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Flashback: George Will Against Nuclear Option
Washington Post ^ | 3/20/2005 | George Will

Posted on 10/06/2005 2:30:31 PM PDT by Mighty_Quinn

Why Filibusters Should Be Allowed

By George F. Will Sunday, March 20, 2005; Page B07

With Republicans inclined to change Senate rules to make filibusters of judicial nominees impossible, Democrats have recklessly given Republicans an additional incentive to do so. It is a redundant incentive, because Republicans think -- mistakenly -- that they have sufficient constitutional reasons for doing so.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: focusontheotherguy; georgewill; judicial; nominee; nuclearoption; rationalization; supremecourt
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How can George Will now stand against Miers? Miers was picked because the RINOS would never trigger the nuclear option and clear the way for a great nominee like Luttig. Now Will wants it both ways.

See the other thread on Mark Levin's article.

1 posted on 10/06/2005 2:30:40 PM PDT by Mighty_Quinn
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To: Mighty_Quinn
I knew there was a reason that I always thought Will was a weasel.
2 posted on 10/06/2005 2:34:45 PM PDT by CaptainK
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To: Mighty_Quinn

"How can George Will now stand against Miers?"

Because he wants a well-qualified conservative nominee for the Supreme Court???


3 posted on 10/06/2005 2:36:16 PM PDT by Betaille ("And if the stars burn out there's only fire to blame" -Duran Duran)
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To: Mighty_Quinn
If GWB had nominated someone for SCOTUS who was actually filibustered, then you'd have a case, maybe. But as it is, it's a total non-issue. There was no filibuster, so there's no need for a nuke option.
4 posted on 10/06/2005 2:37:54 PM PDT by Huck ("Sometimes you're better off not knowing how much you've been had." --Bob Dylan)
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To: Mighty_Quinn


Good catch.


5 posted on 10/06/2005 2:38:52 PM PDT by onyx ((Vicksburg, MS) North is a direction. South is a way of life.)
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To: Mighty_Quinn

This is a good catch to remind people that even Will can be inconsistent--and to remind them of his ongoing feud with the Bush family.

Nothing they do can be right in old George's intellectual world.


6 posted on 10/06/2005 2:45:52 PM PDT by wildbill
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To: Mighty_Quinn

George Will lost his base a long time ago.


7 posted on 10/06/2005 2:46:27 PM PDT by bkepley
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To: wildbill

There's nothing inconsistent about it.


8 posted on 10/06/2005 2:46:53 PM PDT by Huck ("Sometimes you're better off not knowing how much you've been had." --Bob Dylan)
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To: Betaille
"Because he wants a well-qualified conservative nominee for the Supreme Court?"

What does "well-qualified" mean in Republican Land, anyway? After all, Republicans, generally speaking, have voted for the confirmation of plenty of "well-qualifed" "interpreters" of the Constitution.

They voted, generally speaking, for the confirmation of Ginsberg, didn't they? Yet no one questioned whether or not a postmodern ACLU lawyer was "qualified" to opine about the law. Nope. But they sure are now.

9 posted on 10/06/2005 2:47:16 PM PDT by Reactionary
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To: Huck
If GWB had nominated someone for SCOTUS who was actually filibustered, then you'd have a case, maybe. But as it is, it's a total non-issue. There was no filibuster, so there's no need for a nuke option

Short memory?

10 posted on 10/06/2005 2:47:53 PM PDT by bkepley
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To: bkepley
Who has GW nominated for the SCOTUS? Roberts-no filibuster. Miers-no filibuster. And yet, it's a columnist's fault that GW didn't pick someone who MIGHT have been filibustered? That's pathetic. Talk about no accountability.

It wasn't the RINOs anyway. It was so-called conservatives like Frist and Hatch who whined on and on and on for months--years even--letting Estrada and others dangle, without even trying to do something about it. They never even forced a real filibuster. But that's Will's fault, too, I guess.

Third, I agree with Will on the constitutionality and wisdom of it. He's correct. And by the way, who was it that voted FOR Bader Ginsburg and Breyer? Those same gutless republicans who now want to blame the gang of 14 for their troubles. What a bunch of BS.

11 posted on 10/06/2005 2:53:57 PM PDT by Huck ("Sometimes you're better off not knowing how much you've been had." --Bob Dylan)
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To: Reactionary
They voted, generally speaking, for the confirmation of Ginsberg, didn't they?

