Rain, Alito, and progressive depression

It’s been raining here in western Oregon for twenty-four days straight, I think. The bridge over our creek is in danger of being washed away. And so is my usually optimistic progressive mood.

Guess I need a latte. A triple.

I watched quite a bit of the Alito hearings yesterday. Less today. The outcome, in my opinion, is evident: he’ll be confirmed. He’s too smart and well-coached to make a major blunder. Plus, too many of the Democratic senators are playing into his hands.

Biden and Kennedy in particular make long-winded speeches while a split screen shows Alito patiently waiting for them to finish, knowing that every minute they spend talking is less time he has to risk being presented with a potentially damaging question.

It’s disturbing that Specter, a Republican, was the most effective interrogator of Alito yesterday. He asked crisp, clear, forthright questions about abortion and other issues of concern to progressives. From what I could see, none of the Democrats were anywhere near as effective.

Today Kennedy made a big deal out of getting records released that are related to Alito’s membership in the discriminatory Princeton society that he belonged to in his college days. Wow. Underwhelming. If that’s the Democrat’s big smoking gun against Alito, his nomination will be a shoo-in.

I didn’t really expect that the Dems would be able to shoot a significant hole in Alito’s record and qualifications, but I had hoped that they’d do a better job at misfiring—making a big impressive Boom! at least rather than a mild-mannered pop.

The sun came out for a few minutes this morning. Now it’s mostly cloudy, with just a smidgen of blue sky. Soon it will be raining hard again.

I’m getting really tired of having to deal with the mud. Both when I take the dog for a walk and when I turn on cable news. The Bush administration is full of it—dirty dealings, lies swept under the carpet, messy scandals.

Yet somehow they’re able to keep piling on the crap. The Democratic leadership seems to be unable or unwilling to take full advantage of the Bushies’ weaknesses. This low point in Bush’s presidency should be when the swamp of corruption and deceit begins to get drained down to rock bottom.

But I don’t see that happening. The B.S. continues to overflow. Just like Oregon’s rivers. A hard rain is still falling. I’m looking forward to it stopping.

Comments

[Rain]

I agreed with you totally on that comment. What has been so disillusioning to me is the democratic failures period and using their moment in the sun to make fools of themselves is definitely not serving the good of the American people.

To me the big issue with Alito should have been how he sees government power and whether he would ever vote to block it whether or not it fit the founders' intention. That is scary.

Yes, choice for women is important but the worst that bunch can do is send that back to the states-- ugly but still it can be dealt with, but if you end up with a federal government with unblockable powers, states will have no power and neither will we. :(

[Carol Ann]

You had better load up on Vitamin D pills!

Your concerned Sister in sunny St. Lucia.