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 20th, 2010
5:37 pm
A wish……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCKb044mu4
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
5:41 pm
Normal,
If you saw the movie “Ray”, you know that one of those girls really wanted Ray to hit the road.
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
5:42 pm
Okay, over 800…now we can get the show on the road…
eyes
Had eight older siblings so I heard them all the way back to the earliest days of rock and roll
Kamchak
August 20th, 2010
5:44 pm
Normal
She’s had to put her foot down when it comes to long copy and paste posts.
Vile and inane pretty much sums up what some post over there. Do you realize that it is the same individuals that you interact with here?
As stands for decibels said over there, kinda makes me appreciate how Jay “herds the cats” here.
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
5:47 pm
We once talked about personal theme songs here. This song is one that I played and sang as if it were my own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPk11AugG4c
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
5:50 pm
Speaking of Jay, how long has this man been gone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIK5F4zRN0Y
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
5:53 pm
eyes, lovely. One of my faves by one of my faves as well…
Here’s a cover that Hillbilly are both pretty much in love with as well.
From one of the very greatest albums ever done IMHO, Laid Back…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCUxJFtTFNk
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
5:54 pm
Well, it looks like it isn’t going to happen here tonight. The thrill is gone I guess. I leave you with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWAA89Xv8tc
Southern Comfort
August 20th, 2010
5:57 pm
Normal
Quit your bellyaching. Jay will return next week and all will be well once again.
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
5:58 pm
Hillbilly and I…
And that Ace song is one of many that instantly takes me back to a certain place and time.
Potash Farm, Clopton, England.
Here’s another…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rspU0WOwv3I
Don't Forget
August 20th, 2010
6:02 pm
If y’all are going to do “Sixteen Tons” I’m doing this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u964a0f38s
These guys can play!
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
6:06 pm
Don’t know what it’s like where y’all are but here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGiceab-jqQ&feature=related
Southern Comfort
August 20th, 2010
6:10 pm
josef
Where I’m sitting…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG8YCvBY2Q8
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
6:13 pm
Don’t Forget, that was smokin’! Love great Bluegrass.
Another tune that Hillbilly turned me onto that hit me right in the heart.
Something about it reminds me of listening to AM radio and dreaming of places far away…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dS4AaXLtos
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
6:19 pm
eyes, another sweet choice. Sometimes I wonder if it will ever be possible to tire of those guys…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaC_cChs6hA&feature=related
Don't Forget
August 20th, 2010
6:31 pm
Thanks AmVet, nice Skaggs tune too!
I’m sure you all remember the Dilliard’s, better known as the Darlin’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd_WJIrxApI
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
6:42 pm
AmVet
@ 6:19
Thanks! I had forgotten just what that one tugs at in me…
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
6:51 pm
One’s year of birth?
This was an incredibly cool song, really, if you give it a chance and listen to it without all the baggage of a certain memorable movie scene featuring bikers and an androgynous leading man…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWT3y2CZXVQ&feature=search
Normal
August 20th, 2010
6:55 pm
For when Jay gets back…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5M_Ttstbgs
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
6:59 pm
theyes @ 5.47, ever heard Nico’s cover of that Jackson Browne tune?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_z_UEuEMAo&feature=search
(it’s how I was introduced to it, anyway. Fountains of Wayne do a lovely cover of it too.)
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
6:59 pm
Tequila! Man stands, that was a great song for its time.
Back at ya 58…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiEnEox6KL8
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
7:06 pm
utterly off topic, but it’s a Friday ritual for me and I’ll share–
I always download the NPR weekly show On the Media around this time. I’m dreading it this week, though, because I know they’re going to lead with the Gr*und Zer* M*sque story…
Anyway, it’s a great show (even when they’re covering unpleasant stuff)–if you aren’t familiar, it’s linkable here
http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia
and broadcast on WABE 90.1 2pm Sundays.
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
7:09 pm
AmVet, who among us does not love Bo Diddly?
reminds me–my beloved rock ‘n roll rock-critic radio show, Sound Opinions (from WBEZ Chicago), did a nice tribute to Chess Records (where Bo recorded) coupla weeks ago. Link’s here:
http://www.soundopinions.org/shownotes/2010/080610/shownotes.html
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
7:11 pm
Normal, LOL!
