Kagan confirmation vote a sign of future troubles
With yesterday’s Senate confirmation, Elena Kagan is now a Supreme Court justice. She has the intellect and experience to do well in that post.
For the moment, though, I’d like to focus on the fact that 37 senators voted against her confirmation, which is perilously close to the 40 votes that would have been required to filibuster her nomination. I think that’s an ominous sign, confirming a sense that American government is coming close to a breakdown.
As an Obama nominee, Kagan is of course going to be different than, say, a Palin or Romney or Gingrich nominee. That’s how the system works. The right to make such nominations is part of the “spoils of war” that come with winning the presidency. Historically, the Senate has respected that reality.
Kagan is also well within the legal mainstream and eminently qualified for the court. In fact, one of the worst things you could say about her is that she has spent her life and career trying to avoid controversies that might prevent confirmation. Some Senate Republicans have tried to make an issue of the fact that she had never served as a judge, but on that too she falls well within the historical norm. Roughly a third of our Supreme Court justices had no prior experience on the bench, including the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who became a conservative legal icon.
So the fact that 37 senators nonetheless voted against an utterly mainstream, determinedly “safe” nominee such as Kagan ought to be taken as a serious warning sign. Most of those votes weren’t against her as a individual, they were a statement of general political opposition and would have been cast against any nominee that Obama was likely to propose.
“We are well on our way to a huge train wreck,” Tom Goldstein, a veteran Supreme Court litigator, told Politico. “I do think this is a corner we won’t be able to turn back [from], or at least there’s no sign the Senate will turn back from, for a long time.” If 60 “yes” votes “is the best anyone is going to have, a Supreme Court confirmation fight could easily turn into thermonuclear war.”
Sen. Lindsay Graham, one of five Republicans to vote for Kagan, is among those worried.
“Things are changing,” he said. “I worry the direction we’re drifting. I don’t question any of my colleagues’ decisions; I would just like to get us back to more traditional ‘advice and consent,’ where the [presidential] election is respected. I worry about where this takes us as a nation with the judiciary.”
In 1986, Antonin Scalia was confirmed by 98-0. Five years ago, John Roberts was confirmed by a vote of 78-22, with 22 Democrats voting for him. In 2006, Samuel Alito was confirmed by just 58-42, with just four Democrats voting for him, indicating that both parties are edging closer to the line. As Graham notes, the trend is ominous, threatening not just future Supreme Court nominees but the overall ability of government to conduct necessary business.
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967 comments Add your comment
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
9:45 pm
Bruno and josef,
You’ll like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TheSNkiQSQ&feature=related
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
9:48 pm
SoCo
Billy singing for us here tonight…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un63LEAN22E
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
9:48 pm
SoCo,
The Magic Shoes place looks very much like the place I bought my magic burgers.
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
9:52 pm
Guess who’s riding the Soul Train? There’s FIVE and it ain’t the Dave Clark Five.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K133PHTPQjM
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
9:53 pm
Didn’t you guys agree to hold off on the soul thread until Jay B got back?
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
9:54 pm
eyes
@ 9:45
That was TOO good!
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
9:56 pm
RW,
My bad. Let’s switch to something else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho
AmVet
August 13th, 2010
9:57 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpKJUa6IoBs
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
9:59 pm
eyes–Don’t know if you caught my answer to your question last week about how I got involved with the Dead. Loosely, my curiosity with the counter-culture began while watching anti-drug propaganda films at school in the 60s. I then read “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” in the ninth grade, and decided I wanted to “get on the bus”, so to speak. I purchased a copy of Anthem of the Sun soon afterward, and it’s been downhill ever since.
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
9:59 pm
RW
Yeah, but he ran off and left us to be evicted!
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
9:59 pm
eyes,
I’ve got no vested interest in the music thread and don’t even have any speakers hooked up, but you know he’s going to do that soul thread and I’d hate for you all to have to link the same things over again.
