The Coalition of the Chillin’
(I’m moving this to the top because my Blogger is still screwy…ay caramba…)
That’s what I propose to call those of us who aren’t having a cow over fili-deal (inspired by Viking Pundit’s excellent suggestion to take it easy, which my regular readers will know I fully endorse). I propose for charter membership:
- myself
- Viking Pundit
- Scott Elliott
- Glenn Reynolds
- James Taranto
- Stephen Bainbridge
- My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
- Ryan James
- Alexander McClure of Polipundit
I know that some of my nominees may decline to serve; others I may have missed or may wish to join (just let me know in the comments, preferably with a link to a suitable post). Positions are unpaid; you can check out any time you like (but you can never leave?). Frankly, I’m not expecting a big response; after all, most of us are just chillin’…
UPDATE: How could I leave off John Podhoretz? How silly of me…
Alexander and Beth have graciously accepted…should I design a logo, or sit on my butt eating potato chips? Decisions, decisions…Lorie Byrd has joined (she gets honorary charter member status), as has Prof Bainbridge, and Ryan James has accepted as well…I designed a logo, but in true chillin’ fashion, I’ve got no way to host images, and I can’t even post a picture from work, so I’ll have to show it to you later (why can’t these IT departments just take a hint from us and chill?)…
And the first Coalition Victory (my, we move fast): Priscilla Owen has been confirmed…
Sissy Willis has got caught up in the tide, though she links to a post with a decidedly unchillin’ John McCain…
Add the Strata-Sphere to the list: we’re living in historic times, people…
Ryan James has the blogroll going…
And Prof Bainbridge has the logo up!…many thanks to the good Professor - check it out…
More here…
And the Instapundit is in!…
For a map of the Coalition member states, by our distinguished comrade the Commissar, visit here…
89 Responses to “The Coalition of the Chillin’”
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May 25th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
There HAS to be more of us, or is the blogosphere just lacking in those who chill? Hmmm.
May 25th, 2005 at 6:10 pm
Will be popping open a Corona, adding a little lime, toast the confirmation vote, and chill.
RJ
May 25th, 2005 at 6:48 pm
Hey, Wild Bill, wait for me:
sisu
May 25th, 2005 at 6:49 pm
Darn. Wrong link. Here’s the chilled out post:
sisu
May 25th, 2005 at 7:04 pm
I have been with you since 3 minutes into the press conference. If you are interested in a lowly, newbie blogger’s take please check out my posts at http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/category/uncategorized/filibuster-showdown/
May 25th, 2005 at 7:17 pm
I’ve blogrolled the coalition, here is the script.
As more join here at Mark’s site, I’ll update the roll…
RJ
May 25th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
Replace the “[” with “
May 25th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
ah, hell, just email me….
May 25th, 2005 at 7:25 pm
How does one sign up?
May 25th, 2005 at 7:26 pm
Coalition of the Chillin? I think I resemble that remark
http://holecard.blogspot.com/2005/05/judicial-compromise.html
May 25th, 2005 at 7:27 pm
Count me in, Mark.
And check out Paul Deignan at Info Theory–very interesting analysis.
May 25th, 2005 at 7:35 pm
Hey guy, thanks for being my first outside link (that I am aware of).
Thanks for the lift!
May 25th, 2005 at 7:43 pm
Hey, we all gotta start somewhere, right? Have a good one…
May 25th, 2005 at 7:44 pm
Hey, I was chilling before I knew it was cool, though I admit it’s hard to tell what I’m talking about at any given moment.
May 25th, 2005 at 7:47 pm
Count me in too!
http://semirandomramblings.blogspot.com/2005/05/many-people-i-usually-agree-with-like.html
May 25th, 2005 at 7:47 pm
Yeah, I was a little disgruntulated at the seven Reps on the squad but none of them are MY senators and I hesitate to pull the eject lever when it’s not my plane. They may suffer at the polls and I will laugh but armageddon this ain’t. And, like with Bolton, this sort of thing really only works on the obstructionist side once a year or term. If Bolton does get shot down, some Mini-Me will be quickly found and the Dems just can’t re-do the whole brough-ha-ha… whoever that is will bascially walk through. Not infrequently the first nominee is sacrificial, like the zinc plug in your water heater. Bush is still calling the shots for the Executive and he’ll be able to work with these circumstances or he isn’t who I think he is. Let the Offense rest.
May 25th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
Well, I’m not too happy about the seven judas republicans, but I guess life can go on and this will more than likely just “delay the inevitable” (Supreme Court showdown still to come).
