Posted on 01/19/2006 7:29:08 AM PST by katieanna
AP) The headcount continues in the Senate on the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel Alito, which comes up for a Judiciary Committee vote on Tuesday.
Democrats Max Baucus of Montana, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts all announced Wednesday that they will vote against Alito, President Bush's pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
"He's just not right for Montana, he's just not right for America," Baucus said. Added Mikulski, "I have a lot of unanswered questions."
The Alito nomination has caused a rift among Senate Democrats, with one saying publicly he will vote for the conservative judge while others are lining up to oppose his confirmation.
Several Democrats are expected to make their votes public Thursday, including Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Last fall, Leahy and two other committee Democrats - Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, both from Wisconsin - voted to confirm the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts.
Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska Tuesday became the only Democrat to say that he will support Alito. Nelson said he will vote in favor of the nomination of Alito "because of his impeccable judicial credentials, the American Bar Association's strong recommendation and his pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the court."
Nelson, who is seeking re-election this fall in his Republican state, said in his statement that he has "supported more than 215 of President Bush's nominations to the federal bench, including Chief Justice John Roberts."
All ten Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have endorsed Alito, assuring him of approval even though most of the eight committee Democrats are expected to oppose his confirmation.
Many Democrats are expected to speak against Alito's nomination when final Senate debate begins Jan. 25. "I'm not a fan of Alito," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Alito met Wednesday with several Democratic senators, including Baucus, Bill Nelson of Florida and Ron Wyden of Oregon. He is meeting Thursday with Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware and new Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. All those senators except Baucus are undecided on Alito's nomination.
Alito will also meet with Republicans John Sununu of New Hampshire and John Warner of Virginia on Thursday. Sununu is undecided, while Warner expects to vote for Alito's confirmation.
He can have one of his staffers leak it!
I think the strategy is to try and put future R presidents on notice that they better have the numbers, because conservatives will not get their votes, regardless of their qualifications.
So why didn't they ask, instead of making speeches?
That's why we CAN'T LOSE the senate. If the Dems take out Santorum this fall (and I fear they might...but it's not a done deal yet) then we need to pick-up a seat in NJ (where our guy, Kean is up 13 points) or in MD (where Steele is up 5 or 6 points) despite the best efforts of that clown, Chuck Schumer
Oooo... the tension! Who gives a crap?
My God...did you see the Vermont AG on Oreilly's show last night? BOre was talking to him about the repeated rape of this 6-yr old girl (until she was ten), and he sounded like he was doing a travel bureau commercial for his state...talking about Vermont's great environmental record and vacation attributes. He was mad at Bore for suggesting that the Vermont people protest the ruling, claiming their state is not a place for vigilante justice. It was unreal.
Or...we should try to get Centrist Republicans to knock off Liberal Democrat Senators...but only in blue states. The more conservatives we have where possible, absolutely.
But, we can't realistically expect to have get someone like Coburn from a state as blue as NY. If we can somehow field moderate Republicans (like Rudy Guiliani) to knock off liberal Democrats, then we can lessen the clout of the liberals, and that would raise the clout of conservatives by default.
The Dynamo from Dundalk shafts Maryland yet again.
At one time Montana was a state where level headed people voted for Republicans. Where did all the libs come from who voted for Baucus, Calipornia?
Yeah, I saw that. It was pretty shocking. But apparently, all of the public officials in Vermont think that the "independence" of the judiciary compels them to leave this mentally disturbed judge on the bench, and do nothing to remedy the situation. They've never heard of "checks and balances" apparently, when it comes to the judiciary.
And they complain about the possiblity of vigilante justice. Has it occurred to them that if vigilantes take the law into their own hands, it will be because they themselves failed to do their job?
Do you remember when the liberals scoffed at the notion that their attack on the family and sexual mores would eventually lead to the legalization of child molestation? It's happening.
In the first place, I believe that this article is crap and that Sununu will vote for Alito's confirmation.
Second, ol' Bob Smith was "utterly reliable" all right...except for when he was running for President as an Independent, trashing the Republican Party on the floor of the Senate, refusing to give any help to other Republican candidates, endorsing Kerry for President in 2004, etc., etc., etc.
I've long since lost any anger I had against 'ol Bob. I mean, how can anyone be mad at such a pathetic, self-absorbed, and silly person? (Last I heard, ol' Bob was in Florida, wearing striped pants and trying to restart his real estate agent career at the age of 65.)
Sens. John Sununu, R-N.H., and John Warner, R-Va., announced their support for Alito after meeting with him Thursday."He understands the law and the Constitution extremely well, and I think one of the abilities he showed was to clearly describe how he ruled, why he ruled, and what factors were critical to particular cases," Sununu said. "That's an indication that his service on the court and his view of the Constitution is rooted in principle."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1561179/posts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060119/ap_on_go_su_co/alito
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