Blame Wayne, not Ken

I am disappointed that it appears Senate Democrats are not going to filibuster the Alito nomination.  But bashing Ken Salazar over it, while predictable, is wrong.

As I recall, Plan A for preventing horrible Bush nominees from being put on the Supreme Court was to have President John Kerry make the nominations.  Plan B was to flood the Senate with a Class of 2004 of Democrats taking over former Republican seats:  Barack Obama, Ken Salazar, Nancy Farmer, Tony Knowles, Inez Tenenbaum, and Brad Carson, to name a few.  Ken did his part, and he is the only Democrat not named Obama who won a Republican held Senate seat last year.  44 Senate Democrats make a pretty small base to try to actually sustain a filibuster.

The bottom line is, Salazar will be up for re-election in the midterm of the next presidency.  If Ken Salazar is helping promote President Janet Napolitano's controversial Supreme Court nominees by telling Republicans they should follow his example by allowing a vote and then voting No, he's going to look like a pretty good candidate.

And as Coloradans, there is a more obvious target for our ire:  Wayne Allard, who helped prevent Harriet Miers from ascending to the Court (without an upperdown vote!), saying that he was concerned that as a Texan she wouldn't understand Western water law.  Then he turned around and announced that he would vote for the New Jerseyan Alito before there was even a hearing.  We get a shot at him in 2008, with the opportunity to put Mark Udall, a Democrat who is more palatable to the progressive majority of the party in Colorado, in the Senate instead.

The most productive way to fight the conservative trend in the federal courts is to attack and replace Republicans, not bash Democrats.

Update:  Kos makes a similar point.

Second Update:  Could it be that the Rocky story that started the Salazar bashing was simply wrong?  Well, I'd be shocked.  I'm still not betting that Ken will filibuster, but more to the point, I don't think the votes are there even if he does.  Which brings me back to the main point, which is that Wayne Allard is the Colorado Senator who is truly in the wrong here.

Comments

[Alan]

Too little, too late, if you ask me. The Supreme Court is too important. The impact that Alito will have on direction of the Court's decisions will far outweigh anything that Ken Salazar does in office. He will be remembered for sitting down when he should have stood up for the American people. Tough to get behind someone who sits on their hands.

[Zappatero]

I'll work to get rid of Allard. Not nearly as much as I worked to elect Salazar.

Salazar has made a rash of mediocre moves and he is still hated by the right. What has his moderation won him? More importantly, has his moderation lost him the support of those who voted him in?

Dobson, Haggard, Rosen, Caldara, GunHead, Focus, New Life didn't vote for Ken - and they never will.

[duhnonymous]

I'd still like to see a filibuster. Alan and Zappatero have made great points. Alito will vote to remove our "right" to privacy and Democrats must learn that moderation gets them nothing.

[em dash]

I understand political calculation as well as the next guy but there seems to be no up-side for Sen. Salazar in his refusal to support a filibuster of Alito.

He further alienates the Dem base (Gonzales, Rice, bankruptcy, etc.) and fails to win points with the moderate Republicans and Independents with a no vote on Alito.

God help us all if a died-in-the-wool Goldwater Republican challenges Salazar. Pete Coors was nuts and a poor campaigner. The Colorado GOP completely over-reached in 2004. I don't expect that to happen again.

[John]

Salazar's Denver office told me this afternoon he remained undecided on filibuster support. That's was just before the Kerry announcement.

I hold out hope for Ken, and think Coloradans should get to the phone en masse.

303-455-7600 [love those NW Denver exchanges].

[Another "Troll"]

I just tuned back in to confirm that you would continue to enable Salazar's spinelessness. What exactly should Salazar take a stand on? He is for the war. For Roberts. For two horrible circuit court appointees. For the credit card companies. Just exactly when should we expect him to act like a Democrat? When there's a Dem in the White House, and he can just follow that tune?

His capitulation on the fillibuster was supposed to preserve his power for the next Supreme Court nominee. Now we're there, and he's diving to the mat.

It doesn't surprise me, but you must have enough experience by now to know that he's a lost cause.