If you are going to design a logo, upload it on Photo Bucket.com and link back to it on your site. Selah?
May 25th, 2005 at 8:05 pm
Wheeeeee, we won, we won….wait a second, what did we win exactly?
Had we gone with the nuclear option, we would have gotten 7 conservative judges confirmed who had been unfairly held up by the Democrats. Furthermore, we would have put an end to the filibustering of judges once and for all.
Now, we’re guaranteed to get 3 judges confirmed and the judicial filibuster is still alive. Furthermore, because of those 7 idiots have no spines and because of the language in the document they signed, it’s entirely possible that the Democrats may filibuster the next Supreme Court nominee while those 7 nimnods sit by and twiddle their thumbs.
In essence, we tossed at least 2 judges (maybe 4) over the side and allowed the judicial filibuster to stay in play — maybe for the next year and a half — and for what exactly? A democratic promise not to throw a tantrum for a little while?
How any Republican can think this is a win is completely beyond me. We got steamrolled….
May 25th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
Mark,
Sign me up. Here’s my post:
http://rightrainbow.com/archives/2005/05/more_on_the_dea.html
May 25th, 2005 at 8:19 pm
I’m so blase about the deal, and the whole filibuster thing in general, that I’ve only mentioned it in passing–and only in one post.
May 25th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
I’m in, too! More chillin’ thoughts later, but for now, we’ll just say it could’ve been better, but it could’ve been a lot worse.
May 25th, 2005 at 8:45 pm
Now this is a group I can join with enthusiasm! Personally I don’t think the world ended last November either, though many of my blue-state neighbors do. There have several “world-endings” recently, and more than a few on the horizon, that don’t have me much worried. Just “Keep on Chillin’” folks!
May 25th, 2005 at 8:54 pm
Yeah, it ain’t too bad.
We got the woman, the black and the Catholic. We just had to let go of the hispanic, the arab and the jew.
For the bigots, the glass is half full.
May 25th, 2005 at 9:19 pm
Add Linda Chavez:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/lindachavez/lc20050525.shtml
Based on today’s column.
May 25th, 2005 at 9:27 pm
What John said has truth to it.
What he forgets is that the Option is still available.
Plus, the argument about “extreme” is negated…
Priscilla Owen - one of the most “extreme” passed today.
End of story.
May 25th, 2005 at 10:13 pm
Here are my credentials.
It’s really on what happens in the future. Obviously Frist is the big loser today, for failing to keep his caucus in line. If this doesn’t work out, the Republican mods will pay a stiff price, especially the ones with further aspirations (McCain & Graham). But it might work out.
May 26th, 2005 at 1:10 am
I’m too lazy to blog, but I want in. Put me in the commenters’ auxiliary.
Y’all need to Chu-huh-huh-hiiiilll. Guess what, PartyMeisters? If you cut these senators off at the knees and take the senatorial nominations away from them next time around, your Chimpy McWingnut candidates will lose Alan Keyes-style. There’s a reason these senators act as they do, and it has to do in most cases with the particular circumstances of the states they’re coming from. (McCain is his own weirdness).
(and I say this as a guy who thinks all Republicans since Goldwater have been sellouts, so let’s not play flash-the-credentials, okay? I’m just talking about what’s electorally feasible).
Which would you rather be part of - a minority party that has great cohesion, can run lots of little bullshit interference on the majority, but is, let me repeat, NOT IN FRICKIN POWER (and let me head off any ‘if we’re in power how come we don’t get 100% of what we want’ rejoinders with a simple question - don’t you think the dems would trade places given the chance?)
- or a big, chaotic, trending-to-moderate-stasis coalition majority party?
(hint: the cranky, fussy party scares voters away, in a vicious circle. up until 4 months ago that was clearly the democrats. right now, it’s difficult to say. C.H.I.L.L.)
Would you rather be Goldwater? Sure, you’ll polish your purity badge with pride - and get 36 percent of the vote.
Save your powder. If/when the SC filibuster happens, then it may be on like Ray Dawn Chong. But from where I’m sitting, it looks like the next chief justice of the SC just might be someone who thinks government is the problem, not the solution Which is more than Goldwaterite and reactionary enough for me - and closer to The Prize than judicial conservatives have come in a senior citizen’s lifetime. It’ll be hard for them to Bork someone they just very publicly un-Borked two days ago.
There’s a reason why Darth Rove is in charge and we/you/us-all are typing in pajamas. Or would your brilliant strategies have gotten the party this far?
- Rudy can’t fail.
