SlowpokeBlog

The fact that I have not been blogging about Alito does not mean I’m unconcerned. To the contrary, I think we are on the brink of one of the biggest political disasters in the nation's history, even bigger than Bush's re-election. I was away from home for a few weeks, spending time with family, which took precedence over blogging. But I did manage to catch a bit of the hearings and a lot of infantile cable coverage, which led to this week's cartoon.

We all know the hearings were a farce. How could Alito have possibly failed in the eyes of the media? By belching his answers? Hurling a table at Ted Kennedy? Clearly his long and uncontradicted record as a regressive activist had nothing to do with anything. Cable news "analysis" framed the Democrats' questions as partisan grandstanding, ignoring the grave concerns they brought up. It's all so stupid I can hardly stand to think about it.

A couple people have expressed doubt to me that the court would overturn Roe, suggesting that would be political suicide for Republicans. I disagree. Never underestimate the apathy of the American electorate, pro-choice though it may be. An Alito court will quietly dismantle numerous civil protections we take for granted, and it will be like stealing candy from a baby. A sleeping baby! Millions were riveted to the plight of the West Virginia coal miners, yet they're unaware of the eroding worker protections that led to that situation in the first place. And they certainly don't make the connection between the miners and the highly anti-worker Alito.

I'm also disgusted with the accommodationist Dems signaling early on that they just can't stop Alito because there's not enough public support. Rallying public support is your freakin’ job, you useless gasbags! Granted, we don’t have a machine like the Republicans do, but if there was ever a time to stand up for principle, it is now. This is IT, baby. These are the keys to the kingdom (and it is increasingly resembling a kingdom).

By the way, anyone notice the dissenters in today's decision to uphold Oregon's "death with dignity" law? Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts. But of course!