTS THAT I MAKE WILL DO NO GOOD,
THEY NEVER WILL PREVAIL TO TIP THE SCALES WHERE JUSTICE HANGS IN BALANCE,
I DON’T THINK I EVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD,
BUT I AM PREJUDICED BEYOND DEBATE’ IN FAVOR OF MY RIGHT TO CHOOSE,
WHICH SIDE SHALL FEEL THE STUBBORN OUNCES OF MY WEIGHT.”
I WISH EVERY SENATOR COULD LEARN AND PRACTICE THOSE LINES…. AND ALL THE CONGRESS. DEMOCRATS SHOULD JUST WALK OUT OF THE STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH TONIGHT. HAVING BEEN REPEATEDLY LIED TO… IGNORED, SHUT OUT OF MEETING ROOMS AND CONFERENCES…WE NEED TO THROW OUR WEIGHT AROUND, AND STOP THIS MAD TYRANNY THAT IS ABOUT TO SUBSUME US.
FIGHT ON!!!!
GRAHAM HUTCHINS
ARUSHA COMMUNITY CHURCH
ARUSHA, TANZANIA
Still sounds very serious for the ABC journalists.
…
How are all of you today? FIRED UP!?!?!?!?! I am!
Let’s go! After being so bummed during the JC hearings (“It doesn’t look like they’re thinking about a filibuster to me”), I can hardly believe we’ve made it this far…and I’m still calling and faxing.
emotionally tired friends over the weekend too. Thanks Cabingirl! I needed it that day!
LOOK at what our Dean friends from Port Angeles sent to our still-popular Dean mailing list here (over 100 members) … all the way from Tanzania!
(I added it as an update below the fold.)
It helped me this morning. A lot.
That was excellent, that is a wonderful quote and inspiring. I met Governor Dean Thursday again, and got to spend a few minutes with him. Rex Freedom, from our campaign did a killer diary on it and grass roots politics at kos.
Ried is talking on C-Span and doing a laundry list of what Bush has to be accountable for, in other words, The REAL State of the Union. That is good, but it also means there is not going to be a call for a filibuster, or Kerry would have come back. The vote is at 4 and the other side has the next hour, so… There will be a vote tomorrow and we have to keep fighting the war after losing this battle.
Thanks to you, and all others for the efforts and passion.
Barry, quite often I pick up a “sense” of people on the ‘net. Some might scoff at that, but it happens to me all the time … and it’s not from what people type alone.
In you, I sense strongly a very positive, productive personality and work ethic/drive.
I hope we can help you with your campaign.
Kennedy gave a firey speech this morning. Try to catch it in the archive if at all possible.
I caught the tail end of it. Great!
Oh god, Robert Bennett is speaking.
Bennett to Kennedy: Tell Ralph Mease and People for American Way to BACK OFF!
Then Bennett says he’ll tell the right oppo groups to back off.
Oh yeah.
That’ll fucking work. (Time warp! You’re not in that kind of Senate or U.S. government anymore!)
It did have the effect though of painting Kennedy into a hypocritical corner. I think Kennedy should be more careful to examine his own positions and history when attacking the right because this isn’t the first time he’s gotten caught this way. Turns out that a reporter he was giving an interview to did some research and confronted Kennedy with the fact that he also belonged to a college fraternity that excluded women. Now I know it’s not the same as CAP but to the general public it looks like he’s being hypocritical and comes across very badly. It twists me up when the democrats allow themselves to be flipped like that. It does great damage to their credibility.
is that the “CAP thing” even became such an issue when his record was right there in it’s huge fat glory, just full of his occasional opportunistic rulings that expose his hidden agenda. Was it too much reading or what? Hell, I thought I wanted to be a Republican in 1983….they were all rich, I thought I could just join the club. I voted for Ronald Reagan the first time I could vote. I belonged to Girl Scouts when I was 12 and they excluded all penises and gonads that they could prove or find!
We live-blogged last night til after midnight. And I couldn’t go to sleep until about 1:30am.
Then around 3:30-4am, there was a big man talking VERY LOUDLY by my bedroom door.
He was yelling so passionately about what an idiot Bush is and about what a total disaster his presidency is!
Okay, good point, i thought, but Jesus, can’t you let it wait so I can sleep?
So, I yelled at him — OUT LOUD — “Shut up!”
