Adele Stan over at Tapped looks at Richard Viguerie’s Picks for Attorney General, and brings up (and Chris in her comments makes explicit) something that gets right up Your Humble Blogger’s nose.
If Senate Democrats fail to use the confirmation process to make clear that Alberto Gonzalez’ actions as Attorney General are unacceptable and to demand that the nominee repudiate them and swear to uphold the actual constitution and the laws the Senate passes, then they (a) fail to carry out their constitutional duty, and (2) look like pathetic wimps who can’t be trusted with the nation’s responsibilities. If, on the other hand, they do use the confirmation process to make clear that Alberto Gonzalez’ actions as Attorney General are unacceptable and to demand that the nominee repudiate them and swear to uphold the actual constitution and the laws the Senate passes, then they (1) are making political hay out of an unfortunate situation, and (b) cannot put partisanship aside to make the machinery of government actually function. In other words, they can’t win.
Now, that isn’t necessarily true. The way I read the political situation and the way the news and newsy broadcasts, I think that’s the likeliest scenario. That is, the partisanship filter is so firmly affixed in front of the cameras that I don’t think you could pry it off with a crowbar, and the mommy party/daddy party filter is pretty solidly stuck on there, too.
There is another filter that could be in place, the one that has inscribed on its frame these words: The reason the President and the Republicans in Congress are so unpopular is because of all their failures. Viewed through what we might call the failure party filter, the situation looks more like ...
If the Democrats in the Senate use the confirmation process to make clear that Alberto Gonzalez’ actions as Attorney General are unacceptable and to demand that the nominee repudiate them and swear to uphold the actual constitution and the laws the Senate passes, it’s because (1) the unpopular failure we call Our Only President has once again nominated somebody from his secretive cabal of crooks and incompetents, and nobody can trust this nominee as far as we could throw Sen. Kennedy, and (b) the Senate is doing its damn’ job already. On the other hand, if Senate Democrats in the Senate use the confirmation process to make clear that Alberto Gonzalez’ actions as Attorney General are unacceptable and to demand that the nominee repudiate them and swear to uphold the actual constitution and the laws the Senate passes, it’s because (a) they are concentrating on the future, and not letting the unpopular failure we call Our Only President distract them from the war, the power grab he (not the Attorney General) has directed and is responsible for, and the teetering economic and environmental situation, and (2) they have forced the unpopular failure we call Our Only President to back down, eat their shit and nominate somebody they demanded.
Of course, it is possible that the story the country tells itself about the replacement of the disgraced Attorney General will depend on whether Our Only President really does once again nominate somebody from his secretive cabal of crooks and incompetents or if he eats shit and nominates somebody from Sen. Reid’s list. But I think that will be difficult to determine. Which list is Orrin Hatch on? Which list is Ted Olsen on? Which list is George Terwilliger on? Which list is Laurence Silberman on? Really, the people who get to decide that are the ones with the cameras, many of them looking through the wrong filters.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.
Well, the people who get to decide what the Corporate Media’s interpretation of the Senate’s actions will be are those who run and/or work for the Corporate Media.
The extent to which the Corporate Media’s narrative will determine what American citizens think about the Senate’s actions is not clear.
Since it’s obvious that, if the Corporate Media sticks to its standard narrative devices, the Democrats are made to look bad no matter what they do, they might as well do the right thing, so that they will at least earn (and merit) the support of the people who don’t believe the Corporate Media’s standard narrative.
That’s the main thing they can do to force the Corporate Media to change its filters.
they might as well do the right thing
Yes. Not to mention the fact that doing the right thing has advantages regardless of the propaganda, just as doing the wrong thing has drawbacks regardless of the propaganda.
Those who implemented torture as American policy will rot in hell. They betrayed national law, international law, God’s law, and human decency. They have incalculably damaged our nation’s credibility, safety, security, and character. Gonzalez was openly key in that effort, and yet this Senate and its immediate predecessors confirmed him and left him in office.
I’d like to see this Senate try to earn and merit my support, but they are an awful long way in the hole.
y’all saw the wired article, right? about the FBI wiretapping system.
personally i’m only now guessing about things whose occurrence is impossible hard to determine even while happening.
As for doing the right thing, I kinda want the Senate Democrats to force Our Only President to back down and nominate someone from Sen. Leahy’s list, and then to demand that the nominee repudiate Alberto Gonzalez, and then whether he does so or not, portray that nominee as spineless, corrupt and incompetent, and Our Only President as shockingly out of touch to have even considered him.
If they could get away with it.
Thanks,
-V.