/although that probably happens anyway and I just don’t know it.
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:01 pm
Bruno,
Yes, I did catch your answer late that night. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – man, that takes me back. It was the last year of my time in the USAF when I read that book. Now, it is long gone, a victim of real bookworms.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
10:02 pm
josef,
No way Hurricane Paul was on his radar screen when he headed west.
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:03 pm
Bruno,
I still have a VHS copy of “”Reefer Madness”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbY9ePebWB8
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
10:04 pm
For the record, RW, SC and I have been putting up the funk for quite a while now. JB was way late to the party…..
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:04 pm
RW & josef,
Well, the Bruin ran off, but RW has a good point.
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
10:06 pm
eyes
That Cash is the best thing he ever did…it never ceases to amaze me…
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
10:06 pm
JB was way late to the party
Well there certainly isn’t anything new in that statement and it doesn’t really matter what topic its used on.
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
10:06 pm
Hurricane Paul
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:07 pm
AmVet,
Have you ever listened carefully to the lyrics of this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7in-9E3ImQ&feature=av2e
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
10:07 pm
RW
Oh, the Bruin knows all and sees all! Just ask a certain poster…
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:08 pm
Well, there was Hurricane Paul, but I was the Eye of the Hurricane.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
10:09 pm
Eye of the Hurricane
That’s the tranquil part. You sure you qualify?
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:09 pm
josef,
I only heard that Cash “Hurt” recently. I was well….speechless. Amazing amazing song.
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:10 pm
RW,
A tranquil song from me….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogxTQXAgY3Q
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
10:13 pm
eyes,
This is my go-to tranquil song
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
10:18 pm
OK, PAUL
Here’s for you…hope you enjoyed the concert…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8lJYN3FfC0&feature=related
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:19 pm
RW,
I has never that much into Pink Floyd, but that one I like.
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
10:21 pm
josef–Catching up from the last page, really enjoyed the Carole King song. “Tapestry” was always on the turntable at my house growing up.
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:22 pm
josef,
But then there is this one – a bit more amp to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PstrAfoMKlc&feature=av2e
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
10:22 pm
RW – eyes
Here’s one of my tranquil songs…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEQnzs8wl6E
As you can tell, I don’t always do tranquil quite well.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
10:25 pm
Somehow I knew that was gonna be Metallica.
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:27 pm
SoCo,
That was nothing like I expected from Metallica until near the end of the song.
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
10:27 pm
RW
I was eating at a T.G.I. Friday’s and heard this version..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HoynyGj6CM
Or at least it was an orchestra playing it similar to this. This version sounds like something you’d hear in a movie just before the hero bites the dust.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
10:31 pm
SoCo,
I’d have to switch computers to listen to an alternate version and my lovely bride is currently in control of that alternative. I’ll have to try to remember to give that a listen another time or I’m not getting tranquility or anything else around here for a while.
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
10:31 pm
eyes–Enjoyed the ahmadinejad song along with the Santo & Johhny number.
You’ll have to count me out on the JC “Hurt”, though. Didn’t care much for the Trent Reznor original either.
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:32 pm
Bringing it back up again….hey hey….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs2-BH9_DMA&feature=related
theyeshaveit
August 13th, 2010
10:36 pm
I have to check out but before I do, check this out. Who knew that Sheryl Crow sand with the King of Pop?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Gz821Bnhg
AmVet
August 13th, 2010
10:36 pm
That 5th Beatle stuff was so fun!
Bruno, great story.
eyes, no. But I sure am happy I did now…
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
10:36 pm
eyes–Let me make one small attempt to win you over to some early Pink Floyd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeCyVmhvN8w
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
10:40 pm
Hmmm…HBO is playing Friday the 13th tonight which would make sense except they aren’t showing it until 1:00AM when it’ll be the 14th.
