Regarding Michael's post below about the nuclear option on judges

Now is the time for any of you who have given any money to anyone on this list to ask them why they let the best opportunity for us to kill the nuclear option slip by.

These past two weeks, the Republicans have been on the defensive on the judge issue like never before. For the first time they're scared. And why are they scared? Because their hatred of judges and hatred for our system of government, along with their hubris and lock-step loyalty to the religious right, finally caused them to overstep. They bullied their way into the Terri Schiavo fiasco like a bull in a China shop. DeLay then threatened judges. Cornyn then showed empathy for the murder of judges. The religious right then held a conference in which one participant said Stalin had the right idea of how to deal with judges, then quoted a line from Stalin justifying the murder of millions.

How did the traditional old-school non-profits on that list reac to this incredible opportunity to expose the Republicans for who they really aret? Our groups launched a Web site with a talking cartoon called Phil. A. Buster. They then sent out email alerts and DIDN'T EVEN MENTION ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED OVER THE PAST WEEK. No DeLay, no Cornyn, no religious right, no anti-judge hate speech. Just a nice scholarly explanation of why a filibuster is important. No passion. No seizing the moment.

These are the groups that get the lion's share of the money from the big donors and big foundations. And what they do with all those millions is launch cute cartoon Web sites like SavePhil.com while the Republicans fight back with howitzers. They pass up golden opportunities that are handed to them like this kill-the-judges debacle, then they wonder why they're losing our respect.

This is a fiasco and a travesty, what these groups have done - or failed to do - with the opportunity that's been presented them. The Republicans screwed up big time and know it and are scared, the Democrats on the Hill are speaking out loudly and in unison on this issue, the media is dying to cover it and already has. The issue of anti-judge hate speech is read to explode, it's our for the picking. And our traditional groups are sitting back and doing nothing to take advantage of this opportunity (and spare me the "they gave a quote to a newspaper" line).

I'm talking launching a campaign, a real campaign, to capitalize on anti-judge hate speech and anti-judge violence and the culture of violence created by the religious right and the GOP's hateful rhetoric, rhetoric that condones and empathizes with domestic terrorists. It's the kind of thing the traditional non-profits wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole because it's "too mean" and "too edgy." It's the kind of thing that someone like me or my friends could do for $50k versus the millions those groups will spend on their boring and ineffective little lectures.

We just lost the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity that will affect the filibuster debate, but more importantly, court nominees all the way up to the Supreme Court, because those groups just don't get it and couldn't seize an opportunity that dropped in their laps.

It's time for a revolution in our party, and it needs to start at the top and work its way down. The old-school organizations, the ones that have been around for years, have lost their way, their backbone, their will to live. It's time we did the humane thing, pull their plugs, and pass the torch to a new generation who can do better work, real work, at a pittance of the cost.

PS By old school I mean the traditional non-profits that have been around for years. Not the NEW ones like CREW, Democracy for America, Center for American Progress, etc. They're new and doing their jobs.