Then I realized it was Don Imus on MSNBC — I’d left the TV on.
We who have been at work since 8:30 a.m. (after getting to bed at 2:00 a.m. but also having trouble falling asleep) salute you.
You’re on your own today — too many conference calls for me. But I will check this thread.
I woke up at 2 am, unable to sleep because of this momentous event. Sounds like we’re all in the same boat.
CALL SWING VOTES NOW!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/30/12461/4093
You were the best, Mary … you really know how to listen well and digest. You must be a heck of an attorney.
Larisa wrote this morning to see if we listened, and I gave her the links.
Mary, we’ll all try to return the favor today and find out key info, and post it.
OK Susan, that’s funny.
Here I am at work, hoping to get something useful done today while I follow the debate.
As for an extremist Supreme Court justice not being extraordinary . . . pfffffft. Maybe we need to start faxing the Gang of 14 as well, specifically about what “extraordinary” means. And I hope Harry Reid has Rule 21 locked and loaded just in case they do try to press the big red button on the filibuster.
They have this hour and alternate every hour. I’ll be back at noon to see who’s speaking.
Who should we listen to this morning — aside from C-Span2. I’d also like to be “in on” the latest talk about the vote status, etc.
Will Al Franken track this? or Young Turks? Or?
I jsut caught the tail end of a report on CNN… the gang of 14 is going to end the filibuster
I’m sobbing as I write this. It’s over.
I forgot to say this:
The gang of 14 (is that their combined IQ?) are a bunch of sucking filthy fucking bastards.
Fuck.
(swoon)
Oh, thank you!!! I was ready to go throw myself in front of a semi truck. I’ve noticed that Ed Henry and CNN has been cheerleading for Bush even harder than usual. Whew! I believed it for a moment… especially since I only caught the last 20 seconds or so.
Read Armando:
jinx.
I wonder which Republican whispered that in Henry’s ear.
Has a good comment here
An excellent point.
If you guys find a good cmment, please re-post it here so we don’t have to link to a new page…. thanks!
Thanks, Susan. I’m actually blocked from dkos while at work.
Sorry about that. Here’s the comment:
Topic for discussion: (4.00 / 20)
Why don’t these Senators consider the fact that one of their number, Lindsay Graham, coached Alito for the hearings while also sitting on the Committee holding the hearings to be a breach of their trust?
How are these Senators supposed to make an informed decision on “extraordinary circumstances,” as the agreement permits them to do, when one of the signatories is coaching the nominee on how to hide anything extraordinary?
Graham has made it impossible for the other 13 to honor their part in the agreement, and his actions should be considered as a breach of its terms.
Waste more of your day at The Next Hurrah.
He’s further fleshed out this comment in a diary here.
Here’s a snip:
Call me delusional, but I was about to say (before I saw Armando’s post) that I’m not allowing CNN — or any mainstream media outlet — to tell me anything at this juncture.
I simply don’t trust them.
I’ll wait to see what actually occurs on the Senate floor, thank you.
You are right, of course. I got a little excited. Ahem. Better now.
I understand completely. Times are tense.
the majority had its hour. Siilence now … what’s up next? (I can’t read the small print on my little living room tv from here.)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow — D-MICHIGAN — is speaking.
And I just got this e-mail from a local Deaniac:
I finally got through to Carl Levin’s office after 5 minutes of “demon dialing” (for those of you who don’t remember the days of dial up bulletin boards, it’s a hang up at the busy signal and immediately redial). After getting an answer, I was still on hold for another minute. I kept it short & sweet so others can get through – NO to Alito and YES to filibuster!!
56 Yes 35 no as of 12:20 EST NINE have not voted those without votes Rockefeller Bayh Cantwell Conrad Dorgan Landrieu Latenberg Menendez Snowe
Sen Stabenow is speaking
Barry Welsh IN 6th District Democratic Congressional Candidate
Barry, should we call these:
Rockefeller Bayh Cantwell Conrad Dorgan Landrieu Latenberg Menendez Snowe
?
YES! Call, Fax, storm the offices, these are the nine that it will come down to. Target these NINE
I’ve been listening to Al Franken for nearly 20 minutes .. i haven’t caught every word cuz I’m also monitoring C-Span and e-mail … but i don’t think he’s mentioned Alito once.
