Growing a Pair:
Democrats, still spitting out nut blood from the groin kick of the 2004 elections, are starting to puff up their chests about Social Security. As a New Republic article (via Daily Kos) explains, solidifying opposition to Social Security privatization is "one sign that the Democrats are learning how to be a true opposition party." Maybe we'll be spared the pathetic display of Democrats agreeing to some compromise on personal savings accounts, with Democrats saying, meekly, they "preserved" Social Security and Republicans braying like conquering howler monkeys on the tops of the trees, screeching out their triumph. Maybe there's a chance that we'll get to avoid that shame.

Maybe it's Burning Bed time for the Republicans. Maybe, just maybe, the drunk asshole husband that the Republicans have been for the last couple of decades is about to get his comeuppance. We all know the scenario. The asshole beats the shit out the confused, nowhere-to-turn wife for years. After all that time, all those bruises, all those rapes-disguised-as-marital-sex, something snaps in the victimized wife. A smart man wouldn't turn his back on his poor, beaten wife, not for a second, but, drunk on liquor and power, this asshole husband does, not knowing that, finally, at long last, the wife takes matters into her own hands, throws gasoline on the husband and his bed and sets that asshole ablaze. Who knows what drives someone to such desperate acts - the cumulative effect of all the degradation and pain reaching the tipping point? The husband started to beat the kids? Whatever it is, we in the audience may shake our heads that society, oh, society, let it get to this point, but, c'mon, we still love it that the motherfucker burns.

And as gratifying as it might be watching the Republicans go down in flames for Social Security, President Bush has already created a way to fuck Democrats over on Supreme Court nominees. When Bush nominated Michael "I Could Not Look More Like an Argentinean Torturer If I Tried" Chertoff to head the Department of Homeland Security, he said, "He's been confirmed by the Senate three times." In other words, no matter what comes out about Chertoff, he has, in some sense, been innoculated against deeper inquiry. When he's questioned on shit like John Walker Lindh, all the White House needs to say is, "Didn't the Senate Democrats do their jobs the first time?" Watch this pattern in further nominees, especially when it comes to the Supreme Court.

As for the torture AG nominee, sure, the political thing would be to wait until Gonzales is nominated to the Supreme Court to shitcan the vile, lying, murderous, hunchbacked, troll-like cocksucker. A little time heading "Justice" (and since Ashcroft, the quotation marks are a necessity) oughta give Gonzales enough chances to make up for his vaguely pro-choice decision when he was on the bench in Texas. But here's the thing: the way these fuckers work is that if the Democrats decide to mount a hypothetical opposition to a hypothetical Gonzales nomination to the SCOTUS (cute, innit? looks like "SCROTUM," which, you know, Gonzales is all for settin' ablaze with 'lectricity), then all the President has to say is, "Why didn't they demand these things when he was up for Attorney General?" See, Dems are playin' the nuance game again. Of course it's more meaningful in the long run if Gonzales in on the Supreme Court, but if Gonzales is given a pass in the name of "giving the President leeway" on picking a cabinet, well, it kind of spikes the use of the torture memos, the detention policy, and the Texas death penalty cases.

The other reason to filibuster against Gonzales is Gonzales's own words at his confirmation hearing: as Attorney General "I would have a far broader responsibility: to pursue justice for all the people of our great nation, to see that the laws are enforced in a fair and impartial manner for all Americans." So the Senate actually is all that stands between Gonzales and America.

If you're gonna bother to play "hardball," then play it for keeps.

Story Time, Again:
Since the Rude Pundit wrote about his ass being saved from starvation and certain molestation by Social Security's survivor benefits, he has received a few letters from others whose proverbial and literal asses have been saved. Since survivor benefits, which are tied into the same trust fund as retiree benefits, have been little discussed in the whole Social Security debate, let's open it up. If you have a tale of being saved by Social Security as a survivor, send it to rudepundit@yahoo.com. A selection of them will be posted next week.