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November 02, 2005

The Breaking of the Fellowship: Graham, DeWine Announce They'll Go Nuclear If Alito Is Filibustered

And we only need two of the seven to force a 50-50 tie, Cheney casts the tie-breaking vote.

That seems to have quieted noise about filibustering him:

After a brief flurry of filibuster talk immediately following Alito's nomination, Senate Democrats now are taking a wait-and-see stance.
"I don't know a single Democrat who is saying that it's time for a filibuster, that we should really consider it," said Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, after meeting with Alito Wednesday. "It's way too early."

Nelson said he had received assurances from Alito "that he wants to go to the bench without a political agenda, that he is not bringing a hammer and chisel to hammer away and chisel away on existing law."

As annoyed as we all get with the RINOs, they do occasionally vote our way.

posted by Ace at 06:48 PM

Comments

I think DeWine is up for reelection in 06. I also think he got the message.

Posted by: Dave in Texas on November 2, 2005 07:00 PM

I think you underestimate the value of what the "RINOs" did. By making the compromise, they set the GOP up to go nuclear - if need be - with less public backlash. Because of that compromise, RINOs like me are now like, "hell yeah, pull the trigger on those obstructionist bastards if they fillibuster."

Or, alternately, put the Dems in their place w/o having to go nuclear.

Posted by: Bill from INDC on November 2, 2005 07:35 PM

I was ready for Carolinians to abort Edwards for his mini-McCain behavior but lately he's gotten the message. I was especially pleased to see him stand up against the $250 million Alaskan bridge. I wish all my senators had done the same. Brit Hume or Chris Wallace need to get some Republican senators like Liz Dole on their show to explain why they couldn't cut any pork to pay for New Orleans.

Posted by: waelse1 on November 2, 2005 07:37 PM

THIS is why I was always a member of the Coalition of the Chillin', as some of the good folks over at RedState dubbed it. Graham and DeWine have always been a bit flakey, IMHO, but I knew that when push came to shove they, along with McCain (who has to pay the piper SOMEDAY if he wants to run in '08) and Warner, would push the Big Red Button if necessary.

Oh, and Ben Nelson (D-NE) also praised Alito today. Done deal, boys and girls.

And now: the John Paul Stevens Deathwatch.

Posted by: Jeff B. on November 2, 2005 07:38 PM

No crap, Jeff B. Did you see Stevens swearing in Roberts? Dead man walkin'!

Posted by: JFH on November 2, 2005 08:27 PM

If Stevens retires (or dies - he's what, 85?), the moonbats will freak. Three, count them, three Supremes appointed by Chimpy McSmirkerer.

That will be fun.

Posted by: Pixy Misa on November 2, 2005 08:30 PM

Stevens will not retire with a republican in the whitehouse. For he, too, is a moonbat.

Posted by: on November 2, 2005 08:45 PM

May he denotnate right in the middle of the senate or right where TED KENNEDY will be sitting

Posted by: spurwing plover on November 2, 2005 09:05 PM

HEY! That Graham feller is MY Senator! Oh, wait, that should embarass me... Never mind, sorry...

Posted by: chip on November 2, 2005 09:23 PM

I'm afraid this is why Reid pulled that closed session stunt, and there will be more to come soon: by being deliberately antagonistic, the Dems are preparing the ground for the media to spin the Constitutional option -- when it comes -- as petty partisan payback rather than a matter of constitutional principle.

Posted by: quiggs on November 2, 2005 09:25 PM

Let me pose a dangerous question. Suppose Stevens or one of the other left-wing justices shuffles off the mortal coil. Would it then be okay for Bush to appoint someone less conservative like Gonzales or... Gonzales? The court would still be left, on balance, more conservative.

Posted by: V the K on November 3, 2005 07:29 AM

Suppose Stevens or one of the other left-wing justices shuffles off the mortal coil. Would it then be okay for Bush to appoint someone less conservative like Gonzales or... Gonzales?

No. His oath was to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States to the best of his ability. His understanding of the Constitution and the consensus of those who elected him preclude the appointment of justices who ignore that document.