Exactly. The truth of it is, when it comes to judges, the GOP are STILL getting their asses kicked by the Dems. I wish to Heaven I had someone like Schumer on my side instead of morons like Hatch and Frist. Bunch of pussies. Why did they vote for Ginsburg and breyer anyway? Because they are suckers.

12 posted on 10/06/2005 2:55:31 PM PDT by Huck ("Sometimes you're better off not knowing how much you've been had." --Bob Dylan)
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To: Huck

We wouldn't even be discussing the nuclear option if Bush had not nominated well known conservatives only to have been assured there would be fillibusters.


13 posted on 10/06/2005 3:00:03 PM PDT by bkepley
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To: Betaille
Because he wants a well-qualified conservative nominee for the Supreme Court???
Fine. We all do. But "He who says 'A' must say 'B'." You can't confirm anyone we know to be "a well-qualified conservative nominee" without having a credible threat of the constitutional option.

The bottom line is that Bush's judgement is that he has to play small ball. One thing to replace Rhenquist - but O'Connor for Luttig? No can do, with the squishy soft RINO middle of the Senate. Face it, some of our trouble in the Senate comes from Senator Reed (D) Nevada. Reelected last year in a red state. As well as RINOs in blue states. Bush doesn't want to become a lame duck by having his nominee rejected; Nixon and Reagan did lose nominees - and the results were Justices Blackmun and Kennedy.

Bush is on record that Clarence Thomas or Scalia are the gold standard. That means that when he is retired he wants more "Scalias" than P41 (or for that matter than RWR) had. And he doesn't know that he will have any more SCOTUS picks. This nomination is not a throwaway. IMHO


14 posted on 10/06/2005 3:01:58 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters but PR.)
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To: bkepley
We wouldn't even be discussing the nuclear option if Bush had not nominated well known conservatives only to have been assured there would be fillibusters.

What??? The only reason we're discussing the nuke option is because people are searching for excuses for GW's horrible selection. And there have not been ANY filibusters. The GOP Senate LEADERS never forced a real filibuster, wussies that they are. If it hadn't been for the RINOs, we wouldn't even have the few lower court appointments we got, and that's because the GOP is ineffective. Hatch, Frist, et al are worthless. The stupid RINOs got us what little we have gotten. And that was after yeeeeeaaaars of inaction by the leadership.

Why not force a filibuster? What's so bad about standing up for what you believe in? But I guess it's easier to blame someone else.

15 posted on 10/06/2005 3:04:38 PM PDT by Huck ("Sometimes you're better off not knowing how much you've been had." --Bob Dylan)
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To: Huck
Why did they vote for Ginsburg and breyer anyway? Because they are suckers.

Depressing ain't it
16 posted on 10/06/2005 3:07:47 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: Huck

Well, yeah. Everyone somehow agrees that lunatics like Ginsberg and Souter are "well qualified" to sit on the Supreme Court, even if it's evident that they haven't the slightest idea what the Constitution actually means. Oh, they're very *qualified*, you know, since they've spent many years deconstructing liberty in the hallowed halls of the Ivy League. But Miers? Well! The thought!


17 posted on 10/06/2005 3:09:11 PM PDT by Reactionary
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To: Betaille
George Will didn't get his way and now he cries like a baby.

Miers is my type of nominee. She is pro-life and religious. Best pick so far. IMHO
18 posted on 10/06/2005 3:14:04 PM PDT by JeffersonRepublic.com (There is no truth in the news, and no news in the truth.)
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To: Huck
Why not force a filibuster? What's so bad about standing up for what you believe in?

I would have preferred it but Bush has put up excellent judges only to have them shot down and that is when the term "nuclear option" was born thus we would not be discussing the "nuclear option" at all had it not been for Bush's picks in the past. Q.E.D. Bush I would have simply avoided the fight in the first place in my opinion.

19 posted on 10/06/2005 3:17:25 PM PDT by bkepley
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To: JeffersonRepublic.com
George Will didn't get his way and now he cries like a baby.

I don't think so I think he just wants to stay "relevant". I don't think he's very committed to anything except himself.

20 posted on 10/06/2005 3:21:03 PM PDT by bkepley
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