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
10:45 pm
eyes
My “look more closely at Pink Floyd…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7xj8xikyD8&feature=related
AmVet
August 13th, 2010
10:52 pm
Yes there definitely is
…more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
A must see for all Neil fans. He’s at his very best there. Stunning.
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
10:52 pm
RW
I noticed that nobody had any of them on today. I got my quota of blood and mayhem by watching this movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmdP1qTjGZY
I bought three of the four dvd’s that I know of from that series today.
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
10:57 pm
josef–Awesome @ 10:45
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
11:00 pm
Bruno
Thanks…I’m particularly fond of that video…it and the song say a lot about how I see things in relation to my own self in time and space….
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
11:05 pm
josef–In one sense, we are but a small speck in the grand scheme of things as Sagan points out. At the same time, we are the whole Universe, since our entire knowledge of reality exists only in our own heads. A nice duality.
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
11:12 pm
Bruno
My grandfather once said that here we are, this infintissimally unimportant and seemingly so insignificant virtual nonentity and yet, at the same time, the universe being infinite in all directions, we are at its very center…
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:12 pm
SoCo,
This one HBO has on tonight is the 2009 version. I don’t think I ever saw any of the others except in bits and pieces. I think I was programmed for life to avoid those movies by seeing a movie in my youth called Montag or something like that, but he was a magician that took volunteers and just carved them to bits on stage and magically they were back together. Later those people would go out and suddenly be sliced back into pieces with no Montag to fix them.
josef nix
August 13th, 2010
11:13 pm
Would rather not, but it’s been a long week and I’m fading…so good night and will catch up with y’all tomorrow sometime…
And, thanks, RW, for bringing us here…!
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:15 pm
/Disclaimer on that 11:12, it coulda been shrooms and no such movie exists, but I won’t lay a bet either way.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:16 pm
josef,
You keep thanking me and running off, and don’t think I don’t appreciate it, but the thanks should go to j$.
AmVet
August 13th, 2010
11:16 pm
B, like the strong and weak forces? Or more along the *lines* of electromagnetism and gravity? Nyuck. Sagan was a genius in his simplicity of soul and manner of speaking and writing. He made us feel like we had access to these almost impossible ideas.
Well, I must say, this is quite the coup, yes?
Under trying conditions.
Captain Paul Blownapart sends us back in Bookman time, yet, here we party on, Waynes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xANiW9yWvGE
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
11:17 pm
I was about to say I haven’t heard of that movie, but it sounds like one hell of a movie. I’ll have to look for that or something of that nature. It’s been Kung Fu Theatre day at my house. Finishing up with The Chinese Superninjas right now.
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
11:17 pm
Guess I better pack it in also. Enjoyed the evening.
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
11:22 pm
Guess we’ll have to see if this thread can surpass 2404.
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
11:22 pm
Oops–didn’t see your post, Am.
“B, like the strong and weak forces? Or more along the *lines* of electromagnetism and gravity?”
Probably more like “big infinity” and “small infinity”. I.e. The number “line” goes on forever, there is no greatest number = big infinity. At the same time, any segment of the same number line can infinitely subdivided = small infinity.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:24 pm
SoCo,
If you do look for that movie keep in mind that my youth was probably before you were a gleam in anybody’s eye and I’m pretty sure it was at one of those all night horror flick marathons at a drive-in theatre so who knows if they even made copies of those things for posterity.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:26 pm
Guess we’ll have to see if this thread can surpass 2404.
If the Morning Magpies don’t find it first thing Monday it doesn’t have a prayer.
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
11:29 pm
Something tells me they’ll sniff it out.
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
11:31 pm
RW
If there’s info on the net about this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071717/
There has to be info on your movie, if it exists.
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
11:34 pm
About 26 minutes early, but what the hey…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7A2acBVENA
AmVet
August 13th, 2010
11:35 pm
Friday night frights! Vincent Price at his best. What a great memory.
