The Senate Democrats Chicken Out in Nominating Debo Adegbile

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

06 March 14

'd like to congratulate the Democratic caucus in the United States Senate for once again putting its collective balls in a thimble and hurling it into the Potomac.

Along with Reid, the Democratic votes against Adegbile were Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), John Walsh (Mont.), Chris Coons (Del.) and Bob Casey Jr. (Pa.).

Pat Leahy, who is not a opportunistic stooge like Manchin, or a Lieberman-in-training like Heitkamp, brought up an interesting point that did not, of course, matter a damn.

Reid and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) brought up the fact that Republicans supported Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts's nomination despite his representation of a murderer who killed eight people, including a teenager.

I wonder what the difference is.

Oh, yeah. John Roberts is white and murdered teenagers don't have a lobby.

Among the seven cowards, Pryor, Coons and Walsh are up for election this fall, and Coons's seat is as safe as it can possibly be, The other four don't have to run again for another two years, and they still hit the silk. I'm sure the bookers on Morning Joe already have them all on speed dial. Bipartisanship!

Coons was particularly weaselish. He thought Debo Adegbile was qualified, and he loves him some Sixth Amendment protections, but Chris Coons was annoyed by fundraisers and that's the way that goes,

The decades-long public campaign by others, however, to elevate a heinous, cold-blooded killer to the status of a political prisoner and folk hero has caused tremendous pain to the widow of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and shown great disrespect for law enforcement officers and families throughout our region. These factors have led me to cast a vote today that is more about listening to and respecting their concerns than about the innate qualifications of this nominee.

Lovely.

The Republicans in the Senate do not want anyone in the job for which Debo Adegbile was nominated -- Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights -- because they'd all prefer that particular division of the Justice Department simply go away. After all, for example, they'd rather not have the Justice Department look too closely at voter suppression in the various states. And they've hated this position for generations; it was for the same office that Bill Clinton nominated Lani Guinier in 1993, only to chicken out in the face of similar pressure. The Mumia case was this year's "quota queen." And, of course, it is all About Race, even though it can't be About Race because nothing ever is About Race.