Bush Vows to Fight for Court Nominee Estrada

Reuters ^

[RCW2001]

Wed February 19, 2003 06:49 PM ET By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush and a half dozen Hispanic groups tried to crank up public pressure on Democrats on Wednesday to permit Senate confirmation of Miguel Estrada as the first Hispanic on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Bush appeared on a Spanish-language television network to praise Estrada and hammer Democrats, while Hispanic groups did the same at a Capitol Hill news conference.

"Miguel Estrada is a very good man and I believe he is being treated very unfairly," Bush told Telemundo, which reaches about 90 percent of the nation's Hispanic households that have television.

"Instead of people looking at his qualifications, they are playing shameful politics," Bush said. "I'm going to fight for his nomination.

Democrats have managed to prevent the Republican-led U.S. Senate from approving Bush's attempt to put the Honduran-born, Harvard-educated Estrada on the appeals court. They complain that the conservative attorney failed to answer a number of questions at confirmation hearing last year, making him a "stealth candidate."

This is a high-stakes battle for both sides.

Republicans see the nomination as a chance to reach out to Hispanics, the nation's largest minority group, and undermine Democrats' traditional strong support among them.

But with a number of liberal Hispanic groups opposed to Estrada, Democrats denounce the nomination as another attempt by Bush to pack the courts with right-wing ideologues and vow to stand in opposition to him.

The Senate returns from a weeklong recess on Monday, scheduled to begin a third week of debate on Estrada.

All 51 Senate Republicans back Estrada. Yet opponents claim at least 44 Democrats are lined up against him, three more than are needed to prevent a vote on confirmation.

C. Boyden Gray, a former counsel to Bush's father, President George Bush, joined Hispanic groups at the news conference on Wednesday to tout Estrada's credentials and to denounce as unfounded the Democratic complaints.

Gray and the groups produced copies of legal briefs Estrada wrote in 15 U.S. Supreme Court cases while assistant U.S. solicitor general in the first Bush administration and the Clinton administration. They invited Democrats to examine the briefs to get a better understanding of Estrada.

"It will take quit a bit of time ... but I think it is good reading," said Gray, who heads Committee for Justice, a nonprofit group backing Bush's judicial nominees.

Democrats said they do not want the briefs. They have unsuccessfully demanded that Estrada answer their questions and that they obtain memos he wrote in preparing the briefs.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said, "Republicans today have responded to serious concerns about the nomination of Miguel Estrada by producing old, publicly available, Department of Justice briefs on which Mr. Estrada worked."

"These briefs go through vigorous screening processes before being filed, and say little about what kind of jurist Mr. Estrada would be," Kennedy said.

"If the Bush Administration truly wants the Senate to confirm Mr. Estrada, it should stop trying to obscure the important issues at stake in this nomination, and produce documents that will allow the Senate to do its constitutional job of advise and consent," Kennedy said.

A number of organizations are now airing radio and TV ads in selected states, trying to pressure a number of targeted Senate Democrats to flip and support Estrada.

"Hopefully the pressure is building," a Republican strategist said.

"We are standing firm," vowed a senior Democratic aide.

[madprof98]

This is excellent news. But I doubt a word of it will make the liberal paper here in Atlanta. They have yet to report that a filibuster is underway.

[votelife]

"Being Hispanic for us means much more than having a surname," said New Jersey Rep. Bob Menendez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "It means having some relationship with the reality of what it is to live in this country as a Hispanic American."

This is the Democrat case against Estrada...

[votelife]

Bump!!!!!!!!!!!

[votelife]

FREEPers, I have created the ultimate Estrada activism thread. On it you will find ways to contact Senators, newsspapers, radio/tv people, organizations etc. Go there and help support Estrada. Keep the thread bumped until we get him confirmed.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/847037/posts

[Always A Marine]

"I'm going to fight for his nomination."

Now we'll see if Bill Frist and his wobbly Senate colleagues will do the same.

[harpo11]

"If the Bush Administration truly wants the Senate to confirm Mr. Estrada, it should stop trying to obscure the important issues at stake in this nomination, and produce documents that will allow the Senate to do its constitutional job of advise and consent," Kennedy said."

Yeah, Mr. Kennedy would you be willing to produce why you abandoned a young women in your car while you fled to get advice on how to talk yourself out of having any responsibility for her tragic death?

[votelife]

BUMP

[Coleus]

President Bush Appoints 6 (six) pro-aborts to the Federal Bench in NJ.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/794020/posts

[victim soul]

What a prick:

"It means having some relationship with the reality of what it is to live in this country as a Hispanic American."

If my memory serves me Estrada didn't even speak the our language until his late teens.

It is disgusting to see a Congressman debase himself by such remarks.

[Republic]

Doesn't it just burn you that people of the low calibur of teddy kennedy attempt to smear a man of Mr Estrada's stature?

Ya just wanna say--ok--so you want personal, inter-office business memos? Fine. Those of you who want business memos of Estrada first produce ALL of YOUR inner office memos of your business dealings? What you say? But you aren't up for a nomination to a judgeship? True. But you are REPRESENTATIVES of your constituents as as REPS you certainly should be willing to reveal your private thought processes and business dealings if you would demand the same of someone YOU are to judge!

[TLBSHOW]

BUMP

[votelife]

BUMP

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"Bush appeared on a Spanish-language television network to praise Estrada and hammer Democrats, while Hispanic groups did the same at a Capitol Hill news conference."

IMHO, this was a carefully laid trap. I would not be surprised if Bush told Frist to go ahead and allow the rats to obstruct and delay. Estrada is a great symbol of everything Bush stands for. He believes in Life, Excellence in Achievement, and he has a soft spot for Hispanics.

If Frist had pushed for the filibuster, it would have been overshadowed by the war. If the war news dies down in a month, the timing could be perfect.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"If the Bush Administration truly wants the Senate to confirm Mr. Estrada, it should stop trying to obscure the important issues at stake in this nomination, and produce documents that will allow the Senate to do its constitutional job of advise and consent," Kennedy said."

Kennedy's own words show how perverse the DNC's move is. Advice and consent is being obstructed by a filibuster.

[votelife]

Check out this ad The Latino Coalition recently ran in Roll Call!

http://www.thelatinocoalition.org/news/pdf/EstradaRollCallAd.pdf

This ad could be of great use as flyers, etc!

[TRY ONE]

What he said:
"Being Hispanic for us means much more than having a surname," said New Jersey Rep. Bob Menendez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "It means having some relationship with the reality of what it is to live in this country as a Hispanic American."

What he really meant:
"Being Hispanic for us means much more than having a surname," said New Jersey Rep. Bob Menendez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "It means agreeing to kill as many of the unborn as we possibly can; it means total redistribution of the wealth; it means hating George W. Bush......"

[dfwgator]

24/7!!!!!

[votelife]

The Freep for the day is Rush Limbaugh. Rush gets around 20 million listeners a day. He has drawn a lot of attention lately with Daschle and Clinton complaining about him...

So, we need to encourage him to keep talking about Estrada. Here is the info:

YOU can call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon and 3PM Eastern Time at: 1-800-282-2882

You can e-mail Rush at: rush@eibnet.com

You can fax Rush at: 212-563-9166

You can write Rush at:
The Rush Limbaugh Show
2 Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10121

Everyone, it only takes a second to do this, let's show some support for Miguel and get this guy confirmed!