It Is Foolish To 'Blame' President Biden For A Court Decision

[The Magistrate]

It is not a question of whether President Biden, or Democratic leadership at large, are responsible for the judicial fiat a half-dozen persons issued in defiance of the public and settled law.

The question is whether President Biden and Democratic leadership are sufficient to meet the crisis. I regret to say I am not sure of this. It requires a sort of fighting attitude I see scant sign of in such quarters.

After all, this is hardly unexpected. Only a congenital optimist could have imagined any other outcome when Roe v. Wade reached this kangaroo court. A scheme of attack ought to have been drawn up and ready to roll on short notice once the penny dropped.

Language fitted to the extreme broached by the judicial malfeasance ought to be employed.

The idea of the 'moderate Republican' needs to be dropped and kicked.

Any Republican supports forcing ten year old victims of incestuous rape to bear the rapist's child. You can tell they do because they do not denounce this as a monstrosity no sane man could inflict on a child.

This should be said, loudly, daily, hourly, even, by Party leaders of the highest rank.

Any Republican who complains can avoid the charge by condemning the Republican legislators voting for such an atrocious act, and at a similar pitch and frequency.

Our people tend to act as if somewhere out there is a referee who rewards those who come closest to political actions and processes as they were taught in seventh-grade civics classes. There is no such animacule. Politics is about seizing and wielding power. Full stop. The distinctions are to be made among the ends power is wielded towards.


"Any form of attack is better than none."


"An election differs from a battle only as the bloodless surrender of a force outnumbered in the field differs from Waterloo."

[H2O Man]

1. Recommended.

[TheBlackAdder]

30. I couldn't resist this one.

.

The one who says it's Biden's fault or those who believe that person?



.

[2naSalit]

2. K&R

[Hekate]

3. Recommended

[msongs]

4. have been several fighting back dems the past few weeks, the lady in PA and gov newsom

their sorts of attitude and speech need to be adopted by all dems. repubs need to be referred to always as the people they really are

[dixiechiken1]

5. K&R

[DLevine]

6. Hear, hear! nt

[paleotn]

7. Sometimes we're good at seizing power....

Usually from Republican missteps. The wielding part we've not been good at for a very long time. LBJ was the last great Dem in this regard, but crashed and burned over Vietnam.

But in my mind, it's not just that. It's also the purists who got pissed off and voted for Nader in 2000 (responsible for Alito and Roberts) and stayed home all pouty in 2016 (responsible for Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and The Handmaid). It's because fiery, inspiring framing and messaging seem to be dirty words in some Dem circles, so we seem weak, stilted and paper thin. We refuse to learn from Republican strategy, co-opt it for ourselves and play the long game. We refuse to acknowledge that politics is as much showmanship as anything else. And when we do grab the reins, we forget that we have to deliver....the wielding part.

[MyOwnPeace]

27. Great post!

It would REALLY be nice to have Manchin and Sinema read it......

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. K&R

[getagrip_already]

9. a lot of unfounded blame imho......

There isn't a lot the executive branch can do to overturn a scotus decision. Even executive orders only apply to the executive branch and federal contractors.

Some "activists" do say some pretty extreme things, and the wh was correct in saying "some" activists are way outside the mainstream of the party. We have our extremists as well.

But to say they aren't up to it is just a meaningless armchair complaint. The wh is not going to save us from this decision by itself. It didn't need an "immediate battle plan". One will surely rise to the surface however.

You might as well ask why schumer can't get sinoma or manchin to go along with a congressional fix. Sure, blame schumer, when the problem is a couple of dino's.

Sorry, I don't agree with either your premise or your position on this. Not flaming, just differing.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Control of the SCOTUS was on the ballot in 2016 as well as the fate of Roe v. Wade and VRA

Link to tweet

[JohnSJ]

15. Convenient memories

[dalton99a]

12. Proactive is a word not applicable to Democrats

who seem to prefer to be attacked first, and then try and decide on what to do

While Republicans scheme and conspire and are always on the prowl to cause mayhem

[FakeNoose]

21. It seems all we ever do is defend ourselves and our Party against the Repukes' attacks

It's not like we're looking to cause trouble. We aren't the bullies on this playground.

[gulliver]

13. Blaming Biden is not the only thing that is foolish, unfortunately.

That may be the most foolish, but blaming Biden or any Dem for "not doing enough," is a pretty close second. We need to remember it's pro-choice, pro-freedom against the Republicans. As far as I can tell, practically the only thing that isn't foolish is for the pro-choice majority of voters to vote out Republicans en masse.

"Any form of attack is better than none." Respectfully, that's obviously wrong if winning is the goal and "feeling" better is (wisely) considered a side issue.

It's been said that the Dems now have the advantage. Most people are with us on choice but some who are with us Dems on choice are not with us on who (they think) we are. The wrong Dem condemning an anti-choice Republican in the wrong way will reduce votes for choice overall. A good cause, as many have pointed out, is ill-served by a badly made rhetorical argument for it.

You can, in other words, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We shouldn't. We shouldn't say anything against "moderate Republicans," or even say anything about them, whether they exist or not. It doesn't promote winning. It promotes losing.

Dems need to let the cool heads decide what to do. Certainly, blaming Biden is so ridiculous one would hope it's dismissed by every wise person without even the courtesy of comment. Blaming Biden and Dems for "not doing enough" is little better, perhaps it is even worse. The fight is "pro-choicers against Republicans."

[peggysue2]

20. The fight is pro-choicers against Republicans

Bingo!

Simple and succinct.

This whole argument over Roe's overturn and Democratic blame, responsibility, tone, yada, yada is utter nonsense. Circular firing squads are counterproductive.