May 26th, 2005 at 1:19 am
Count me in!
http://limeshurbet.com
May 26th, 2005 at 1:30 am
Count me in.
May 26th, 2005 at 3:23 am
I am frigging chillin, man. I didn’t even WRITE about the filibuster. I don’t even care.
Put me on the list already.
-Suz (drinking a Cosmo, pardon any typos which I overlooked)
May 26th, 2005 at 3:25 am
Is it just me or is this oddly–and disturbingly–similar to those “jellin’” inner soles commercials? Oh who cares. Sign me up.
May 26th, 2005 at 3:37 am
Like, does this, like, coalition require any, like, work?
Hey, I’ve been blogging for a compromise for months, maaaaaan. And I know how to upload an image to my, like, righteous blog, so I should be cool, right?
May 26th, 2005 at 3:41 am
I’ll take the banner of the Coalition. Like Rachel earlier, I mentioned this judicial thing once, in passing, on a prior host. Otherwise? There’s been a movie to see.
May 26th, 2005 at 3:45 am
No work, wavemaker, you’re in…
May 26th, 2005 at 3:57 am
How do I sign up? (Despite my earlier sentiments on my blog)
May 26th, 2005 at 3:59 am
You’re in next update…it’s that simple…
May 26th, 2005 at 4:08 am
So where can I get a “Coalition of the Chillin’ t-shirt?
May 26th, 2005 at 4:25 am
Jack12, coming soon, I hope…
May 26th, 2005 at 5:04 am
Hey, I’m learning to chill, I’m learning to chill! count me in!
May 26th, 2005 at 5:16 am
Hazzah! I am SO indifferent to this issue, I didn’t even write a post about it.
I only mention it in one post that deals with another subject:
http://sophistpundit.blogspot.com/2005/05/never-trust-party.html
I would like to join ^_^
May 26th, 2005 at 5:27 am
You are getting some well known bloggers here!
May 26th, 2005 at 5:51 pm
I’m in with Coalition of the Chillin’
http://jcb.pentex-net.com
May 26th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
Count me in, but my blog partner out. He’s with Hugh and the boys on this one.
Question: Can one be a member if he is not just “chill” about The Deal, but rather excited because he feels it gives the R’s a big edge? Their numbers may be small, but they’re out there. Kondracke’s in this camp, for instance.
May 26th, 2005 at 8:04 pm
Oh, yeah, you can chill and be happy…it’s just hard to chill while you’re mad…
May 27th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
Count me in.
http://gopandthecity.blogspot.com/
May 30th, 2005 at 8:53 am
I’m in.
May 30th, 2005 at 11:54 pm
Attila Girl, I noticed that our blogroll keeper is enjoying a long, no doubt well-deserved weekend with no blogging…we’ll get you added soon enough!
June 8th, 2005 at 11:01 pm
I don’t think anyone over at Pros and Cons freaked out too bad. Doesn’t mean we liked the deal, but we’re taking a “wait and see” approach. I would call that chillin’.
As we have just last week upgraded the site, and haven’t been able to archive our old posts yet, I have no link to give you (other than the home page). Nevertheless, if you are so inclined, we’d love to stand up and be counted as part of the Coalition.
June 8th, 2005 at 11:24 pm
Done and done…it’s just that easy. Welcome aboard…
July 29th, 2005 at 2:48 am
can anyone join the coalition of the chilling …
July 29th, 2005 at 2:57 am
Gina, absolutely…we’re open to one and all…shall we count you in?…
September 4th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
September 20th, 2005 at 10:15 am
[…] Longtime readers will remember the flurry of activity around here when we formed the Coalition of the Chillin’ in reaction to the uproar over the Gang of 14’s judicial compromise. Our argument then, and it remains so, was that the compromise was a huge win for the Republicans, because it basically set a very strict standard for a filibuster, and as we have seen, the filibuster has not been employed in the interim. […]
September 28th, 2005 at 10:09 pm
[…] Longtime readers who were around for the Coalition of the Chillin’ days will recall that our position - that the filibuster deal by the Gang of 14 was a huge win for the Republicans in that it gave up nothing in return for an exacting standard for filibusters - was definitely not shared by the majority of bloggers on the right. Perhaps most vocal of the opponents (or at least, way up there!) was our good friend Captain Ed, and in commenting on this piece in the Washington Post, he shows that he has most definitely not chilled in the interim: Now the Seven Republican Dwarves of the Gang of 14 will see the folly in compromising with the Democrats. They now have to make up their minds about whether to support Bush’s nominees to the Supreme Court or to protect a filibuster that has been abused by the Democrats to overturn the results of two elections in terms of controlling judicial nominees. They could have resolved this four months ago, with the stakes less than today and with a lower level of media attention. Now they find themselves only a year away from an important election cycle, where the voters will surely remember whether they supported a Supreme Court pick rather than an obscure appellate nomination. Fellow Coalitionist Timothy Goddard begs to differ: Why, you may ask, is the good Captain still so wrought over this, an agreement that has seen some of the most conservative judges ever appointed to the Federal bench, and an agreement that is seeing John Roberts sail the through the nomination process like a massive judicial yacht? Why, because the Democrats assure us that, next time, honest to goodness we promise cross-our-hearts–they’re going to filibuster. […]