[Another "Troll"]

BTW, it's snarky, but I assume you forgot to say "Present nominal Dem incumbents excepted" when you said "get rid of Republicans."

[Another "Troll"]

And while I am at it:Napolitano? Have you utterly lost your mind. An anti-enviro totally political animal?

Of course, she would be horrid but has more spine than Ken.

[Colorado Luis]

Heh. Well, for the record, I only chose Napolitano as an unlikely hypothetical to illustrate how uncertain the future is, not as an endorsement of her for president. I am so not endorsing anyone this early.

[Croaky]

Colorado Luis and other Coloradans (is that right?)

I run a blog with 23/24ish year olds spread out across the country, but we have no Colorado perspective. With the looming Alito filibuster coming down to Ken Salazar along with Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chafee, Ted Stevens, Mary Landrieu, and Dianne Feinstein, I'm very interested to hear your comments.

But now having read them, I'm so disheartened! The country needs you to help change this guy's mind.

On our site, we've whittled down this filibuster to a single maxim for winning this filibuster:

1) Filibuster Samuel Alito on the grounds of his support for "unitary executive theory."

For the unitiated, this is something that Judge Alito gave during the recount days following the 2000 presidential election. In a speech to the Federalist Society, he announced his support for this theory that will erode the checks and balances on power in this country that keep it from being dominated by the President. Alito would like to erode the checking and balancing powers of the legislative and judiciary.

We include a list of the websites where you can send an email in support of the filibuster to the key Senators in this fight.

It can be done, but only if folks like yourselves, patriotic Coloradans (that still doesn't look right to me) actively engage your representatives. Try working the House members, too. They can have influence over Senator 'zar. Plus, he'll be bombarded with messages, so you have to find ways to get the RIGHT message to him.

I'm from MA and meeting with Ted Kennedy today. I hope to get him to stop talking about "values," "equality," and "justice." Nothing wrong with those things, but this fight can't be won by appealing to liberal instincts. It has to focus on the ONE major problem with this appointee, and it is a reason that Democrats and Republicans can all ralyl behind, and Senators of both parties can risk their political capital on the filibuster if it is framed this way.

[ohwilleke]

The frustrating thing about Salazar, is that the power to do right is within his grasp, and he wobbles so close to doing the right thing, and then screws it up. Allard is just plain wrong, all the time, and it is hopeless to try to change him other than by winning an election in 2006. He isn't "in play".

In a football game, the other side may be better than you are and score five touchdowns to your one, but, you still get pretty damn irritated when one of your players accidentally runs the wrong way and scores a sixth touchdown for the other team. And, if it turns out that your wrong way Joe actually knew what he was doing, he will never play on your team again.

[bittern]

"bittern" from Boston here. You internet radicals makin' me crazy. Plannin' out the filibuster today! Making up a plan of defense today! Croaky, that's a good idea, but this thing's long gone.

Hey you internet radicals, figure out the next issue and get talking to some folks who think different from you and start finding some common ground. Or is this all just for psychic release?

Salazar ran as a moderate, and that's how he's turning out. Whoa boy! A moderate ain't necessarily chicken to stay clear of extremism. Maybe Ken actually IS a moderate. Y'all tinpot blogging dictator-wanna-be's. 'Cept you, ColoradoLuis. If the rest of you can't get yourself inside a dictatorship in real life, you're going to have to make compromises with people who think differently from you. In the meantime, you're turning me off (and I score in the 15% of Americans who are "true libruls," so I can just imagine . . .)

I'm inclined to think that if y'all really cared what was at stake, you'd knock off with dreaming up punishments for politicians who don't kow-tow to your pronouncements.

Ken's alright. I'm sometimes frustrated, too, but he is what he is. You might remember he was in the centrist gang who decided to tone down the filibuster showdown. Alito might be bad for liberty, bad for the nation, but it's hard to make a case that he's some sort of unUsual situation. Y'all maybe think hard left is the only possible value system. Ken seems the sort that thinks moderation is a virtue. Shocking. How could he?

If you insist on being 100% cynical, please figure out that your no-compromise vote is peanuts compared to a vast middle ground of half-apathetic voters, so even if Ken's only a "fake" moderate, he's making his best choice. But life's more interesting than that.

