In The Clearing Stands a Boxer

It happened! Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined in support of questioning the electoral ballots from Ohio when Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, stepped forward to complain. My mother insisted that it shows how women have more guts to question the status quo then men. Never mind it was Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) who first called for the protest. Never mind also that it was a woman - Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) who took the lead in calling the Democrats' actions an attempt to divide and destroy the country. (Say, isn't that what Pryce's party is doing?)

All it did, though, was delay the certification of Bush's victory for four hours. I don't think the debate that occurred in between helped advance voting rights any. This protest against the electoral vote was only the second since 1877 - the first being in 2001, which means Bush has a lot of work to do to unite the country. The electoral protests put him in company with Rutherford B. Hayes, our nineteenth President (elected in 1876), which is an insult to the memory of President Hayes - who was, by all accounts, a decent man.

Meanwhile, a surprisingly forceful and independent Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), now safely installed as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, led the questioning of Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales on his nonchalant endorsement of torture. Gonzales managed to explain, exhort, enunciate, and elaborate without actually answering the questions. Maybe Jon Stewart is right - we should torture Gonzales for the answers. :-)