[sdk7x7]

hmmm, interesting analysis

[Goreknowshowtocheat]

Go Nuclear!!!!!

[Lurker]

Dear President Bush.

Two words, sir:

Recess Appointments.

Regards,

L

[NicknamedBob]

"Remember—I used to cut people's hearts out for a living."

Hmmm. Good line! But in dealing with people like Kennedy, Clinton, and Schumer(sp?), is Frist qualified for microsurgery?

[BibChr]

"I will stand with them to the bitter end," said the President

I love W.

I don't love that statement.

"Stand with" is passive. "Bitter end" accepts Demo victory.

What he should have said is....

"I will take whatever actions necessary to see to it that the Senate minority stops shirking its Constitutional duty and obstructing the rule of law, and votes on my appointments."

Dan

[You Gotta Be Kidding Me]

Simple solution:

President Bush notifys the US Senate that (so-and-so) will be seated as judge XYZ, UNLESS the US Senate votes to disapprove the nominee and that failure to vote, either way, will be considered to be the Senate's 'consent' to the nominee.

[hellinahandcart]

a GOP that controls only 51 Senate seats

Um...isn't this wrong?

Thought we had 52.

[Plutarch]

"The reason Republicans don't have all 51 of their senators...is that a number of them...are worried that changing the rules would make it easier someday for a President Hillary Clinton to get her judicial nominees through the Senate."

What pathetic Minority Loser think. The Republicans are the Majority Party and it is hardly in the Republican interest to let the diminishing numbers of Democrats act like a Majority. Queen Victoria had it right:

"We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist."

ATTRIBUTION: Victoria (1819–1901), British monarch, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Letter, December 1899, to statesman A.J. Balfour, during the “Black Week” of the Boer War.

[Just mythoughts]

Tell the DIMs in the Senate that when they confirm these judges they can come the next day to the White House and see that "INTEL" they are so worried about. They can even bring "JOE WILSON"!

[pjd]

The fear, regarding the nuclear option, is totally unfounded. Republicans are afraid that a rule change now would make it difficult to block the Democrats at some future date when Rats are a majority. Does anyone in his right mind believe that the Democrats wouldn't make that rule change themselves if minority Republicans were blocking appointments?

The Republicans have a choice. Do it now and take some advantage, or wait until the Democrats do it when they are in power and they completely stack the courts. The Dems would even have the audacity to change the rules, and then change them back after they get their way.

[Monti Cello]

The Republicans have little to lose with the so called 'nukular option', because they wouldn't have the balls to conduct a filibuster on Dem nominees if the situation were reversed, and they would fold like tents if forced to carry it out.

It's like they're saying, we can't be tough because it would prevent us from being tough in the future. It's nothing more than an exercise of the imagination since the Republican Senate is intrinsically averse to toughness in the first place.

[StriperSniper]

all three of those fighting conservatives will be gone from the Senate.

Well I think they now have at least four newly minted ones, Brownback, Coleman, Graham, and Santorum.

[MadMoo]

Recess Appointments, PLEAE!

[af_vet_1981]

Still, the "nuclear option," the aide said, comes up at "almost every meeting of the [Senate] Republican Conference." Its strongest proponents are Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (Pa.).

Go nuclear and never elect another Democrat as President. The Clintons and liberals have so polluted the party it is not worth saving. At least one fifth of them are traitors anyway.

[jackbill]

When Hatch appeared on C-SPAN earlier this week he sounded fairly certain that they would use the nuclear option. The only question seemed to be when. He mentioned that the RATS said that if they used it "they would blow up the Senate", so Hatch was fairly certain that it wouldn't be used until after all of the major legislation was passed later this year.

By that time, there will be more filibusters on more nominees. With a growing list, perhaps some of those Republicans who currently oppose it will finally get fed up and join the majority.

By the way, the last time that the nuclear option was "used" (1975?) the mere threat of using it was enough to make the opposition back down.

[small voice in the wilderness]

The rats are operating in a lawless state. The republicans are trying to fight them using law. It doesn't really matter what our side does. They simply refuse to abide by the law. People like that cannot be dealt with using persuasion, threats, common sense, tradition, or the U.S. Constitution. It is time for the Senate Republicans to say nothing more about it. AT ALL. And it is time for President Bush to begin his recess appointment list. No talk, no reasoning, no debate, no arguing the law. Quiet determination is what I would like to see. The rats will come unglued. Let them. They have left W. and the Senate Republicans with no other choice. I think the American people will get it.

[narses]

Here is a better explanation.

[Political Junkie Too]

"The reason Republicans don't have all 51 of their senators," said a Senate aide, "is that a number of them—and not just the non-conservatives—are worried that changing the rules would make it easier someday for a President Hillary Clinton to get her judicial nominees through the Senate."

Haven't the Republicans been watching the trends? Don't they realize that they will likely still hold the Senate no matter who is President in 2008?

-PJ

[Reshinger]

The Nuclear option and recess appointments are good strategies. Recalling/Impeachment of judges practicing judical abuse must also be considered. It may be a good time to start removing some of the "crazies".

[sweetliberty]

"If the chair, as planned, rules that the point of order is correct, a simple majority of the full Senate—which the Republicans have—could uphold his ruling, effectively changing Senate rules to force simple up-or-down majority votes on nominations. Filibusters would be eliminated for presidential nominations, period."

So what are they waiting for? Do they think for a minute that the RATs wouldn't use this option if the situation were reversed?

FOL, we are definitely gonna need that RAT Whacker.

.

[Paleo Conservative]

[GOP considers "nuke option}

Yes! Let's nuke Vermont!