At least it won’t be 40 days and nights in the wilderness, with the beasts…
At last, a soaking rain here.
For the band…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdrGS__yg6Q
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
7:11 pm
1958? Latino…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp6j5HJ-Cok&feature=related
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
7:14 pm
A fabulous cover of a glorious hit from 1958…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcDtkBfn2SI&feature=search
Crank it, comrades!
Don't Forget
August 20th, 2010
7:16 pm
I wonder if Jay will bring back any photos/videos from his vacation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJjUt2sXo5o
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
7:16 pm
Okay, from a band member to Bruno and normal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwap79uy1G8
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
7:18 pm
j-nix, being that my high school spanish is only dimly remembered, I’d never bothered to check an english translation of that Valens classic.
it’s not.. um… that deep. Or maybe it loses something.
But it’s a rockin’ tune.
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
7:20 pm
SFD
@ 7:14
Workers of the world unite! Great choice…
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
7:21 pm
Okay, from a band member to Bruno and normal
If there was ever a better rock song based on two chords, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard it.
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
7:26 pm
Workers of the world unite!
well, since you mention it–Ray Davies’ take on all that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE_tNHWtspU
(…from a criminally under appreciated album, probably because the kinks’ “Act II” wasn’t really all that great.)
Kid’s homework needs reviewin’. Later, all.
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
7:31 pm
SFD
It’s a happy little ditty more than anything else…it was in the top ten that year…
now for poetry in lyrics many versions but she’s my favorite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVWBeUqBrz8
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
7:37 pm
Did someone mention “Latino”? And what do you imagine happens when Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton get together? Jingo, baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAf3gqdCrDs
Bruno
August 20th, 2010
7:38 pm
Catching up from earlier, enjoyed “These Days” from eyes, “Highway 40 Blues” from Am, “Hot Rod Lincoln” from Normal, “Nine Pound Hammer” from DF, and “Paperback Writer” from our own author, josef. Good work, fellows!
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
7:47 pm
Bruno,
OK. We’re going to take you higher now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygomJjjdc0U
Southern Comfort
August 20th, 2010
7:51 pm
eyes
Bruno is a special case. If you want to take him higher, you’ll have to try this method..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfydfBXlByk
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
7:53 pm
eyes
back at ya for Bruno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K82nMSy-IWQ
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
7:53 pm
Well, while we all wait for the room to refresh, I’m waiting on a friend…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0NYKWLMgx0&feature=av2e
j$
August 20th, 2010
7:56 pm
High Enough from those Damn Yankees:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qbSTATrnWI
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
7:56 pm
SoCo,
Oh, yes……Man, I inhaled and inhaled a lot when I first heard that one.
j$
August 20th, 2010
8:02 pm
peace out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-KAvPbO8JY
Southern Comfort
August 20th, 2010
8:02 pm
eyes
The wonders of older brothers. I was born in the early 70’s, but I knew a lot more than most of the kids my age thanks to my older brothers. I didn’t inhale myself, but I knew what was going on if I heard War or Sly playing in the backroom.
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:03 pm
SoCo,
Remember this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA51wyl-9IE
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
8:05 pm
SoCo
Hey, what’s Friday without a little funk and a little gospel and why not mix the two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T33cS1yT-vc
j$
August 20th, 2010
8:11 pm
a little miserlou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UmmbF1Zyvk
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:11 pm
josef,
My younger brother was/is a musician. He would play mostly his own material at our communal house back in the day, but he would also entertain us with anything from Eddie Cantor to Jackson Browne, to Stevie Wonder.
Here is one that he’d sing for us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTX2Db6naaU
Southern Comfort
August 20th, 2010
8:12 pm
eyes
I haven’t heard that in years…
josef
NOW THAT’S MUSIC!!!!
Southern Comfort
August 20th, 2010
8:13 pm
gotta call it an early night. I’ll chat with y’all later…
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:13 pm
j$,
You surfer dude you! How did we ever dance to that stuff?
