The Latest Big One

Talk about disconnect. The southpaw blogs, the alternative news sites have been buzzing, and a handful of new and old virtual and actual organizations have been filling cyberspace as well as the inboxes, fax and answering machines of Senators all weekend, with what some are calling an unprecedented effort to get a fillibuster on the Alito confirmation. Probably the hottest lefty blogger, Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake commented:The filibuster turnout has been insane. I'm hearing from Sean-Paul Kelley that eFax service is out, that's how many faxes are being sent. The Dems -- and no doubt the GOP -- have to be shocked that we could show up like this.

But the traditional media, the Sunday blathers have been either silent on the subject or dismissive. By late this afternoon Eastern time we'll probably know who was right, at least on the latest big one.

The disconnect is exascerbated by the absense of vote estimates by anyone. The Republican Senate bosses will call for a cloture vote to end debate, setting up the vote for or against Alito for Tuesday. The cloture vote requires 60 in favor. The trad media reporters are buying the Republican estimate (which at least one Democrat more or less confirmed) of at least 62 votes, not exactly a ringing endorsement but enough.

You can read the absense of estimates either way---the fillibusters not wanting to dampen this last ferocious push with discouraging numbers, or the Repubs banking on an air of inevitability while the real numbers are much closer and more fluid than they'd like the media to realize.

But possibly only a two vote margin is certain to mean feverish last-minute politics, when the switchboards light up and overload Monday morning. There's no telling what could happen, including the Senate bosses postponing the vote. Or it could be much more one-sided than that, and after all this sound and fury, it could be over quickly and unceremoniously.

Senator John Kerry has led the fillibuster fight, with close support from Senator Ted Kennedy. Both of my CA Senators are on board, as are Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Harry Reid. (But at last look, not Senators Patty Murray, Cantwell, Harkin, Byrd and Bayh. I'm surprised at Murray and Harkin in particular.)

Today Kerry posted this on the Huffington blog:

Many people seem curious or even skeptical why United States Senators believe it's so important to take a stand against the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court -- why we're willing to take on a fight that conventional wisdom suggests we will lose. The reality is simple. We care about the future of our country.

We care about the millions of Americans who expect Congress to stand up and fight for their rights and their freedoms, and we also know that the Supreme Court, again and again, is the battlefield on which those rights and freedoms are decided. So let's get this straight. The time to fight is now - before we make the irreversible decision of confirming a new Supreme Court Justice....The direction our country takes for the next thirty years is being set now. "

No one really knows what will come before the court or even how Alito will vote, or what the dynamic within the court will be. But that he will support the kind of Bushite totalitarianism represented by everything coming out of the the Big Smirk's mouth these days, seems like a very safe bet. He's not exactly central casting to stop the slide down the drain.

So if you're reading this before 4:30 eastern or so, and you want to get in on the fight, here's where you can find your Senator's contact info:http://www.nocrony.com/master_senate_phones.txt