Connecting the Dots

Once Bill Frist came out and decided to participate in "Justice Sunday," a telecast to be beamed nationwide into churches next week to paint the Democratic filibuster of far-right judicial nominees as anti-faith, it was like a light bulb going off in my head. Everything became clear. The throughline from Schiavo to the Supreme Court was complete.

GOP leaders likely knew that no matter what they did, Terri Schiavo wasn't going to have that feeding tube reinserted. They were gambling that the country would rally around their moral grandstanding, and they could with full backing paint the judiciary as out of control, which would be a nice segue into getting "their kinds of judges" confirmed onto the bench. Now, never mind that such a narrative actually defies logic; conservatives are screaming about unaccountable judges, and want to do away with the filibuster, which does nothing but make judges LESS accountable to the Senate.

By casting the so-called "nuclear option" as a matter of faith, GOP leaders are saying to their base that the martyrdom of Terri will be remembered by making sure that other lives are saved. In other words it's all about outlawing abortion. The idea was to whip up public support for a culture of life by getting everybody all shocked at a very public death; then, the people would support changing the Senate rules, paving the way for filibuster-proof nominees to the Supreme Court this summer, hopefully enough to change the ideological balance of the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. If the conservatives accomplished that their Christian right base would be forever grateful, they figured, and would continue down the road to a permanent majority.

But something happened on the way to the station. People were repulsed. Repulsed by the shameless grandstanding. Repulsed by Tom DeLay's using a brain damaged woman to get the heat off his own back. Repulsed by the trashing of the Constitution to affect one woman. Repulsed by the subsequent calls for judicial intimidation (or in some cases, outright violence).

But the die had already been cast. The GOP is following the script as if the entire country supported their efforts in the Schiavo case. They feel like the time is now because of the many Supreme Court appointments just around the corner, because their President with each passing day becomes ever closer to being a lame duck, because quite frankly that's what the script called for. People who thought the Schiavo case was one of overreach are probably thinking the same thing now. So the opportunity is there for the Democrats to slam on the brakes, to say "We'll defend the Constitution to the bitter end," to carry through on Sen. Reid's threats to shut down the business of the Senate if the nuclear option is triggered.

The biggest advocacy group ended up putting out a cartoon called Phil A. Buster. Talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight.

This is serious business. The GOP was thinking three steps ahead when they intervened in the Schiavo case, but they miscalculated on public opinion, and faced with no recourse, they're now bulling forward with the same plan. This is the time to take a stand. Not with cartoons, but with good old-fashioned rhetoric. The end of the republic. The death of free speech. Biblical, end-of-time kind of stuff. This has to be conveyed to those moderate Republicans who still make up enough of the Senate to block this thing. If Frist goes nuclear and the trigger's a dud, he's done. Done as a leader in his party, done as a Presidential candidate, done. Kaput. And the best thing will be, he did it to himself.

Winning this fight is better than shutting down the Senate, so that both parties can lob insults at the other and ordinary Americans just get alienated. I want Reid to carry out on his threat if he has to, but the better option is to nip this right in the bud. All it takes are a few simple words: "Someday, you'll be in the minority."

This is a critical moment in the life of the Democratic Party, I feel, one that could make the difference between daring to lead or doomed to follow. The next few weeks will tell the tale. As badly as the Republicans botched their game plan, they should in no way be allowed to win anyway.