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:14 pm
SoCo,
Good night to you.
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
8:16 pm
Wow! Anybody who wasn’t blown away by Sly was either REALLY bada$$ or was just foolish.
Boom lacka lacka.
Second only to Jimi in my black book. (Man I kill myself!)
eyes, I first encountered weed in 1970. I became friends with two guys in the AF. One had a fast car and dig this, they both wore wigs! I remember this bag and banana papers. And for whatever reason, I didn’t get off.
Just young and dumb I guess. A couple of years later, right before I went into said AF, I spent the summer with my cousin in Denver. And the one time I smoked there, I did!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUla5dlZeto
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
8:17 pm
SoCo
War you say…did you inhale…don’t answer that!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTBPdVpdMc&p=548F236C85D6904C&playnext=1&index=4
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:17 pm
Just a thought….All the vets on the blog could fight a war, but they could not find their way here. Where’s Scout, Del, Popeye et al?
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:20 pm
AmVet,
I was in the Air Force (at Fort Meade, MD) and met this comely Maryland girl at a college dance. Around about our third date, I showed up at her house with a semi-hippie wig on. She and her conservative Catholic Irish family were not amused. I almost ruined with her right then.
barking frog
August 20th, 2010
8:24 pm
Eyes, Scout was at Cynthia’s, Del said he was going
to Alaska for two weeks, all i know about.
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:24 pm
AmVet,
None of us remember Cab Calloway and banging the bong, but I wish I could.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mq4UT4VnbE
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:25 pm
barking,
Had Scout been here, I would have played him some Jesus Rock.
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
8:26 pm
War…
on the eight track in the van…me, Unmentionable, Syrian Jew-Choctaw d*ke and her lover and my bestest friend the pan African-nationalist-lesbian separtist-uppity you-know-what on a hot summer night cruising about Jackson watching them watch us and just being ever so cool..living “the revolution!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTBPdVpdMc&p=548F236C85D6904C&playnext=1&index=4
barking frog
August 20th, 2010
8:26 pm
He was rocking about Jesus earlier..
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
8:27 pm
For RW,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpCEA9-Rq50
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:28 pm
This is what Doctor Laura needs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCLK8DuzZaE&feature=fvst
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:31 pm
Here is a better one for Doctor Laura. I hope she doesn’t feel like I am NAACPing her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxUWaX0Ta_Q&feature=related
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 20th, 2010
8:31 pm
Not from my birth year but I remember this song from my days before I started school. It was something hearing this song several times a day. Even then whenever this song played, I could see the entire story in my head and I still see it when I hear it today. This is truly a movie set to music but the pictures are up to the listener.
The late, great Grady Martin played lead guitar on this. Listen closely. There are over 40 lead runs in this song and he never plays the same run twice. The Glaser Brothers were the harmony singers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgI5DMVegIk
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:35 pm
Hillbilly,
Thank you for that. I had forgotten all about that song. But my grandfather loved it. I mean LOVED it. He would play that 45 RPM over and over again.
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
8:37 pm
AmVet
@ 8:16
That was the best yet! Thanks! And as Ole Sol would say…
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
–Ecclesiastes 1:9
Normal
August 20th, 2010
8:37 pm
Josef, Stands, Sound track…1960 (?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHZaFbwUHkc
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
8:40 pm
Doobies for Saul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra7_60iwpk8
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
8:41 pm
oops make that for SCOUT…but it’s good for Saul, too…my Freudian slip is showing!
Normal
August 20th, 2010
8:41 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAHODyEpm2w&feature=related
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
8:43 pm
How could anyone hear that Havens and not be flat out amazed.
I’ve seen it countless times and still, it blows me away.
And Stevland’s “handicap” makes what he has accomplished even more special. A true American treasure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZdPts3gEjg
Normal
August 20th, 2010
8:44 pm
Howe I feel ’bout now…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1aMTWdQnzo
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:45 pm
Jesus is just all right, but let’s have some sympathy for the devil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLddJ1WceHQ
Normal
August 20th, 2010
8:51 pm
Sorry I can’t stay longer butI gotta be a..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kb7wZokLHQ
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:52 pm
Normal,
That one takes me back some. Thanks.
