Free Republic

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Whose mainstream is it?By Herbert LondonPublished October 7, 2005 Sen. Hillary Clinton, New York Democrat, addressing supporters at a recent fund-raiser in Quogue, said: "I deplore the radical left and the extremists on the religious right. I am in the 'mainstream.' " This is indeed a curious comment from a woman who reflexively defended every position on the left throughout her political peregrination.     Surely there is a method to this ploy. Americans don't like extremists, so the senator has veered to the center. But this is not a true center, "a vital center" as Arthur Schlesinger...

After two days of intense legal questioning, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts finally addressed a subject most Americans could relate to: His favorite movies are "Doctor Zhivago" and "North by Northwest." Frustrated by Roberts' answers, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested on Wednesday that if he dared to ask the nominee his favorite films, he would get a discussion of cinematography and why "Casablanca" is considered one of the greatest. Instead, Roberts answered flat out, bringing laughter from the audience and senators alike. "North by Northwest," Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic, starred Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau,...

So, while many Americans were busy contributing money, clothing and other necessities for hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast residents, what was Sen. Chuck Schumer up to? Raising money off the backs of Katrina's victims — for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. In one of the more cynical tricks we've seen lately, Schumer's DSCC urged visitors to its Web site to sign a petition urging the firing of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the focus of much of the criticism of the federal response to Katrina. (Indeed, Brown was summoned back to Washington yesterday as Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W....

WASHINGTON -- New York Sen. Charles Schumer, a member of the Judiciary Committee and an author of the Democrats' catechism regarding constitutional reasoning, soon will be questioning John Roberts. Herewith some questions someone should ask Schumer: Does Congress have the power to require Americans to floss after brushing their teeth? Or to regulate the amount of homework children do each night? The federal government's powers supposedly are limited because they are enumerated. As James Madison said in Federalist 45, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined." For seven decades, however, Congress has...

Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee point-man Charles Schumer said Sunday that he wanted to use confirmation hearings on Judge John Roberts to establish a new standard for the kinds of questions a Supreme Court nominee must answer to be confirmed. "I'm trying to set the predicate for future nominations," Schumer told WCBS TV in New York, "by asking and making sure that everyone agrees it's okay for us to ask a whole lot of questions and for him to answer them as a prerequisite for getting the nomination." The New York Democrat complained that "some on the hard right" don't want...

Illinois' senior Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Assistant Democrat Leader in the U.S. Senate, has wasted little time in launching against Judge John Roberts, President Bush's choice for the Supreme Court slot being vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Durbin has said that the President's decision to put forward John Roberts, 50, who he termed a "controversial nominee" guarantees a "controversial nomination process." Durbin previously clashed with Roberts during the confirmation process for the federal judgeship he now holds. Durbin questioned Roberts characterization of the Rehnquist Court as not necessarily conservative, saying that the the record of the court...

Senator Schumer is planning to use his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to reopen a battle he has already lost. "I voted against Judge Roberts for the D.C. Court because he didn't answer questions fully and openly when he appeared before the committee," Mr. Schumer said on Tuesday, referring to President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court. But despite being rebuked by his colleagues for pressing inappropriate questions on Mr. Roberts when he was a federal appeals court nominee, Mr. Schumer has signaled he is going to revisit the same line of questioning. "It is vital that Judge Roberts...

Are We Dancing to the Tune of the Democrat War Room? In December of 2004, Harry Reid announced that he, along with Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer, were forming a Democratic War Room... I think that conservatives would have to admit that on issue after issue - The Democrats are keeping the Republicans off base just enough so that gridlock has emerged - even with the larger majorities that winning elections provides. Look back at the controversies in the year up to this point: War Crimes, Guantanamo Prison, Social Security reform, Immigration Reform, The Minutemen, Bolton, Carl Rove, Tom Delay,...

AgapePress) - A prominent Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is being called to task for reported comments he made that clearly indicate his prejudicial stance on the White House's pending nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court -- whoever that may be. Two pro-family groups are saying the only proper step for New York's Charles Schumer to take is to bow out of the confirmation process altogether. According to news reports, Senator Schumer was overheard on Wednesday (July 6) discussing "how we are going to go to war over [judicial nominations]." In addition, the senator has stated "It's not...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US administration and Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan believe China is set to revalue its currency, two US senators said after agreeing to shelve an anti-China tariffs bill for now. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham, after a meeting with Treasury Secretary John Snow and Greenspan, agreed to put off a late-July vote on their tariffs bill after being assured that a revaluation is coming. The Senators had been assured that the revaluation "could well occur in a very short while, in the next few months", said Schumer, an outspoken Democrat who has been campaigning for...