October 1st, 2005 at 8:05 am
[…] Thus spake Taranto in the Wall Street Journal today. The honorary member of the Coalition of the Chillin’ is quite unconcerned about any potential filibuster: The Democrats could filibuster, a dilatory tactic that allows 41 senators to block a vote. This they did in 2003-04 to prevent the confirmation of a dozen or so appellate court nominees. But in May, under threat of the so-called nuclear option–a GOP maneuver that would have changed Senate rules to abolish judicial filibusters–seven Democratic senators agreed to a compromise in which they disavowed the filibuster except in “extraordinary circumstances.” […]
October 3rd, 2005 at 11:34 am
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
October 4th, 2005 at 7:28 am
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
October 4th, 2005 at 9:01 am
Coalition of the Chillin’, Part Deux
Now Patrick Ruffini is starting the Coalition of the Chillin’, Part Deux, a collection of bloggers who don’t think Harriet Miers is the next David Souter (may he lose his home!).
Miers certainly wouldn’t have been my pick, but I’m not that worri…
October 4th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
[…] There are those who think the nomination of Miers is a defeat, that it shows the folly behind the deal made by the Gang of 14. I respectfully disagree. On the eve of that deal, if you had predicted that George W. Bush would nominate two Supreme Court justices who would sail through confirmation without even a serious filibuster THREAT, much less the real deal, you would have been laughed out of the room (unless you were part of the prescient group known as the Coalition of the Chillin’, that is). […]
October 5th, 2005 at 9:38 am
[…] I write this post as a call to arms directed at all past, present, and future Coalitioners, and a call to merge our interests with the second, more focused Coalition formed by the great Patrick Ruffini. The two Coalitions are not equivalent, and of course, each member is free to opt out, as it were… […]
October 6th, 2005 at 10:28 am
[…] The Mark Coffey of Decision ‘08 and founder of The Coalition of the Chillin’ and Patrick Ruffini, founder of The Coalition of The Chillin’: SCOTUS Division have joined forces on the Harriet Miers nomination. […]
October 13th, 2005 at 11:48 pm
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
October 31st, 2005 at 1:45 pm
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
November 1st, 2005 at 1:40 pm
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
November 3rd, 2005 at 1:54 pm
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
November 6th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
[…] I think the Coalition of the Chillin’ is about to be completely and permanently vindicated. The Commissar has the lowdown on Joe Biden’s prediction there is not sufficient support to pull off a filibuster over Alito. Here is some of Biden’s comments on Meet The Press today: A key Democrat said on Sunday that he expects the full Republican-led Senate to vote on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito without the threat of a Democratic filibuster. […]
November 17th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
[…] A top Democratic strategist tells me he now expects no more than a handful of Dems—eight at the max—to end up voting for Alito. I think it could be fewer. Remember, there are currently 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one independent in the Senate. We may well be headed for a “nuclear option” showdown, in which a Democrat would filibuster the floor debate on Alito. How utterly pedestrian this analysis is…there is no mention at all of the gang of 14…if the gang holds, and the Republicans go party-line, then the 60 votes or there; if not, the Republicans go nuclear…and it’s a tough sell that a twenty-year-old memo means ‘extraordinary circumstances’ (yep, I’m still chillin’). Fineman admits as much in the excellent middle section: Would the Republican leadership be able to muster the 60 votes needed, including a handful of Democrats, to shut it off? Not clear. […]
December 1st, 2005 at 3:01 pm
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December 28th, 2005 at 2:57 pm
[…] There is far too much ‘me, too’-ism, oneupmanship, and manufactured outrage out there, and many talentless, humorless, rabid partisans pervade both the left and right. I’ve been moving towards something different (I hope) for a while now in fits and starts, probably beginning with the Coalition of the Chillin’. It was the near-universal apocalyptic rhetoric that greeted the ‘Gang of 14′ compromise that first opened my eyes to the mob mentality that is so pervasive in the world of politics. […]
January 5th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