There are only two drive-ins left in Nebraska. The spiral moves on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGPqgkHVe1I
j$
August 13th, 2010
11:35 pm
The Morning Magpies!
Brings a smile.
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
11:39 pm
Am–Back at ya with some more “Parallel Lines”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L6YZ0Xx7uA
Isn’t math fun?
Bruno
August 13th, 2010
11:44 pm
Fun math fact for the day:
Every non-zero, finite inner product space has an orthonormal basis.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:45 pm
SoCo,
As obscure as that might be it’s a 1974 movie. The one I saw wwould have been around 1969 or 1970 when I viewed it and since it was in one of those marathons there’s no telling how long before that it was made.
/….if it existed…
//It did dameet!!! I just know it….
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:47 pm
Aren’t fun facts supposed to be fun? Or at least decipherable?
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
11:48 pm
RW
That’s the site I use to track down old martial arts movies. They have a pretty vast range of titles. I’ve tested it out with different titles just to see if they’d come up. It’s pulled them all up, so far. That includes tv series too.
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
11:51 pm
Every non-zero, finite inner product space has an orthonormal basis.
And every homerun requires the touching of four bases.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:53 pm
SoCo,
I’m not even questioning IMDB. I’ve been known to get lost over there for hours, but I think there was a whole “lost era” of movies that got pushed out just for those kind of promotions and never saw the light of day again.
Hey! Maybe the same thing happened to the movie that happened to the victims.
RW-(the original)
August 13th, 2010
11:57 pm
Shazam!!! IMDB did have it
/I shoulda known Gore was involved….
Southern Comfort
August 13th, 2010
11:59 pm
Hey! Maybe the same thing happened to the movie that happened to the victims.
I hope I didn’t wake my daughter with my laughter. I see your point on the “lost” movies though. If it’s out there, somebody knows about it. There’s probably some geek sitting in his basement talking about it right now,
Southern Comfort
August 14th, 2010
12:00 am
LMFAO!!!!!!!
Honu
August 14th, 2010
12:04 am
TWO em’s and TWO ee’s, dammeet HAHAHAHAHAHA
Hi RW!!!
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:06 am
SoCo,
At least it turned out not to be the shrooms and I was even in the right neighborhood time wise. There must be a few working brain cells left
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:07 am
Hi Honu!
/I always mess that one up dammeet
//Do you ever check your email?
Southern Comfort
August 14th, 2010
12:10 am
I was thinking the same thing about the shrooms. There’s hope for you after all.
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:16 am
There’s hope for you after all
Sounds like movie line time
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
or
I’ve only begun to defile myself.
/God I hope Bruno is gone or instead of identifying the movies he’s going to make that an equation.
Honu
August 14th, 2010
12:19 am
//nuthin’ there to read anymores
But I’m gonna fix that, double dammeet!!! 
Southern Comfort
August 14th, 2010
12:22 am
RW
Prepare for another equation. As for myself, I’m about to call it a night. Got a small list of things to accomplish, but I won’t get anything done without rest.
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:24 am
Honu,
Sign up with WaPo and your inbox will never be without messages.
Are you still a Nutjob or have you gone back to PA?
Honu
August 14th, 2010
12:28 am
Still a nutjob, RW, who kept Lamont out of office AGAIN!!!
But the wrestler lady? Cannot take the blame for that.
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:29 am
SoCo,
Since we’re heavily bunkered in the Jay B underground you need to get your rest in case the rest of us need help moving to new digs later. The first was known to pretty much everyone as Animal House and the second was from the fantastic performance Val Kilmer turned in as Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
AmVet
August 14th, 2010
12:31 am
So the Braves cling to a three game lead. Cards and Reds are brawlin’. And the Bosox stink. Niiice.
And the misspellin’ Alabamians make us Atlantans look a little better!
