Posted on 04/24/2005 7:42:14 PM PDT by Coastal
Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the Republican Party now has the votes in the U.S. Senate to stop any planned Democratic filibuster of the president's judicial nominees.
"There's no doubt in my mind, and I'm a pretty good counter of votes ... that we have the votes we need," McConnell said on the Sunday morning news program.
That quickly brought out a spokesman for Harry Reid to challenge that claim.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalledger.com ...
Have the votes, maybe.
Have the courage?
Here is how I view it. The democrats want to disenfranchise me. How? By denying the 2 senators that represent me from voting. Just the idea that someone in Cleveland be denied the chance to vote sends the libs into rabid tantrums. But the fact that I am not being allowed to be represented in Congress, they think that is democracy.
Or the time? People are literally dying as they wait to get some sane judges appointed. It's nearly May. GET ON WITH IT!!
Have the courage?
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Major problem for us. The Dems need to get their teeth kicked in real good by a Republican-controlled Congress, otherwise they will continue their non-stop obstructionist setting of the Washington agenda and the Repubs will remain in political paralysis, afraid of the MSM and the junk-yard dog Dems...NOW, REPUBS, NOW!!!!
The Majority Whip should know if anyone knows. But I'll be happier after I see it happen.
Will there come a day the Republicans don't have a majority? It is possible that this change will be regretful.
As far as making the change, they should have just done it and not even bothered going on and on about it. The change would be made, judges would get voted on, and the general public would see nothing wrong with the process. All this talk about the stupid rule is pointless.
If Republicans are ever not the Majority (and it is absurd for a political party to be thinking in mode of the minority until they are one, fastest way to get there) they wouldn't filibuster Justices as the Dems have. Never have, never would summon the courage.
Nor would it be RIGHT to do so.
Doing the right thing is never something to regret.
Also, For that argument to even have a thread of validity, it would have to be assumed the Dems wouldn't pursue this course if positions were reversed. Sorry, I know them to well to believe they wouldn't break a filibuster in a heartbeat first Day of the new session with 51 votes max.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Hardly. It is actually applying the constitution rather than subverting it. The Constitution says that the president nominates and the Senate advises and consents.
Also, there have been changes to the cloture rule in the past, so there's no reason to think that changing it now will somehow be a violation of what's been done in the past. Changing it IS what's been done in the past.
The Republicans have not filibustered Judges in the past. How does it hurt us to give up something we have never done?
We have a chance to set the stage for the next 30 years. We can not let it pass.
Me, too. I'm just waiting to see if they have any b@@ls about this issue, as well as Bolton.
Do you doubt that when the Dims are in the majority, they won't "go nuclear" the instant they even catch a whiff of a possible GOP fillibuster? They'll do in a heartbeat, and they won't spend months and months wringing their hands about it. And the media will be fully in support of them doing so. There won't be all this phony pontificating about "time honored Senate traditions" then.
I agree that the RATS will always do whatever they want and being concerned over Republican reaction is the last thing they worry about. In this situation or any other for that matter. The Republican hesitation to take on the nuclear option, or force a full blown filibuster, has done nothing but harden the RATS position of obstruction and made the GOP look like losers instead of the majority party. In this case, I am afraid that the perception of weakness is the reality or the matter would have been settled long ago.
BING! BING! BING!
WE HAVE A WINNER OF THE LAMEST QUESTION CHALLENGE!!!
When have the Dimorats ever followed the rules when doing so is even the slightest inconvenience? Why fear retribution from the UN-American, amoralists? If (PLEASE, GOD, HAVE MERCY) they do regain a majority in the House, Senate, or the White House, nothing will stop them from legislating us further toward the abyss; and their most loyal lapdogs (MSM) will be on hand to eagerly explain their "noble" actions in the most positive light. - gimme a break!
Hello? We don't filibuster Dems judicial appointments, we let everyone vote and let the chips fall where they may. The Senate has never filibustered Judicial nominees, the Dems already are using the nuclear option by not allowing a sitting president to get a vote on his nominees.
If the Dems were in power and we did this shenanigans, the MSM and the Dems would be screaming constitutional crisis. They'll pull the trigger in a heartbeat. We have NOTHING TO LOSE and EVERYTHING TO GAIN.
Do you think that if the republicans don't change the filibuster rules because someday, when they are in a minority, they will want to use them, that the future democrats will sit idly by and not change the rules to block the future republican filibuster? Pandora's box is open. It's not like they're going to start playing nice.
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