How The GOP Made The Specter Issue Irrelevant[ENCOURAGING NEWS!]

How The GOP Made The Specter Issue Irrelevant The GOP juggled commitee assignments today, shifting two strong anti-abortion advocates to the Senate Judiciary Commitee to give George Bush ample political support for the expected conservative nominees to federal courts this session of Congress:

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Sen.-elect Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)[emphasis mine] will join the panel's eight returning Republicans next month, assuming the Republican Conference follows tradition and approves the leadership's committee assignments for all 55 GOP senators. The breakdown of Judiciary will be 10 Republicans and eight Democrats. ... Brownback and Coburn replace Sens. Larry E. Craig (Idaho) and Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), who will shift to other committees. Craig and Chambliss are solid conservatives but are not as focused on abortion as their replacements are. Democrats, who lost four net Senate seats last month, will not replace the retiring Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) on the committee. Their eight remaining members will stay on the panel.

The Senate leadership takes the Judiciary Committee seriously, and these new assignments show how much focus the GOP will have on judicial nominations. At least one Supreme Court opening is expected in this session, for the replacement of ailing William Rehnquist, but there could be as many as three. Bush may renominate some of the stalled appellate nominations that got filibustered in the previous session as well, and the new panel will guarantee a prompt and supportive referral.

As an added plus, the new assignments exposed the leftists as reliably tone-deaf as ever. Pro-abortion activists could not refrain from using war analogies to describe the situation, a particularly silly use of language while American soldiers serve under fire:

Antiabortion groups hailed yesterday's appointments, while advocates of keeping abortion legal expressed dismay. "The color code for potential threats to the Constitution just went from orange to red," said Ralph G. Neas of People for the American Way. "It's hard to believe the Judiciary Committee could go any farther to the right, but it just did." Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said: "It appears the far right is massing troops on the border of Roe v. Wade."

Ah, yes; here we have the common strategy of comparing pro-life politicians with terrorists and invaders. I understand that they oppose the restriction of abortion, but Coburn and Brownback are not terrorists or an invasion force. The only way PFW and NARAL can motivate their hysterical constituencies is to use language in the most inflammatory way possible. What the NARAL/PFW Chicken Littles fail to realize is that their radical abortion policies -- abortion on demand at any time prior to birth -- has increasingly alienated more and more of the electorate. The more they attack Republicans in these terms, the better their steadily-decreasing core responds to fundraising efforts, but they lose electoral power -- which the Democrats finally seem to understand.

If the Democrats and the Left cannot do any better than make stupid terrorist and war analogies to explain their positions, they can look forward to more marginalization in the next two years. Coburn and Brownback will gladly assist in that transition as well.

The word is getting out..... note the following:

Feminist Daily News Wire

December 21, 2004

Republicans Pick Anti-Abortion Senators for Senate Judiciary Committee
The Republican leadership has selected Senator-elect Tom Coburn (R-OK), an advocate of the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions, and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), another strong opponent of abortion rights, to sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee. When it meets in January, the Republican Conference is likely to follow tradition and agree to the assignments. Coburn and Brownback will join eight returning Republican members to make up the total of 10 Republicans and eight Democrats on the committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings and votes on whether or not to recommend confirmation of federal judicial nominees by the full Senate.

With the first Supreme Court vacancies expected in more than a decade, abortion is likely to be a major issue for any nominee that comes before the committee. According to the Washington Times, some on Capitol Hill see the appointments of Coburn and Brownback as “a signal that Republican leaders intend to take a hard line against Judiciary Committee Democrats…”

As antiabortion groups praised the assignments, abortion rights advocates expressed concern over the addition of two such vocal foes of abortion rights. Reacting to the addition of Coburn and Brownback to the committee, Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America told the Washington Post, “It appears the far right is massing troops on the border of Roe v. Wade.”

Other assignments.........

GOP senators swap committees, receive new assignments

By Alexander Bolton

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) named the Republican committee chairmen and membership of the 109th Congress on Monday, swapping the assignments of several veteran lawmakers and giving new positions to the incoming senators.

The new appointments are subject to the approval of the Senate Republican Conference, which will vote at the beginning of January. It is unlikely that any of Frist’s decisions would be overturned.

New chairmen will take the helm of several committees because of Republican Conference term limits. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) will replace Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful posts in the Congress. Stevens used the post to funnel more pork per capita to Alaska than any other state, according to Citizens for Government Waste, a group that tracks federal spending.

Stevens will take over from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. McCain will in turn replace retiring Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) as the chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee.

Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) will head the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee because Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the departing chairman, has replaced retiring Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) as the head of the Budget Committee.

Despite complaints from some conservative-leaning groups, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) will lead the Judiciary Committee. His rise to chairman was imperiled after he made controversial comments following the election that judicial nominees who oppose abortion rights might have trouble winning approval.

Drawing much attention was Frist’s appointment of Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and freshman Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), two of the new Senate’s strongest opponents of abortion rights, to the Judiciary Committee. Brownback and Coburn are expected to clash with the more centrist Specter.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) will remain chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, despite being cut out of crafting the intelligence reform bill. Roberts’s decision allowed Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) to become chairman of the Agriculture Committee.

Brownback gave up his seats on the Commerce and Foreign Relations panels.

The two biggest prizes, seats on the Finance and Appropriations committees, went to Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), respectively. Crapo had to give up his seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, while Allard left that committee and the Armed Services panel.

The Environment panel received the largest influx of freshman, with Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and David Vitter (R-La.) among its new members.

The Governmental Affairs Committee – soon to expand its jurisdiction over homeland security – has surged in prestige. Sens. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Armed Services Chairman John Warner (R-Va.), two of the Senate’s veterans, have joined the panel along with Coburn and centrist Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R).

Warner’s switch to Governmental Affairs may signal that he wants to become more involved in the oversight of counterterrorism intelligence to make up for jurisdiction his committee lost due to passage of the intelligence reform bill and an internal reorganization of Senate committee jurisdiction over the issue. It was reported earlier this month that the Pentagon wanted to expand into counterterrorism intelligence operations and undertake missions now considered the province of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Warner relinquished his position on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Chafee left the Banking Committee.

Sens. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) and Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) have joined the Agriculture panel. Thune is new to the Armed Services Committee, while freshman Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) is new to the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined the Budget Committee, which is likely to play a major role in the expected battles over reform of Social Security and the tax system.

DeMint and Vitter joined the Commerce panel.

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) has joined the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, along with freshman Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Martinez, both of whom Allen helped elect as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Martinez and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are new members of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Burr, and Isakson have joined the health committee.

Thune and Isakson have been appointed to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, which will be chaired by Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho.) Specter stepped down from the chairmanship to head Judiciary.

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