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
8:54 pm
Hillbilly
That Marty Robbins…what memories it brings back…one of the greatest songs by one of the greatest performers of all time…
Normal
August 20th, 2010
8:55 pm
Last one, just because I like this song…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fgGNZYR5QM
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:56 pm
The old laughing lady…..when she leaves, she leaves nothing at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqgSyi_lWXA&feature=related
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
8:59 pm
j$ @ 8.02, pretty as that that tune is (and as much as I love and miss George), I’ll never forget a snarky letter to Rolling Stone that appeared soon after its release which went something like:
“George sings, ‘help me cope with my heavy load.’ Does he mean to say has too much money? If so I’d be happy to help him out.”
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
8:59 pm
My lady and I are going to step out. This seems like a good one to leave behind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSnxS74JE1M
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
9:02 pm
we’ve been all over the board tonight, but it’s all being done with…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMKblZEnD3c
stands for decibels
August 20th, 2010
9:04 pm
The late, great Grady Martin played lead guitar on this. Listen closely. There are over 40 lead runs in this song and he never plays the same run twice.
You know, I never thought to notice that.
Learn something new every Friday.
(and with that, I’m outa here. Pleasant evening, all.)
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 20th, 2010
9:05 pm
Josef @ 8:54
Many years ago, I had the good fortune to be casually acquainted with Marty Robbins. He was a truly nice man. Nothing phony about him.
j$
August 20th, 2010
9:06 pm
I’d like to add this wild one for RW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCJSSL9iGHM
theyeshaveit
August 20th, 2010
9:07 pm
OK, one more……..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhHfcLwEzp0
j$
August 20th, 2010
9:09 pm
sorry, that one takes about 20 sec. to get going…
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 20th, 2010
9:09 pm
See if anybody knows this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCmOWgGit9M
Honu
August 20th, 2010
9:12 pm
Hi Josef — great Brook Benton selection. My papa had the best singing voice. When I lived in GA and would call him, the caller ID came up Georgia, and he would always answer singing either “Rainy Night in Georgia” or “Georgia on My Mind” to me. He’d also leave it on my voice mail. I’ve been gone from there 9 years now, but always kept my 770 GA phone number, just so he’d see it on his caller ID and sing to me. We buried our beloved papa one year ago today, and it’s funny because I was just thinking earlier that it’s probably time to change my phone number. But now, perhaps not. Thanks
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
9:14 pm
Hillbilly
Man! What an experience!
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 20th, 2010
9:14 pm
This guy is a star in Europe but he’s never been properly appreciated here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP3hgACoDMU
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 20th, 2010
9:22 pm
A nice, melancholy song with a good melody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCmOWgGit9M
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
9:23 pm
Honu
May he rest in peace and never change that numbe
This is one of my “Mama” songs…everytime I hear it, I think of her…my friends all thought my Mama was just “too cool…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYFhWV8–io
j$
August 20th, 2010
9:26 pm
You rock, HD. Thanks
Hi Honu!!
j$
August 20th, 2010
9:29 pm
You too, jo-nix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4AheUl6ls
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
9:30 pm
The other song that brings Mama back…she gave me this album telling me, “I think of you when I hear this, my little Heathen…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL0g0Ef4iKY&feature=related
josef nix
August 20th, 2010
9:34 pm
j$
@ 9:29
j$
August 20th, 2010
9:36 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHbpPp7bWBo
AmVet
August 20th, 2010
9:39 pm
j$, some nice selections. Keep on keeping on.
I always love the feeling Normal brings to the mix. (I have that Poco record.)
HD, my father liked that Robbins song. And the spiral moves on…
Browne’s catalog is just so deep and rich.
…thunder and lightning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_76cFrvTFVc
@@
August 20th, 2010
9:50 pm
Other than lullabies, I wasn’t listening to music at the age of 1.
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 20th, 2010
9:53 pm
Other than lullabies, I wasn’t listening to music at the age of 1.
A late bloomer, eh? (IW&SH)