# Why do the Massachusetts senators continue their stupid pontifications? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 28, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943 "2006-01-28T02:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/1 "2006-01-28T02:39:16Z")
Fine and dandy-you’re entitled to dislike Alito as a Supreme court nominee. You’re entitled to dislike Roberts, too. Hell-you’re entitled to dislike anything and everything that the GOP thinks, says, plans, does, or doesn’t do-that seems to be the cut of your cloth. But why do you two carry on about filibusters when members of your own party are effectively telling you to STFU? Listening to NPR today, it sounded as though other Democrats wished to move things towards conclusion and avoid grandstanding. Has Senator Seagram reduced his number of firing neurons to the point that clear thinking is no longer possible? If you’re serious about Democratic Nomination v2.008 Mr. Kerry, shouldn’t you rise above such petty partisan wrangling? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/2 "2006-01-28T02:48:31Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > shouldn’t you rise above such petty partisan wrangling? It’s not _just_ partisan wrangling. The DCCC’s assigned Kerry to lead the holding action until someone can slip rat poisoning in Alitos’ creme brulee. -btw, that’s just a joke, for you in the media. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/3 "2006-01-28T02:50:30Z")
What you call “partisan wrangling,” the rest of the world calls “the political process.” It’s about fucking time some Democrats got balls and stopped trying to please everybody all the time. They don’t like Alito. They’re willing to do anything in their political power to stop his confirmation. Good for them. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/4 "2006-01-28T03:22:28Z")
What Kerry did was too little, too late. It might have if he had tried to organize it earlier, but I suspect he is just doing this to build up some liberal “street cred” for his 2008 run. Since he KNOWS it’s not going to work at this point, he gets the benefit of being able to claim that he tried to do something without having to take any political risk at all of actually carrying out a filibuster. Fuck John Kerry. It’s obvious that he has no spine or morals of his own besides getting into the Oval Office. I wouldn’t vote for that spineless motherfucker even if he was running for Dog Catcher. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@The\_Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hook)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/5 "2006-01-28T03:29:05Z")
Everything that has happened in the Alito hearings and afterward is all political show. Blame the people who buy it 'cuz I’m all out of popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/6 "2006-01-28T03:36:20Z")
> [@The Hook](#): > > Everything that has happened in the Alito hearings and afterward is all political show. Blame the people who buy it 'cuz I’m all out of popcorn. This could be said of almost any political football. Unfortunately, the fact is that the show most definitely matters. See also: Terry Schiavo. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/7 "2006-01-28T04:03:18Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > What you call “partisan wrangling,” the rest of the world calls “the political process.” It’s about fucking time some Democrats got balls and stopped trying to please everybody all the time. They don’t like Alito. They’re willing to do anything in their political power to stop his confirmation. Good for them. I don’t begrudge them their opposition, as I thought I made clear. My point is that their own party doesn’t support a filibuster, they lack the votes to pull it off, so it’s a bunch of puffery and they look like doofuses. If they had the votes and their pasts indicated them to be men of conscience, as opposed to opportunists (particularly Senator Seagram), I could say, “Good on them.” Facing a forest fire with only a bucket of water isn’t balls, it’s idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/8 "2006-01-28T04:43:05Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > I don’t begrudge them their opposition, as I thought I made clear. My point is that their own party doesn’t support a filibuster, they lack the votes to pull it off, so it’s a bunch of puffery and they look like doofuses. If they had the votes and their pasts indicated them to be men of conscience, as opposed to opportunists (particularly Senator Seagram), I could say, “Good on them.” > > Facing a forest fire with only a bucket of water isn’t balls, it’s idiocy. What is up with those two anyway? They’re like living parodies of themselves. Let’s see, Sen. Kerry is calling for a filibuster of Judge Alito, _from the slopes of Davros, Switzerland._ Apparently that sort of pontification plays well in Bostongrad, but it just won’t work anywhere else in America, especially in places like Ohio and Florida where it counts. And Sen. Kennedy has a dog named “Splash”. Really. I kid you not. One can’t make this stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/9 "2006-01-28T04:44:59Z")
> [@](#): > > And Sen. Kennedy has a dog named “Splash”. Really. I kid you not. One can’t make this stuff up. > Reply With Quote OK, that’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/10 "2006-01-28T04:52:35Z")