Have a nice weekend, people. Keep up the good work, CL.

[Another "Troll"]

I'm not sure who is more reprehensible on this one. Salazar says he's a Dem. Allard says he a Repub. Salazar votes like a Repub. Allard votes like a Repub.

Allard and Salazar are both like packs of cigarettes, but Salazar comes without the warning label.

[Hermana]

Salazar "votes like a Republican"? Please. Have we completely lost our ability to make nuanced arguments/distinctions? Simply tarring Salazar as a closeted Republican is not productive (except perhaps as a way to purge ourselves of some range). But let's remember that he is not voting for Alito, and the fact that he is not backing the filibuster (which, in my opinion, was not well staged by Kerry) is extremely short sighted. (When we lost Byrd we lost the ability to do a credible filibuster. Which is too bad, as I do believe Alito is a narrow legal thinker a la Bork.)

But let's look at the deeper issue here -- what do Republicans now stand for? The same goes for Democrats. I take the position that Republicans are on the verge of an extreme break within the party. Let's take advantage of it. But at the same time we must realize that not all Democrats are one in the same. On some key issues we must be united, but let's allow some intellectual and personal diversity among our elected officials, lest we lose all credibility.

[ohwilleke]

Salazar may not quite vote like a Republican, but he does have one of the most conservative voting records among Democratic Senators and isn't all that far from the most moderate of the Republicans, especially on the issues that matter to the Democrat base.

[Drew]

Wife and I contactedour own little "tree" to contact Sen. Ken and have him vote against clouture until after SOTUA. By 9 a.m. Saturday every message center on all his message centers were full so it was email time. Maybe Colorado Republicans are conservitive but Colorado Democrats are not moderates and last time I checked Ken ran as Colorado Democrat. This is not about him, it is about us. This is not the State Democratic Party of 2004. To bad you weren't with us Saturday night. There were over 250 of Be the Change folks out at Jeffco Fairgrounds along the candidates for 2006. Workshops etc...Gary Hart tore it up as did Morgan C. (my favorite State Rep.)Mike Mile reminded us why we were there and the effort before us. We're already gearing up for the Congressional battles. Musgrave has no clue how many folks are going to be traveling north this summer and fall. Buckle up..

[ColoradoBlue]

There is nothing "moderate", "liberal", or "conservative" about blocking Alito. The man's position on the Unitary Executive is unconstitutional, and thus un-American. If this were a secret ballot, he'd be lucky to get twenty-five votes. This nomination is a damn disgrace and a shame. Dems should filibuster if only for the sake of history, to show the future generations of this country that somebody stood up.
Salazar's half-measures on this are contemptible. You'd think he learned his lesson on Gonzalez: Any body think he's proud of his role in that? Condi Rice? Terri Schiavo? Again, opposing the GOP on these votes is not extreme, or even particularly liberal; it's just common sense. And then he goes out and calls Dobson the Anti-Christ? Was that sensible moderation?
But my favorite Kennyism was here at a town meeting I read about last month, where he bragged about his support of the fourteen billion dollar subsidy for the energy industry. How are your heating bills this winter? Isn't it fun filling up at the pump? By the way, Exxon announced record profits today.
Congratulations, Ken. You're a true statesman.

[Drew Edmondson]

Blame Wayne? Wayne is a Republican! Ken is a Colorado Democrat. However he did not vote like one today. I don't remember, as a Democrat ever voting for for Wayne. I do remember as a Colorado Democrat voting for Ken. Of course he will vote against Scalito but it is a BS vote. The real vote was today!
Ken does not represent the Republicans of Colorado anymore than Wayne represents the Democrats. Yeah it isn't supposed to be that way but it is. The difference between Wayne and Ken is that Wayne represents his core and Ken does not. Name me one Colorado Democrat that wants Scilito on the Bench? Is Ken holding his gang of 14 vote for someone more extreme? I Don't give a shit about Ken anymore. All my energy is to electing 2 new Democrats to Congress in 2006 . Luis..put the beer down and explain how Ken's vote FOR cloture represented Colorado Dems. Didn't think so.