The old NRA slogan says, "Guns don't kill people. People do." That's no fun, if you're a "lawmaker" -- odious name for a representative, isn't it? U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch (D-South Boston), "has filed a bill seeking to pull the controversial drug [painkiller Oxycontin] from the market," reported the Boston Herald Saturday, May 7. In announcing his bill, Lynch referred to a recent robbery attempt in an Arlington, Massachusetts pharmacy. Two would-be thieves showed guns and demanded the druggist's Oxy stash. Lynch did not tell what happened next, which would have suited the NRA's purposes better than his. The...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tracey Schmitt 202-863-8614“Senator Schumer’s unequivocal support for Democratic efforts to filibuster qualified judicial nominees is nothing more than partisan politicking. When President Clinton sent a nominee to the Senate, Senator Schumer cited the Senate’s ‘Constitutional mandate’ to provide a vote. It’s disappointing that Senator Schumer’s correct interpretation of the Constitution only applies when it suits his political agenda.” - Tracey Schmitt, Press SecretarySEN. CHUCK SCHUMER’S (D-NY) HYPOCRISY ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONSDuring Clinton Administration, Schumer Believed Filibustering Judicial Nominations Indefinitely Was Not Right:In 2000, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) Said Government Does Not Fulfill Its “Constitutional Mandate” When Judicial...

Calculating Democratic Nonsense by Chris Shugart, Mar 5, 2005 On Feb 17, Democratic Senators Harry Reid and Charles Schumer announced the unveiling of their Social Security calculator, a political contrivance designed to "demonstrate" the unworkability of President Bush's Social Security reform proposals. It wasn't much of a news story until Schumer issued his own press release to the media. All of a sudden the news outlets were parroting the press release as if it was hard news, treating the story as if the Democrats really had just designed an actual Social Security calculator that functioned with the precision and accuracy of...

Questions for judicial nominees Posted: February 28, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Two weeks ago, President Bush re-nominated 12 candidates for federal appeals court seats whose confirmations were blocked by Senate Democrats during his first term. Bush says judicial nominees deserve an up-or-down vote in the Senate. That's the way the Founding Fathers intended for the Senate to be heard on judicial nominees. Instead, Bush's political opposition, too weak to prevent most nominees from approval, has prevented the nominees from coming up for a vote. While I support some of Bush's judicial nominees, I oppose others. The effect...

WASHINGTON - The federal indictment of a graduate of a Saudi-backed Islamic school in suburban Virginia for plotting to kill President Bush is the latest example of the school's links to troubling activity, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., charged on Wednesday. Schumer said he is asking Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, to explain where the school receives all of its funding, and whether the school may be "a breeding ground for anti-American sentiment - and, possibly even terrorist activities." It has been widely reported the school receives substantial funding from the Saudi kingdom. Schumer...

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) Monday named New York Sens. Hillary Clinton (D) and Charles Schumer (D) the Co-Porkers of the Month for February for pledging to fight the President's reforms of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Sens. Clinton and Schumer lashed out at the President, with Sen. Clinton describing the federal grants as "a lifeline" for New Yorkers. President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget includes 154 program cuts or terminations, saving a total of $20 billion. The CDBG program, which is providing $4.7 billion to cities and towns nationally in fiscal 2005, is on that list. The budget...

Senator Schumer kicked off his membership on the Senate Finance Committee yesterday by accusing President Bush of a scheme to "get back at the 'blue states'" through the tax-simplification initiative the White House is preparing. In a speech delivered to the Association for a Better New York, Mr. Schumer invoked Senator Moynihan, saying he had told Mr. Schumer to "do everything I could to get a seat on the Finance Committee." As a member of that committee, Mr. Schumer said, blocking proposals to eliminate the deductibility on federal returns of state and local income tax would be his "no. 1...

Spin central Stunned Democrats got their lunch handed to them last month, and incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has a plan to ensure it won't happen again. On Monday, Nevada's own Sen. Reid announced the creation of a new Democratic communications "war room" in the Capitol to ensure his party's message reverberates beyond the nation's urban centers and the leftist Northeast corridor. (Ironic, that to run Democratic Spin Central, Sen. Reid tapped former aides to two Ÿberliberal Eastern Senate Democrats, Ted Kennedy and Charles Schumer, who couldn't get elected dog catcher in any "red" state.) Beginning in January, a...

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- Sen. Charles Schumer said Monday he has ruled out a run for New York governor in 2006 and instead will head the Democratic Party's effort to win seats in the Senate. Schumer agreed to head the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and take a seat on the powerful Finance Committee, nixing the possibility of a 2006 gubernatorial campaign, a race which could have pitted him in a primary against state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The current New York governor, Republican George Pataki, has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008. Schumer, in a telephone...

WASHINGTON -- The executive producer of CBS's "60 Minutes" midweek broadcast, who partially blamed the Bush White House for bogus documents used by Dan Rather, is a former staffer for New York Democrats who was still making political contributions while on the network's payroll. Josh Howard served on the staff of Rep. Stephen Solarz and worked for Sen. Charles Schumer when Schumer was a state assemblyman, a background confirmed by CBS. Federal election reporting records show that Howard, identifying himself as a CBS employee, contributed $1,000 in each of Solarz's last two campaigns for Congress in 1990 and 1992. When...