As a former Bostonian, I would have to guess that they are, I don’t know, representing the viewpoints of their constituents. Kerry is making noise now about a filibuster, because if Alito had not been approved in the committee, there would have been no need for the discussion at all. Kennedy is merely continuing the tack that led him to vote against Alito’s nomination on committee. Massachusetts does not particularly care what other states think when they believe they are rightk, because they’ve been borne out in the past, most notably when they didn’t think Nixon belonged in the White House in 1972. The fact that it’s raising Pubbie hackles at all is representative of their deep loathing for open discussion on any topic. Why do they hate America? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/11 "2006-01-28T08:13:50Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > Let’s see, Sen. Kerry is calling for a filibuster of Judge Alito, _from the slopes of Davros, Switzerland._ Apparently that sort of pontification plays well in Bostongrad, but it just won’t work anywhere else in America, especially in places like Ohio and Florida where it counts. Bite me you moron. Florida and Ohio? Both places had serious voter fraud, and the Ohio pubbies are neck deep in financial scandals. If the rest of the country was half as good as Massachusetts we’d be a lot better off. It has one of the highest median incomes, great education, a low divorce rate, and pays way more in taxes than it gets back in federal benefits. It’s those liberals in Massachusetts that subsidize you slack jawed, NASCAR watching yokels. If Florida and Ohio had voted like Massachusetts we wouldn’t be in such a fucking mess right now. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/12 "2006-01-28T10:30:14Z")
You know… I’m no great fan of the guy, but his name is “Kennedy.” This ‘Senator Seagram’ business is childish nonsense. If you have some point to make, make it. But this Pythonesque “Know what I mean, eh, eh?” sort of dig is utterly useless. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/13 "2006-01-28T13:42:49Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > , _from the slopes of Davros, Switzerland._ :eek: 😕 :eek: 😕 :eek: The well-known ski resort [Davos](http://www.davos.ch/home-001-00-en.htm). The slightly less well-known megalomaniac evil genius and Father of the Daleks [Davros](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davros). If Davros really is in Switzerland and Kerry is going down his slopes, we may be in really quite serious trouble. I’m praying it was a typo. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/14 "2006-01-28T13:54:35Z")
Kerry’s actions reminded me of one of my [favorite](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=284567&highlight=grimes+kerry) threads ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/15 "2006-01-28T14:12:05Z")
Um, naming a Supreme Court nominee is a **two part** process. First, the President nominates somebody, and then the 100 Senators decide whether to give or withhold their advice and consent to that nomination. And any given Senator is entitled to do what he feels best to influence his colleagues. Personally, I suspect that any effort towards a filibuster is misguided, but _that doesn’t affect Senators Kennedy and Kerry’s right, under Senate rules and their Constitutional oaths, to oppose a nomination they feel misguided._ There are a a few Constitutional amendments out there, like the Child Labor and Equal Rights Amendments, that were passed by Congress but never ratified by enough states. I haven’t seen anybody Pitting the recalcitrant state legislatures for not falling in line behind “what the people want” as evidenced by Congress having proposed those amendments. Same deal here. Alito is a controversial nominee, and President Bush knew that when he nominated him. He had every right to do so, and the Senators have every right to oppose him. It’s the proper carrying out of the political process, whosever ox happens to be gored at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/16 "2006-01-28T16:53:28Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Fine and dandy-you’re entitled to dislike Alito as a Supreme court nominee. You’re entitled to dislike Roberts, too. Hell-you’re entitled to dislike anything and everything that the GOP thinks, says, plans, does, or doesn’t do-that seems to be the cut of your cloth. Why do these Doper conservatives continue their stupid pontifications? I ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/17 "2006-01-28T16:54:35Z")
Kerry has little to lose and much to gain by supporting the filibuster. He can look tough for the hard core base, and thus increase his $$ raising potential, but not look like an obstructionist since the filibuster isn’t going to happen. He still thinks he might run for prez in '08, and he’s got be able to raise $$ comparable to Hillary-- no small task. Let 'em blow all the hot air they want. This is the stuff of politics and both sides do it. Alito will be confirmed, and a month from now no one will remember this crap. Woe to the next Democratic president, though, if the Dems don’t also win the Senate. Don’t expect much cooperation from the Pubs in getting your liberal SCOTUS nominee confirmed. But again, this is the stuff of politics. If you can’t stand it, take up a more respected proffesion like used car sales. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/18 "2006-01-28T19:35:12Z")
_Posted by Updike:_ > [@](#): > > Let’s see, Sen. Kerry is calling for a filibuster of Judge Alito, _from the slopes of Davros, Switzerland_. Apparently that sort of pontification plays well in Bostongrad, but it just won’t work anywhere else in America, especially in places like Ohio and Florida where it counts. As noted, that’s **Davos** , Switzerland. And I presume that by “from the slopes” you mean “from the World Economic Forum, which he is attending along with other U.S. officials, including Senator John McCain.” ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/19 "2006-01-28T19:49:14Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > _Posted by Updike:_ > As noted, that’s **Davos** , Switzerland. And I presume that by “from the slopes” you mean “from the World Economic Forum, which he is attending along with other U.S. officials, including Senator John McCain.” As well as that famous liberal, Saxby Chamblis of Georgia, which is pretty close to those Florida folks. I wonder how that’s going to play with them. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943/20 "2006-01-28T19:53:58Z")
Yeah, this is a pretty lame pitting. Now, if Kerry had stopped off in Paris on his way back, and made his announcement in French… that would’ve been funny. Davos is a rtitzy place, no doubt, but there is that wee bit of an economic conference going on there. Filibuster, schmilibuster. Alito will be sworn in on Tuesday. We are Scalito. Resistance is Futile! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-massachusetts-senators-continue-their-stupid-pontifications/341943.md?page=2)