Frist Caves on Filibuster Rule Change for Judicial Nominees

Human Events Online ^ | January 4, 2005 | Robert Bluey

[rodguy911]

Dam,I got stuck working and only heard bits and pieces.

[hinckley buzzard]

"I see absolutely nothing wrong with this."

Like all seventeen of the Security Council's resolutions against Saddam, it sounds very stern, righteous and uncompromising. Nothing wrong with any of them.

[Fiddlstix]

Forgive the uninitiated-what is "RINO?" Whatever it is, this is a disappointment.

RINO = Republican In Name Only.

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[rodguy911]

Bad boy rats or bad boy journalists?

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Bill Frist has an 88 lifetime ACU rating.

This isn't about his voting record since any senator from Tennessee is likely to vote conservatively just to stay in office. Sen. Frist has been ineffective as a leader in advancing the conservative agenda and he is likely to be even less effective this session since he isn't running for reelection in 2006.

[hinckley buzzard]

"The Dems are on very shaky ground if they try to stop all action in this Congress."

The MSM will make it look like the GOP shut it down in pursuit of eeevil rightwing extremist judges.

Remember how "Newt" shut down the government in 1995? Never happened. The government was shut down when Clinton vetoed duly passed appropriations bills sent for his signature. He even bragged about it to a union audience some months later(Yeah, heh-heh, we SHUT 'ER DOWN!) But ask a hundred "journalists" or "historians,"

"Who shut down the goverment?" and stand back when you get the "answer." I see no reason to doubt the same outcome in the future, given the opportunity to sabotage President Bush, whom they hate even more than they hated Newt.

[Political Junkie Too]

They were talking about actually forcing a real filibuster, that is, making them go through the motions of speaking all night long, bringing in cots, calling the Senate back to order, etc, instead of just threatening a filibuster and then acting as if the filibuster had occured. There was debate over here about how effective that would really be. The feeling was that an actual filibuster would be harder on the Republicans to maintain because all of them would be required to be in chamber, while only 40 Democrats would have to be there.

There was also a timing issue because Mitch McConnell had just gone through surgery, and another senator was having health problems, so it didn't seem practical.

They did discuss the parlimentary procedure at the time, but they felt that it was too radical a move. Then, when Miguel Estrada withdrew his name from consideration, all the wind came out of their sails.

The Republicans wanted to turn the issue into the Democrats opposing minority appointments. They also tried to claim that the Democrats had a non-Catholic litmus test (the infamous "No Catholics Need Apply" ad that ran on TV). The Democrats raged with righteous indignation at those claims.

I don't think that Frist missed an opportunity so much as they failed to create an opportunity because the public wasn't paying attention and/or the media was blacking out the whole thing.

-PJ

[rodguy911]

Thank you very much Political junkie, you sure know your stuff.

[kaystreet]

Maybe because he filibustered a Clinton nominee in 1996? He's just no good.

[recalcitrant]

six.
cheney could have broken a fifty fifty, right?

this means six had to threaten the 'jeffords' jump, in their lust and love for the abortion of babies.

who would that number six be?

[Timeout]

Like Qwinn, I came to this thread after I'd already read Frist's speech. I can't believe the way this thread is largely misreading what he said.

Frist basically threw down the gauntlet to Reed and the Rats [sounds like a band!]. Frist made it clear he was retaining the option of adopting the rule change at any time in the future.

The only issue Human Events seems to have with him is that he didn't change the rule TODAY, with no provocation from the new Congress. I think that would've been a mistake. In any event, Frist did NOT cave and he made it clear to the Rats that they will pay for any more obstructionism.

[recalcitrant]

other potential reasons?

[deport]

If the Dems had this big a majority in the Senate plus the Presidency would they have as much difficulty getting their candidates through?

---

The Democrats didn't have contol of the Senate six of the eight years Clinton was President but he got his nominees to a floor vote. The Republicans chose not to filibuster but allow the vote if a nominee was presented to the floor....

[deport]

Human Events article says they need 67!!!! votes to stop the fillibuster if they didn't vote today when they needed 51???

---

The #67 is referring to the number of votes need to change a Senate Rule after the rules are established and put in place for the Congress Session. During the rule making process the rules are passed with a majority vote which is 51 if all Senators are present and voting.

Only 60 votes are required to bring cloture to end floor debate....

[deport]

The only issue Human Events seems to have with him is that he didn't change the rule TODAY, with no provocation from the new Congress.

---

Not to change the rule today must mean that the 109th is going to plod along without adopting new rules and operate under the 108th rules. Apparently his position is that new rules can be adopted at some later point for the 109th and put in place with only a 51 vote majority and is not the 67 votes as specified in the rules of the 108th.

Or his option will be the 'ruling from the Chair' that the advice and consent not something that can be filibustered. In either case the results would be the same but obtained via different methods.

[GopherIt]

Just about the only thing I can think of to say for the last several months, the last several threads: Thank God that the grownups are running the show.

[PeterPhilly]

Just yet another in a long line of tactics to generate an issue to use, rather than govern and actually achieve their stated goals. I think most people who voted to put a Republican majority in the Senate did so under the impression that the candidates meant what they said when they campaigned. And one of the big issues for the Senate races were judicial filibusters. This Republican tactic is the same one used by the Democrats on Social Security. Whine and moan about how the sky is falling....but don't actually do anything about it because it will deprive you of a good fundraising and campaign issue. With this strategy, it will be increasingly hard to claim that they are motivated by core beliefs rather than just using convenient catch phrases to generate campaign cash. As a previous poster claimed, we could give them a 90 seat majority and they'd still find a way to let the status quo prevail.

[woodb01]

By the time they are done, George Bush will look like an obstinate, unreasonable, power-mad partisan extremist who wants to kill pregnant women in back alleys, and the 'rats will look like the little Dutch boy who stuck his finger in the dike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5 years ago I would have agreed with you, however, today the "National" Media is collapsing. The Internete and new media is quickly moving in to fill the gap. And the Old Media will continue to accelerate its collapse in the next 2 years.

Conservatives everywhere are pushing even HARDER to bring about the collapse of the National Media propaganda machines.

In fact, I run a site that is dedicated to Conservative news. One of MANY such sites. And they are just exploding. The Old Media Wing of the DNC, it's National Socialist Propaganda Wing can no longer control the message.

Re-Designed ANTI-DNC Web Portal at --->
http://www.noDNC.com

[Political Junkie Too]

I think most people who voted to put a Republican majority in the Senate did so under the impression that the candidates meant what they said when they campaigned.

People don't vote that way for the Senate, because they are limited to their own state. People may be voting more along party lines than before because of the national divide on the issues, and in that sense hope that others do the same in order to build a majority like you state.

Bush, on the other hand, did mention the vote on judges in the debates, and did just resend 20 previous nominees to the Senate for confirmation, so he is acting on his promise.

This can't be taken in isolation. One also has to look at the Specter incident to get a sense of where the Senate is going. Will it be harder for the Democrats to maintain the filibuster with 45 Senators instead of 49? Will threats of crossing over by Chafee and others be weakened because the margin isn't so thin now?

I think it's too early to generalize because the ground has shifted in the Senate.

-PJ

[RJL]

G..g..g.g..g...good th..th...th....thing. Th...th...dems..m...mm..mmm ....might use th..th....r...r...rule.....ch...change against us....wh...wh..when we b...b...become th...th....m...m..mmmm....minority. Shew...

They already did, the Democrats aren't afraid to use power.

In 1975 to get around a determined Republican minority they changed the rules making a supermajority 60 votes instead of 67 votes.

You've heard of a fraidy cat? Republicans have a Fristy cat!