Posted by: VRWC Agent on November 3, 2005 08:13 AM

Being from SC, I ripped Graham a new one on my blog and in a letter to him for his role in "The Gang." I got a nice three paged typed letter back explaining the action.

I still disagreed with it and him on that issue, but I don't think Lindsey "Vice President" Graham is a RINO. Yeah, he follows "President" McCain too much on some peripheral issues. But as shown by his stance in cutting pork, he is more conservative than RINO and a lot more conservative than many other Republicans. Of course he is not close to being as conservative as SC's other senator - Jim DeMint.

Posted by: Aaron on November 3, 2005 08:59 AM

How could the Democrats in the Gang try to justify a fillibuster of a guy who get praise from sources like this?

It's a done deal. He's in.

Posted by: Hubris on November 3, 2005 09:21 AM

I'm glad that I'm a little bit older now and know that the threat of a filibuster is way more powerful than, you know, an actual filibuster.

Posted by: tachyonshuggy on November 3, 2005 10:08 AM

The whole allusion to the LotRFotR is hilarious.

I do think that Peter Jackson was unfair to Faramir and Boromir though. Lets see, the not-too-bright prince, maybe McCain? The sensitive, not quite as strong brother, maybe Nelson?

Posted by: joeindc44 on November 3, 2005 11:07 AM

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Oil prices plunge on bizarre realization that Eric Swalwell may actually be straight. A rapey molester, allegedly, but a straight one.

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Classic Rock Mystery Click
This is super-obscure and I only barely remember it. Given that, I'll give you the hint that it's by the Red Rocker.
And I guess you think you've got it made
Oh, but then, you never were afraid
Of anything that you've left behind
Oh, but it's alright with me now
'Cause I'll get back up somehow
And with a little luck, yes, I'm bound to win
Now twenty people will tell me it's not obscure, it was huge in their hometown and played at their prom. That's how it usually goes. When I linked Donnie Iris's "Love is Like a Rock," everyone said they knew that one and that his other song (which I didn't know at all) Ah Leah! was huge in their area.

Sarah Longwell spotting

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thanks to stevey

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David French just posted:

Populists ask what conservativism has ever conserved?
Well its about to conserve birthright citizenship!
Posted by: 18-1

I couldn't hate this queen of the cuck-chair more if it paid seven figures and came with a corner office.

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In more marketing for Project Hail Mary, scientists say they've found the biosigns indicating life growing on an alien planet. It's not proof, just signatures of chemicals that are produced by biological metabolism, and it could be nothing, but scientists think it's a strong sign that this planet is inhabited by something.

In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team of scientists announced the detection of dimethyl sulfide (along with a similar detection of dimethyl disulfide) in the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18b. This is actually the second detection of dimethyl sulfide made on this planet, following a tentative detection in 2023.
Tons of chemicals are detected in the atmospheres of celestial objects every day. But dimethyl sulfide is different, because on Earth, it's only produced by living organisms.
"It is a shock to the system," Nikku Madhusudhan, first author on the paper, told the New York Times. "We spent an enormous amount of time just trying to get rid of the signal."

He means they tried to prove the signal was caused by things other than dimethyl sulfide but they could not.

Artemis moon shot a go, scheduled for 6:24 Eastern time tonight
Great marketing arranged by Amazon to promote Project Hail Mary. Okay not really but it does work out that way.

TJM talks John Boorman, director of Excalibur

Good rickroll

What? Skeleton of the most famous Musketeer, D'Artagnan, possibly discovered in Dutch church closet.
Dumas picked four names of real musketeers out of a history book, D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. So there was an actual D'Artagnan, though he made most of the story up. (Or, you know, all of it.)*

Charles de Batz de Castelmore, known as d'Artagnan, the famous musketeer of Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV, spent his life in the service of the French crown.
The Gascon nobleman inspired Alexandre Dumas's hero in "The Three Musketeers" in the 19th century, a character now known worldwide thanks to the novel and numerous film adaptations.
D'Artagnan was killed during the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and there is a statue honoring the musketeer in the city. His final resting place has remained a mystery ever since.

