"This Demands That A Really Stupid And Futile Gesture Be Done On Someone's Part"

Merry Fitzmas? Riiiiiight.

A Senate Minority Leadership staffer says this plan to shut down the Senate was hostaed last night, as staff and Democratic Senators looked over the wreckage of what they believed was going to be their finest few days in a long time: an indictment of a White House official, a struggling President, a conservative judicial nominee, a splintering conservative base.

"Alito's nomination and the press that followed just devastated them," says the leadership source. "They couldn't get their message out. They felt that things had pivoted on them, and that with the President presenting his plan for avian flu, with the Alito nomination going apparently well, with the tax panel recommendations, they were going to get ploughed under. This was a stunt. But it worked."

It worked? I don't know. Is anyone really talking about it?

A lot of left-wing bloggers were saying stuff like "rightwingers are shittin' their pants over this! Whoo-hoo!" I really had no idea what they were talking about. I posted it because Drudge had it in big red letters and I figured people would want to comment on it. And just to throw up a quick and easy post, quite frankly. I don't ever remember being more than bemused and slightly interested-- whether by friend or foe, I'm not above enjoying the cheap threatrics of politics. Most often it's cornball and stupid or tasteless, like Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," but it's unexpected and at least something to talk about.

I really didn't think much of it either way. It was a stunt. Like having all those Congressmen walk out of Congress and gather on the steps of the Capitol to protest Clinton's impeachment.

Did it either work? Well, as a stunt, sure, I guess. It got publicity.

And then what?

I could pull some jackass stunt to get a one-day spike in traffic, but... what comes next? What exactly would that get me, long-term?

You know what was a cool stunt? Evel Kinevel attempting to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-bike.

You know how long I was fascinated by that, even as a young kid? About, like, two days. And then I became fascinated by the In Search Of... Bigfoot episode that aired later in the week.

There's that awful stink of flop-sweat and wet-palmed desperation wafting off the liberal Democrats lately, and a lot of backclapping and "Huzzah, boys! We got 'em on the run now" even through chattering teeth.

posted by Ace at 04:41 PM

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