If we want to assign blame?

Republicans, religious zealots, misogynists, seditionists to name but a few.

We have 120 days until the November elections. Joe Biden was explicit in what he needed: Hold the House and two Pro-Choice, Pro-Women Senators. I have one of those senators lined up--John Fetterman of Pennsylvania for whom I will vote, for whom I will recommend to everyone I know and love (and some that I don't). As for the House? I will vote Blue through and through and recommend the same for everyone who is interested (the American majority) in defending women's liberty and dignity.

And a hell of a lot more.

What I'm not going to do is waste time bitching and whinging about coulda, woulda, shoulda's.

Get it together, Dems. The numbers are tilting in our direction. We either hold the line and push forward. Or we can kiss it all good-bye. Forever.

[The Magistrate]

29. A 'Moderate Republican', Sir, Is Caught In a Cleft Stick

Their situation is not one reached by reason but by deliberate blindness. It is not the result of any particular inclination towards a golden mean, or even desire for one. Policies that are 'more moderate' will not move them, nor will appeals to moderation in argument.

These are people who made a devil's bargain. They want some things for themselves, that aren't too popular. To get them, they have had to consort with hooligans, with fanatics intent on atrocity. For some time, people who had done this could with some honesty say this was alright, because the atrocious hooliganism would never really manifest itself. That's not easy today, it takes effort to achieve and maintain the willful blindness required.

The way to move them is to make them confront what they are actually doing. These are people who don't like the actual results achieved by the fanatics they cultivated, they don't want raped children forced to give birth, they don't want women let die in hospitals when pregnancy goes bad. Make them ask themselves, is that worth paying less taxes, is that worth trimming business expenses on pollution control, killing a woman in hospital, making a raped child birth a baby? You're a Republican, you vote for that, that's what Republicans in office do! Don't like it, or don't like hearing about it? You know what to do, so stop whining and do it. Be a decent human being, be a patriot.

The decent ones won't be able to stick it, they'll cleave off under pressure. The rest, you'll never get anyway, and you'll get the decent ones quicker and more firmly by forcing on them a question which a decent human can answer only one way.


"Politics ain't beanbag."

[DinahMoeHum]

14. Advice to the left: Don't EVER play your allies like adversaries. . .

. . .a lesson too many of them never learn.

[question everything]

17. Well said

[JohnSJ]

18. Unfortunately they don't consider the Democratic Party "allies", and why their foolishness continues

to undermine Democrats

It was their same old refrain in 2000 and 2016, how “they are tired of voting for the lesser of two evils”, and “the Supreme Court doesn’t matter”.

It doesn’t say much for those that continually follow that refrain about their critical thinking skills

[question everything]

16. Wondering whether theses attack should be reserved for the last weeks before 11/8

Whether most Americans will eventually get tired, especially in these hot days of summer.

Come September we should have sharp, well defined messages. May even have an element of surprise.

I think.

[c-rational]

19. K&R. Excellent post Sir magistrate. I believe Biden has been an outstanding President, and our

best choice at this time, but we as a Party and leadership was not ready to go on the offensive when all of these egregious decisions were handed down. Abortion rights, gun control rights, right to live in a livable world right. We should have had a game plan ready to roll. We need to go on the offensive. I suggest one such line of attack is to go after the idea that a corporation has the same rights as an individual. That I believe would put an end to Citizens United. It may take several decades but plan.

[LiberalLovinLug]

22. I put some blame on the Obama administration

And a lot on just bad luck and circumstances.

Sorry, but I never thought at the time, for those eight long months that the GOP refused to even bring the replacement for Scalia up in the Senate, that Obama didn't use the bully pulpit enough. Especially for such a gifted orator. Nor did anyone in the party push hard enough on the MSM about it. I think this was in part some hubris in assuming that Hillary would win with a majority Senate, and then rubber stamp Garland anyways.

The rest is bad luck. With Trump winning, not only did the GOP just replace Obama's pick with their own, but then Kennedy retires at strategically the right time for Trump to appoint another judge. Then Ruth Bader Ginsburg tragically dies a few weeks too early and the GOP ram through their super majority on the bench.

[bluecollar2]

24. Kick and rec!..n/t

[bluecollar2]

25. Damn right!

It's time for our representatives to fish or cut bait.

I'm tired of trying to come from behind.

[Kid Berwyn]

26. Excellent essay, Sir. Thank you.

Just for political advantage, the issue and responsibility should be added to the Party’s official rhetoric. Fightin’ Joe controls the bully pulpit. The repuglians refused to confirm, and we didn’t combat their opposition, to Neera Tanden. Her wisdom and voice are critically needed — along with her organizing ability. But, being Democrats, we have no official dogma — just a bunch of good ideas each in need of what you brought to our attention: Action.

[Tommymac]

28. Agree with some of your OP...but Dems/Progressives ARE winning in the long run. Every. Single. Time.

We may seem fragmented. Political neophytes naively engaging in politics compared to the seemingly hard core reThugs.

But for example, in WW1 and WW2... in the beginning America's military was amateurish and inept... by design.

However once the rubber hit the road, it was the People of the USA that dug in and got to work, and won BOTH wars against seemingly invincible hard core, professional armies.

American are just that way, it is our national character and perhaps our curse - we are too damn busy running our freestyle personal lives, until something threatens it all... then we are like a mother tiger defending her young. Watch the fuck out.

Watch the fuck out, QAnons, Trumpanistas, Rethugs and Authoritarians. We The People ARE Coming for YOU on November 8th.

And we are going to destroy you.

Thanks for the thought provoking OP.