Alito — oy vey
January 30th, 2006 ~ Political circusIt’s a bad day to be a liberal, but they’ve got no one to blame but themselves. As things stand, it looks like Judge Alito will be confirmed onto the Supreme Court. I’m good with that — he seems like a good enough guy. But I never would’ve thought it was such a big deal if the Screechy Left hadn’t told me it was the end of the worrrrrlld. These guys never learn. They gambled every nickel they had in the 2004 election, and so when they lost, it wasn’t just a victory, it was a mandate.
Now they’ve made Judge Alito another litmus test for the country. If the entire country wouldn’t do their bidding and force our Congressfolks to reject a completely capable Supreme Court justice nominee, well then … well, we were all just idiots, dupes and hicks. Beneath contempt. Thick-skulled. Bigoted. Barbaric. Smelly. Hairy-toed.
Yada yada yada. Do they have any idea how repetitive it all gets after a while? Meanwhile, I’m looking at them and so are a lot of other people. This issue has made the Angry Left even angrier, which I wouldn’t have believed was possible. These guys have lost their flippin’ minds. Even their usual buddies like Dianne Feinstein and Robert Byrd have bailed off the U. S. S. Wacko, leaving only the desperate power-grabbers like Kerry, dinosaurs like Ted Kennedy and froot loops like Howard Dean to man the pumps.
Kerry and Kennedy have been posting and commenting on leftie blog Daily Kos, (so if anyone wants to tell me again that Republicans are in as tight with the right-wingers as Democrats are with the left, you can just point me to one senior Republican who would be caught dead posting to an inflammatory right-wing blog). Kennedy did his patented “I’m mad as hell” impersonation on the Senate floor — you can download the video here if you want to match your next carpet to his fire-engine hue. Howard Dean … well, he’s got other problems right now, but I’m assuming that we can count on him to put this in proper Deaniac perspective after the confirmation. Probably go on Hardball in minstrel blackface and say that this is what Judge Alito’s America is all about or something witty like that. (He can take his talking points from these nutballs, whose odious little site is what pops up first if you Google-search “Alito”.)
The thing is, the Screechy Left are taking things further and further out. A year or so ago, everyone (normal) was afraid that Hillary Clinton would be a presidential nominee in 2008. But do you realize she’s not liberal enough for these guys? They’re still the ones making the most noise, but what a noise. Back in 2004, they hated Bush (one journalist at a major daily said, “I hate George Bush with the heat of a thousand suns.”). Then they hated Joe Lieberman. Recently they’ve hated Dianne Feinstein, their own Gang of 14, Chris Matthews the “Hardball” guy, and finally all the Democrats who didn’t vote their way. (R-rated version here.) Now they hate Alito.
I don’t understand them. Not at all. Where is this all supposed to end? Wouldn’t you think they’d be tired of hating so much? Don’t they think that people will eventually hate them for it?
We’ll see, I guess. I can’t imagine what happens next. I would’ve thought they’d have to either come in off the ledge or jump by now, but they seem to like it out there. Probably because it makes the plastic propeller on their tinfoil hats turn so fast.
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January 31st, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Huh. I’m liberal, I don’t hate any of the above. I may disagree, but hate is an awfully strong word.
I also sincerely hope I’m not screechy.
January 31st, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Aaaaannnnnnd, the 1000-suns bon mot would have applied equally well to the Rabid Right’s view of Clinton c. 1999.
BJohnD
The Last Scoop Jackson Democrat (or is it Jerry Ford Republican? I can never remember) Left in the Wild
January 31st, 2006 at 4:40 pm
No, I don’t think you are. That’s why I’m starting to be specific — left *wing*, Angry Left, Screechy Left. I have liberal siblings, but they aren’t Screechy Left — they’re normal left. Likewise, they have a Christian conservative sister — but hopefully not right-wing. I’m guessing my sister doesn’t care much for Michael Moore; I don’t like Ann Coulter. My sister and I could sit down over dinner and talk about stuff — maybe even get a little worked up about it — without insulting each other or questioning the other person’s right to hold a differing opinion. And so their humanity and mine would be preserved.
It’s very hard to talk about these things without sliding into broad characterizations. But I am beginning to be truly concerned about what this constant diet of bile from the Screechy Ones is doing to the country. We’re not likely to start another civil war, but in its place, we seem to be incapable of having political, judicial or cultural issues and events that don’t become some kind of mandate of Left vs. Right.
It’s hard enough to iron out our difficulties without people around who just seem to be emotional for the sake of being emotional.
January 31st, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I agree completely, Grace,and that’s why I try so hard to separate the policies I disagree with from the people who espouse them. I do not support many of the President’s policies, and truth be told, I don’t tend to think he’s overly intelligent. However, I also don’t think that screetching, harping, and overblowing every minute detail of policy is in any way productive.
I don’t like Michael Moore or Ann Coulter either.
I think that tea with both you and your sister would be delightful.
January 31st, 2006 at 4:58 pm
BJohnD:
Re: Bush hatred = Clinton hatred:
I’ve heard others say this, and we’ll never know exactly. My personal input (for whatever that’s worth) is that I didn’t *hate* Clinton, and more to the point, I would’ve thought it was bizarre and completely inappropriate for a newspaper reporter to say that they did.
Now, did I *criticize* Clinton? Lampoon him? Give him a piece of my mind in the privacy of my own house? Ya you betcha! And goodness knows people do that with Bush or whoever else, and vaya con Dios. Free country and all that.
But this stuff has crossed the line so completely that it’s hard to even see where it used to be.
January 31st, 2006 at 5:08 pm
Mimi,
Tea sounds delightful! I’ll pour out. :-)
Actually, my liberal sister is a couple states away in one direction, so it’s hard for us to get together. And to be honest, my other sister, who’s kind of a fence-sitter, hates talking about politics. But she’s a couple states away in the other direction.
So no wonder we’re able to keep so much harmony in the family.
January 31st, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Living a couple of states away helps in our family too ;)
February 1st, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Grace, please don’t get me wrong: I wasn’t accusing *you* of “hating Clinton.” I was merely trying to say that this sort of thing cuts both ways. There are haters on both sides of the aisle — or, to use your better image, way out on either wing. I’m pretty sure folks like Coulter hold more than a strong dislike for Clinton.
In the end, I’m with you on this: The tone and the invective are making serious debate impossible. Many on the left are unable to think straight, so consumed are they with hatred for Bush. I’m not a fan of his, but there’s a limit.
Basically, I second both of your 1/31 posts.
February 1st, 2006 at 3:11 pm
No no, I didn’t think you were accusing me. I think I just used myself as an example because part of the problem with these sorts of things is that it’s all so subjective that people could disagree forever about whether someone else hates or doesn’t hate.
In the same way, I was appalled that any of the obviously wonderful people who would read this enty would think I thought they were crazy. I was responding to stuff on the airwaves and in the blogosphere, and I had to generalize to express it.
But then, that’s more than enough ink spilled — or bandwidth used up — on all this. There must be something more fun to talk about by now.
February 1st, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Well, there’s the Feast of the Entrance of Our Lord Into the Temple. That’s a good thing!