Standing Against Gonzales
Jan 30th, 2005 at 4:22 pm by Susan
I’m not sure how I missed this, but Liberal Oasis didn’t
:But Senate Democratic leaders did not attempt to rally their ranks to vote against Rice.Instead, the Democratic leadership was reserving its political capital for a stand against…Alberto R. Gonzales.
“Frankly, there is much more angst over Gonzales, and there comes a practical choice: Having been (branded) an obstructionist party for so long, do you lead with Rice … or do you take on a candidate who is more problematic?” one staffer said.
This is fascinating on a number of levels:
1. This is the first report that Senate Dems are organizing an effort to oppose Gonzales.
2. By reading this article, you might think that Senate Dems were always planning an organized effort to stop Gonzales.
When in fact, it wasn’t that long ago when leading Dems were talking up Gonzales.
And it was even more recent when critical Dems were couching their comments with the prediction that Gonzales would still be easily confirmed.
The turnaround in attitude is a message to the grassroots about the influence they can have.
An important lesson: Your officials need to hear from you. Don’t let up.