One last one from the roots…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkVjd1fJMME
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:32 am
Honu,
The current Dems loved the wrestler stuff when they could say things like “Can you smell what BaRock is cooking?” but they don’t like it as much anymore. I hope you guys don’t give in to the faux shame and go ahead and elect her.
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:38 am
cling
Cling?,,, Cling???
Cling is when you’re losing and your opponent just happens to lose too. Expanding is what the Braves are doing with their lead, AmVet.
/Granted it’s only a one day expansion so far, but embrace the crazy. There’s a legitimate chance the Braves could face the Rangers in the World Series and when baseball is that jumbled in mid-August life is good for baseball fans.
Honu
August 14th, 2010
12:40 am
Not if I can help it, RW — I’ll go work for the Blumenthal campaign if I have to! But even Vince is now worried about her effect on “the business!”
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
12:48 am
I’ll go work for the Blumenthal campaign
You “progressives” never want any kind of change.
I’m being paged so I better check out. Goodnight all, and Honu especially!
AmVet
August 14th, 2010
12:50 am
Yeah, RW, but it was 7 or more not long ago. And though the Bravos have not relinquished it, the hold is tenuous with 7 or so weeks left. Thankfully the Mets are miserable. And the Rangers look like they could actually shake off the Bush/Sammie non-curse, but….I’ll believe it when I see it. And ditto the one for fourteen Braves. But at least there are five pennants to enjoy.
Hasta la vista, babies…
larry
August 14th, 2010
7:55 am
The Braves won , The Falcons won and the Columbus GA little league won. Nice night for sports. A Rangers-Braves World Series doesnt sound to far fetched although i predicted a Braves-Yankees World Series at the beginning of the year. It would be nice if Bobby could go out beating the team he used to play for.
Don't Forget
August 14th, 2010
8:28 am
Paradise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vC65_cq0Js&feature=related
Then the coal company came with the world’s largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
@@
August 14th, 2010
10:04 am
So it was Whoopi that Paul had banned?
I’m sooooooo disappointed in Paul.
I started to read one of Whoopi’s posts and immediately thought….silly post….move on. Have no idea what the post said in its entirety. How many Whoopis were buried in the 2,404 comments?
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
11:20 am
So I got up this morning and decided it would be fun to go to Wally World and what do you suppose I found there? A sign that said—Closed Due To Hurricane Paul
Southern Comfort
August 14th, 2010
11:36 am
Closed Due To Hurricane Paul
To quote Hank Hill from King of the Hill, “That boy ain’t right!”
@@
August 14th, 2010
11:44 am
RW:
I must admit, I was somewhat torn when I backtracked. There was Paul…defending my post and calling for Whoopi to be banned, all in one fell swoop. Soooooooooo
I decided to throw myself at the feet of the First Amendment.
Tough choice.
(ISH)
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2010
11:59 am
@@,
I’m just trying to get Paul’s ears burning. It’s not so much fun ribbing him if he doesn’t know it’s happening.
theyeshaveit
August 14th, 2010
12:08 pm
We’re still here. Has Hurricane Paul been downgraded to a tropical storm?
@@
August 14th, 2010
12:10 pm
Maybe Paul’s schizo and banned himself without realizing what his alter had done?
Maybe he’s embarrassed?
You can burn his ears, I’ll burn his backside.
stands for decibels
August 14th, 2010
12:36 pm
josef,
I only heard that Cash “Hurt” recently. I was well….speechless. Amazing amazing song.
I’ve listened to that Cash cover approximately eleventy thousand times over the past several years. I hear something a bit different every time.
the gents at Sound Opinions interviewed the song’s author, Trent Reznor, I think it was last year. They asked him how he felt about being covered by Cash. Paraphrasing here, but Reznor said 1) it was an honor; growing up in a semi-rural part of Illinois, Cash was king when he was a kid, and 2) it was a fascinating choice, and strange to hear another man sing it, since Reznor felt that “Hurt” was one of the most deeply personal songs he’d ever written.
in case anyone cares.