FORGET THE MORE AND BETTER-- WE JUST NEED BETTER DEMOCRATS-- SOUTHWICK CONFIRMED THANKS TO FEINSTEIN AND OTHER REACTIONARY DEMS

I felt sick this morning when I saw the Republican minority invoke cloture on the attempt by progressives to deny Bush's latest KKK judicial nominee confirmation. Yesterday I warned that Judas goat Ben Nelson was working with Trent Lott in rounding up the votes to thwart the progressive strategy. Thanks to Diane Feinstein (D-CA), he succeeded.

Judith Schaeffer, Legal Director of People For the American Way just summed up with the wretched and useless Senate Democrats just inflicted on the American people:

“Following the 2006 election, President Bush pledged to move ahead in a cooperative and bipartisan manner. But mere days after the new Congress was sworn in, he submitted the controversial nomination of Leslie Southwick.”
 
“Southwick’s disturbing legal recordand lack of commitment to equality before the law make him unfit for a powerful lifetime seat on the federal bench. We are deeply disappointed in the Senate Democrats who acquiesced to the President today on Southwick’s nomination.
 
“That’s not what Americans voted for when they gave Democrats a majority in the Senate. Senate Democrats must hold the President to his 2006 pledge of bipartisanship and cooperation by rejecting nominees who fail to interpret the law fairly for all Americans.”

The win today is being cheered by reactionaries, homophobes, Republican partisans, corporate interests, and racists as a huge victory. After the Republicans passed cloture to shut down debate 62-35, Southwick sailed to victory 59-38. So who were the Democrats who screwed us, Democrats who every progressive should do all they can to defeat?
Well, of course, first and foremost is the horrific and utterly corrupt and contemptible Dianne Feinstein, without whose connivance, Southwick would still be bottled up in committee hearings. And then of course, there's Bush's point man inside the Democratic caucus, Ben Nelson. The full list of Democrats who officially joined the GOP for the day:

Daniel Akaka (HI)
former KKK member (who could he abandon a brother in arms?), Robert Byrd (WV)
Tom Carper (DE)
Kent Conrad (ND)
Byron Dorgan (ND)
DiFi (CA)
Daniel Inouye (HI)
Tim Johnson (SD)- glad you were praying for him? did you send money too?
Blanche Lincoln (AR)
Ben Nelson (NE)
Mark Pryor (AR)
Ken Salazar (CO)

BIZARRE UPDATE D'JOUR: AND I ALWAYS THOUGHT COCHRAN WAS A HOMO

A reliable friend in Mississippi just wrote to me to give me a little context for DiFi's work on behalf of the new KKK judge. She did it for her ex-boy friend, Thad Cochran! Huh? Yeah, that's what I said-- DiFi and Cochran were actually an item at one time and she engineered a lifetime appointment for one of the worst judges imaginable, even from Bush, for her ex. As for the long-standing rumors about Cochran and the boys, he told me he didn't know anything about that but perhaps I was mixing him up with someone named Haley.


AND A NOT AT ALL BIZARRE UPDATE: REP. BARBARA LEE IS ASHAMED OF HER U.S. SENATOR-- WHO ISN'T?

Congresswoman Lee: "Let me also say that as a Californian and as an African American, I am incredibly disappointed that a Senator from my home state, Senator Feinstein, would not only vote for confirmation but would be the one to effectively bring this nomination to the floor by voting with the Republicans to approve the nomination in committee. It is particularly disappointing given California's diversity and our history of leadership on issues of civil rights, women's rights, worker's rights and the basic commitment to equality before the law, all areas where Judge Southwick's record is, quite frankly, sadly
lacking."