Franken has a tendency to be one of those “insider D.C.” types who likes to pose as “we know it’s a done deal/move on” poseur so he looks better informed …
let’s call his show:
DAMN — I can’t find their phone number. Anyone have it?
Here’s the LEAD NEWS STORY on Air America’s own home page:
NINE have not voted those without votes Rockefeller Bayh Cantwell Conrad Dorgan Landrieu Latenberg Menendez Snowe
I just sent him a short and pithy note:
FEEDBACK FORM
I still can’t find his call-in number.
Washington phone number 202-224-5852 press 2 to speak to an aide and 1 to leave a message. My Colorado Springs zip code is 80909. I sadly got through to Ken’s Washington office just fine a moment ago.
I will shun Salazar forever and ever amen! How could he do this to my husband who is under presidential authority and my daughter who will be under male dominated authority and my son who is disabled? How can he ever make it okay letting this disgusting piece of human garbage called Alito rule my life!
Wide open too 202-228-5036. Please please please if you have a fax or phone and the long distance won’t kill you, please nail this. This is my shitty stupid “F”ing Senator from hell! If Alito gets in I will never ever forgive this man!
Senator Salazar:
For our children and grandchildren’s future please vote:
No to Alito
Yes to filibuster or abstain.
A yes vote for cloture is a no vote for you!!
I just faxed him too…but I’m from Nederland, 80466. 😉
I have about 15 minutes for lunch. What’s the current status?
Mary, check the Armando and Kos updates … that’s really the latest … i’ve been checking Raw Story too and they don’t have anything new beyond Chafee / which it sounds, from Armando, like it’s not true.
I should check the Young Turks and see if they have any news … not sure I trust them as a source though.
What did Kerry have to say?
the bit that I caught was good…..if only he had spoken thusly when he was running for president! Thank you Lee for your fax! Seriously considering backing Kerry again now that he has pulled this filibuster out of thin air and his fanny. Would he please pick up our Golden Boy too on the ticket again?
I would like to see Feingold on somebody’s ticket. Too many battles to fight right now for me to seriously think about ’08. Let’s get the Cabal Impeached first!!
and everybody else, actually…
a) as per, ummm…what’s that guy’s name…”the SCOTUS is extraordinary.”
b) has any other president in the history of this country consulted with members of the religious right when considering judicial nominees? i think not.
that is extraordinary.
p.s chambliss can bite me
he just said that anything short of voting and confirming is “obstructionist.”
888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641
Washington D.C. Office:
416 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Main: 202-224-3521
Fax: 202-224-0103
politely tell him to get bent.
Obstructing him from the Court is my Duty as an American! Is that polite enough? I didn’t use the F word. I’m trying to go softer and gentler into this fray of flying bullshit!
Salazar’s wide open?
What a great guy! He either needs to turn his fax on or get a better fax!
I’m going to write a check to Ned Lamont and fax a copy to Lieberman’s office. Maybe he’ll get the point, eh?
From ReddHead at FireDogLake:
“UPDATE: Gang, I am getting very conflicting information on the Gang of 14 story from Ed Henry. What I’m hearing is that they aren’t meeting until 3:30 pm today and that the Dems in the group are split on how they will vote — which means that cloture is still very much up in the air. I’m beginning to smell a GOP story plant with Ed Henry at CNN (Oh, shocker! I know…). So, to the phones and the fax machines — if they are resorting to story planting, they are nervous. And that makes me smile. Nothing like a little grassroots action to scare the bejeesus out of the folks who thought they could pop the champagne a little early, eh? Here’s hoping…”
I flew here to post… if someone else posted this already, sorry.
Thanks, Nag.
You’re very welcome, CG. Take a peek at my last post, just below this. It’s unofficial, but it fits with what ReddHead is hearing.
CNN can bite me.
It’s unofficial… a staffer told a caller that Mark Pryor, a member of the Gang of 14, is abstaining from this afternoon’s vote.
The news came from the live stream of the Young Turks… I know, Susan just wondered about their voracity, but such as it is, that’s the news.
Oh, I got so excited I almost forgot. Thanks to torridjoe over at Kos for this juicy little tidbit.
Just read that the story was not confirmed. And that it was confirmed he would not be supporting filibuster. Hope I’m wrong. But this hot news item looks mistaken.
You’re right… it’s still unconfirmed.
Noted at democrats.com:
The list, with contact numbers, can still be found
here.
there is now a new thread.