Posted on 11/28/2004 2:36:14 PM PST by NeoCaveman
See #42. Before it was 51 w/ RINO's now it's 55 w/ RINO's.
I'm afraid we'll be waiting a looong time for that to happen. The Pubbie Senators don't have the intestinal fortitude to play hardball with the bad boy Democrats. I fully expect Bush to eventually appoint a bunch of milquetoast "moderates" to the federal bench because his Senate pals are too sissified to do what it would take to overpower the Dem obstructionists.
OTOH, even if Frist and the other Pub Senate leaders somehow grow a pair, there are at least 4, and probably more, RINO Senators who will vote with the Dems rather than allow strict constructionist judges and/or Justices to be confirmed. I'm thinking of Snowe, Collins, Chaffee, and Hagel, and possibly McCain. And I still think Specter will double cross Bush when push comes to shove. Once he has the Judiciary committee chair he will be almost impossible to unseat.
When the deal was struck to allow Specter to take his chairmanship I said then I would never vote for a Repub again after 44 years of voting for and then being shafted by RINOs and Pubbie cowards. If they manage to somehow pull off this "nuclear option" maneuver I will take that vow back. But I'm not holding my breath, I don't have 2 cents worth of confidence in the whole 55 member bunch.
C'mon, John -- they'd never do anything like that!
So, I am glad to hear that it looks like Arlen is on board. If he truly is, then this would definitely pass the Senate, and would ensure our conservative judges get confirmed.
Arlen is and has always been on board with nobody but himself. He will do what ever is in his best interest.
As I have said before, he is Lucy with the football.
It is the Democrats who are being nuclear about this.
Bill Frist should state at the start of the new Senate:
Our Senate has a rich history that includes both written rules and unwritten traditions regarding those rules. The filibuster is one item that has such written rules and unwritten traditions.
Until now, it has been an unwritten tradition that the minority party never used the filibuster rule to block the confirmation of a judicial appointment when the votes to confirm were present on the floor.
Since the current minority party has elected to ignore this unwritten tradition repeatedly, we have no choice but to write this unwritten tradition into the rules of the Senate to prevent such abuse in the future.
Henceforth, we are adding to the written filibuster rule what has always been the practice until very recently -- the filibuster cannot be used to block a vote on confirmation of a Judicial appointment.
Some have called this the "nuclear" solution but it is really the minority party, previously headed by the obstructionist leadership, who has "nuked" 200 years of tradition. We are merely stopping their attack, kind of like Judicial SDI.
Either way, it would be pure power politics, leaving Democrats unable to respond. Other Senate rules, however, would give the minority party plenty of opportunity to express its anger in the months, and years, to follow.
The Senate operates on "unanimous consent," meaning that nothing moves forward without approval of all 100 senators, except when party leaders negotiate specific agreements. In effect, each senator has the power to halt or delay movement on bills, resolutions and nominees.
"You'll get Democrats denying unanimous consent on a great number of things," Ornstein said. "They'll pick and choose those places, so there's a price to be paid."
Republicans said they think that voters would turn against Democrats as obstructionist, but those concerned with the breakdown of comity in Congress are watching the unfolding drama with trepidation.
"The use of the nuclear option would make history, and not very happy history," Pitney said. "As John McCain (R-Ariz.) has already pointed out, someday the Republicans will be in the minority again, and they wouldn't be too happy if Democrats exercised the nuclear option on them."
I am so sick of them obstructing Bush's judicial picks.
And this article seems to put the monkey on the GOP's back. The author seems to think filibustering by DemoKrauts is okay, while going by the Senate practice of using floor votes just Gawd Awful or something. They refer to the 'RAT tactic of filibustering judicial nominees as "long-cherished", while noting the Republicans are "loaded for bear" trying to stop the 'RATS obstruction.
But the Republican threat to neuter long-cherished filibuster rules by steamrolling Democrats is risky — so potentially destructive that Capitol Hill calls it the "nuclear option." Democratic retaliation would be swift and long-lasting, raising the prospect of escalating clashes in a body that prides itself on gentility and cool judgment.
Even so, Republican leaders are signaling their intent to go nuclear in word and deed.
"We're going to use every tool we possibly can," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who also unveiled a kinder, gentler phrase for the potential rules change: the "constitutional option."
"Republicans are loaded for bear, spoiling for a confrontation with Senate Democrats on judicial appointments," said Norm Ornstein, an expert on Congress for the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. "For a lot of conservatives, this has really become an issue that leaves them passionate."
Contact your current
senators and representatives
and right wing media
and find out why Hanoi Kerry still is in the US Senate.
Demand that this traitor is removed from the US Senate now!
There is no need to impeach him.
He's in violation of the
US Constitution 14th Amendment Section 3
and violation of 18 USC 953
- Private correspondence with foreign governments
and UCMJ Section 904. ART. 104.
- Aiding the Enemy.
Don't be like the silent majority in the 60's and 70's
and turn your back on America and cave in to the anti war minority.
Speak up for America today!
Distribute these url's!
EXPOSE HANOI KERRY!
Full details on these url's!
http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html
There is a backup site
if the 1st url is unavailable.
http://stophanoikerry.150m.com
Timeline of Hanoi Kerry
http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html
The reason why so many things are screwed up in America is because of the Senate's "gentility".
One word that they should use the "nuclear option" on is "bipartisanship".
The best thing for our nation would be to have an all out continual war in the Senate and House since that is the only way you can uphold conservative principles when you are combatting these screwball leftists in the Democratic Party. There is no way you can have "bipartisanship" with the RATs considering how radical and extremist they are.
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
"Pubbies", is it? Your very old office humor joke goes like this, and it has nothing to do with politics:
Getting anything done around here is like mating elephants.
1. It can be done only at a high level.
2. It's accomplished with a great deal of roaring and screaming.
3. It takes two years to achieve any results.
Nice try, "demmie"
Amen! We got nothing but grief and backstabbing from those scum the first term anyway when playing "new tone".
There haven't been the votes to do anything drastic in this Congress, but that didn't stop the malcontents whining about Frist. We've got the votes in the next Congress beginning at High Noon on January 3. Now, Frist has a fair chance to succeed.
And since the current session expires at Noon on January 3, we're talking about the very short term.
I'll pass the U-238 so we can get this done!
Just don't let it happen again :)
Wake me up when they actually do it.
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