I decided, after the pleas from Matt and Chris, to get off my ass and do something about getting money into the progressive movement.  I wrote the letter that follows, which to summarize, just outlines a few of our achievements, and that we are an extremely valuable ally and asset to the Democratic Party.

What I want from you, besides comments, is what organizations or candidates I should send this to.  Also, if you follow up with a similar letter, we can have more of a say in this.  We made some serious headway in the use it or lose it campaign - now we're asking for a quite a bit less.  My letter is as follows:

Tonight I got to attend the Jefferson Jackson Baily dinner in Hartford, CT.  This was a huge meeting of CT dems, and had speeches by Senator Dodd, Lieberman, and Obama.  There were only Democrats (I went with Diane Farrell's CT-4 campaign), which included Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman, with their teams.  

What bothers me most about the debate of judge Alito is that the center of the debate is if he's "qualified."  There are thousands of people qualified to serve on that court, judge Alito included (based on his education/experience).  We're debating if he will uphold the constitution, or twist it to serve his partisan goals.  No Democrat has said he is unqualified.  It all came from Harriet Miers, who wasn't at all qualified.  But approving the second person just because they are qualified is like cheering on your child for getting a D instead of an F.  Maybe it's just patriotism, but I find the Supreme Court to be a highly esteemed body, where only the best serve, not the first qualified applicant.  It takes more than a law degree and experience to get there.  But here is the Alito praise:

In the opening debates today, Senator Bill Frist: "I support Judge Alito because he is exceptionally qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice." (note: this was the first reason Frist gave).  "There is no question that Judge Alito is exceptionally well-qualified, measured..."

Senator Lindsay Graham: "he's a historically well-qualified nominee and it's kind of sad to me that it will be a party-line vote."

Senator Mel Martinez: "Samuel Alito epitomizes the type of individual we should have serving on the Supreme Court of the United States; his experience, qualifications"

Senator Sam Brownback: " You're undoubtedly qualified. You were cited by the ABA to be unanimously well-qualified."

Senator Chuck Grassley: "The Senate has an important responsibility to confirm to the federal bench well qualified individuals"

"...with the American Bar Association rating him "well qualified" to sit on the nation's highest court..." [Link]

"Despite reservations about several rulings by Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, Democratic Senate candidate Robert P. Casey Jr. said yesterday that Alito should be confirmed because, ultimately, he is qualified." [Link]

"In preparation for a Senate vote on Judge Samuel Alito, the Family Research Council has launched several ad buys encouraging state leaders in South Dakota, Arkansas and Louisiana to vote based on Alito's qualifications, not on agenda." [Link]

Ironically, qualifications are not important to Republicans to become President.

For the first time, I actually spotted an article on Reuters.com that doesn't mention Democrats with the scandal.  The article concerns Harry Reid's comments on the Democrats' radio address this weekend.

[Link]

"Democrats accused Republicans on Saturday of using "doublespeak" and abusing their power in order to help special interest groups.

With Republicans burdened by the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in the weekly Democratic radio address that years of controlling both the White House and Congress had corrupted the Republican Party."

Sure, this doesn't come right out and say the media is wrong to report Democrats as taking dirty money.  But what it does do by leaving them out of it I believe is unprecedented.  The media is acting outside of Republican pressure, claiming this a bi-partisan problem.  This is some good news for the press, in what hasn't been their best week among the blogs.