A lot of Dumas's stories are based on bits of real history. The plot of the >Three Musketeers, about trying to recover lost diamonds from the queen's necklace, was cribbed from the then-almost-contemporaneous Affair of the Queen's Necklace. And the Man in the Iron Mask is based on real accounts of a prisoner forced to wear a mask (though I think it was a velvet mask).
* Oh, I should mention, Dumas says all this, about finding the names in an old book, in the prologue to his novel. But authors lie a lot. They frequently present fictions as based on historic fact. The twist is, he was actually telling the truth here. At least about these four musketeers having actually existed and served under Louis XIV.
Fun fact: You know the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars where the local gunslingers make fun of Clint Eastwood's donkey and Eastwood demands they apologize to the donkey? That's lifted from The Three Musketeers. Rochefort mocks D'Artagnan's old, brokedown farm horse and D'Artagnan is incensed.

A commenter asked which should be read first, The Hobbit of LOTR?
Easy, no question -- read The Hobbit first. It's actually the start of the story and comes first chronologically. It sets up some major characters and major pieces in play in LOTR.
Also, the Hobbit is Beginner-Friendly, which LOTR isn't. The Hobbit really is a delightful book, and a fast read. It's chatty, it's casual, it's exciting, and it's funny. In that dry cheeky British humor way. I love that the narrator is constantly making little asides and commentary, like he's just sitting next to you telling you this story as it occurs to him.
LOTR is a very long story. Fifteen hundred pages or so. The Hobbit is relatively short and very punchy and easy to read. If you don't like The Hobbit, you can skip out on LOTR. If you do like it, you'll be primed to read LOTR.
Oh, I should say: The Hobbit is written as if it's for children, but one of those smart children's stories that are also for adults. Don't worry, there's also real fighting and violence and horror in it, too.
LOTR is written for adults. (It's said that Tolkien wrote both for his children, but LOTR was written 17 years later, when his children were adults.) Some might not like The Hobbit due to its sometimes frivolous tone. Me, I love it. I find it constantly amusing. Both are really good but there is a starkly different tone to both. LOTR is epic, grand, and serious, about a world war, The Hobbit is light and breezy, and about a heist. Though a heist that culminates in a war for the spoils.

The Hobbit Challenge: Read two more chapters. I didn't have much time. Bilbo got the ring.
I noticed a continuity problem. Maybe. Now, as of the time of The Hobbit, it was unknown that this magic ring was in fact a Ring of Power, and it was doubly unknown that it was the Ring of Power, the Master Ring that controlled the others.
But the narrator -- who we will learn in LOTR was none of than Bilbo himself, who wrote the book as "There and Back Again" -- says this about Gollum's ring:
"But who knows how Gollum had come by that present [the Ring], ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said."
In another passage, the ring is identified as a "ring of power."
I don't know, I always thought there was a distinction between mere magic rings and the Rings of Power created by Sauron. But this suggests that Bilbo knew this was a ring of power created by Sauron.
Now I don't remember when Bilbo wrote the Hobbit. In the movie, he shows Frodo the book in Rivendell, and I guess he wrote it after he left the Shire. I guess he might have added in the part about the ring being a ring of power created by "the Master" after Gandalf appraised him of his research into the ring.
I never noticed this before. I know Tolkien re-wrote this chapter while he was writing LOTR to make the ring important from the start. And also to make Gollum more sinister and evil, and also to remove the part where Gollum actually offers Bilbo the ring as a "present" -- Bilbo had already found it on his own, but Gollum was wiling to give it away, which obviously is not something the rewritten Gollum would ever do.
But I had no memory of the ring being suggested to be The Ring so early in the tale.

Finish the job, Mr. President!
Melanie Phillips lays out the case for the total destruction of the Iranian government and armed forces. [CBD]

TJM acts like he knows anything about John Wick and screenwriting. It's embarrassing, really.