[…] Somebody has to pat Mark Coffey on the back (and the rest of us Chillers) for seeing the facts behind the Gang of 14 agreement. Here we are eight months later and all is going well with Judicial nominations: “I don’t think anybody today sees a reason for a filibuster, but they may after the hearing if the answers are troubling to them or they feel they haven’t gotten the answers to important questions,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor. […]
January 5th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
January 10th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
Consider me “chilled in”… (over here at: Mensa Barbie Welcomes You
January 11th, 2006 at 1:05 am
mensa barbie, you’re in! I’ll notify the keeper of the blogroll…have a great one!…
January 11th, 2006 at 8:10 am
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
January 12th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
[…] When the Gang of 14 forged an old-fashioned backroom compromise to prevent the ‘nuclear’ option from becoming operative, they were much vilified, and there was a feeling from much (most?) of the right that we had been sold down the river by those darn moderates. My own reaction was one of consternation. Why did people fail to see the victory we had achieved? And why where they so nasty about it? As a lark, I started a Coalition of the Chillin’ to combat the extremist rhetoric, and to my great surprise, I touched a real nerve, and the Coalition found itself deluged with dozens of requests for membership. […]
January 16th, 2006 at 11:06 am
[…] When the Coalition of the Chillin’ was formed, one of the most prominent bloggers to resist the Coalition’s position was Captain Ed Morrissey. Well, Captain Ed has now succumbed and joined the ‘Chilled Side’: Tigerhawk points out today that the Gang of 14 deal looks pretty good right now. I agree with him that it has taken a bite out of the Democrats’ ability to use the filibuster and strip the White House of its ability to have its nominees treated with the deference Bush’s election should have given them. I’ll agree with him that it has worked out better than I predicted — but what it has enabled are these terrible smear campaigns as the Democrats and their allies attempt to gin up the “extraordinary circumstances” they believe will justify a filibuster. You can thank the Gang of 14 for the debacle of the show-trial Samuel Alito endured this week. […]
January 16th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
January 24th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
[…] Members of the Coalition of the Chillin’ (and any others who wish to chime in) might like to know Mark Coffey and I have been discussing a Carnival of the Coalition to mark the occasion. Mark suggested we all think about the following question: […]
January 30th, 2006 at 8:46 am
[…] I am going to keep this short, mainly because there is not a lot to say. The Democrats have been performing their usual trick of misleading bravado since the Gang of 14 agreement last spring. That agreement caused a lot of handwringing on the right - with the exception of the Coalition of the Chillin’ of which I am proud member. […]
January 31st, 2006 at 11:59 am
[…] …that there were 14 more votes for cloture than confirmation? Says Prof. Bainbridge, with an assist from Opus: it means that the Coalition had it right; it was the much-maligned Gang of 14 deal that secured this victory. […]
March 29th, 2006 at 8:31 am
[…] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. […]
April 21st, 2006 at 8:55 pm
I MUST CHILL! I MUST CHILL!
Can I please chill?
The Cranky Insomniac
May 9th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
[…] The Coalition of The Chillin’ - established during the initial phases of the filibuster debate when the Gang of 14 Senators was instantiated and there was hysterical speculation the end of Bush’s judicial nominees was nigh - has another feather to stick in its cap with today’s hearings on Circuit Court nominee Brent Kavanaugh: White House staff secretary Brett M. Kavanaugh today testified at a contentious Senate hearing on his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asserting he had no involvement in the Bush administration’s policies of interrogating terrorism suspects and domestic spying without court warrants. […]
May 9th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
[…] Our good friend AJ looks at the Brent Kavanaugh hearing today and sees further vindication for the Coalition of the Chillin‘… 2008 hopeful Mike Huckabee is proposing a tax rebate for the good folks of Arkansas - do I approve? Repeat after me: Tax Cuts = Jobs + Income… […]
November 14th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
[…] a single GOP senator would support the nuclear option now–and that’s what “the Coalition of the Chilling” was saying all along. (Sorry, I can’t resist–I TOLD YOU […]
February 11th, 2008 at 11:27 am
[…] that even hinted at bipartisan sanity (e.g., The Gang of 14 which I and my fellow members in the Coalition of The Chillin’ accurately predicted would not be a disaster for the GOP, but would instead lead to the long string […]
March 14th, 2008 at 5:10 am
[…] get back the Senate, the “nuclear” option will be used against us. (Remember the Coalition of the Chillin’? I was a charter […]