Posted on 05/10/2005 2:08:07 PM PDT by Cedar
Dobson: Lott Has Brokered Deal on Filibuster
By Chad Groening and Jody Brown May 10, 2005
(AgapePress) - A prominent pro-family leader says he is "disgusted and alarmed" that Mississippi Republican Senator Trent Lott appears ready to cut a deal with Senate Democrats to preserve their right to filibuster President Bush's judicial nominees.
On Tuesday (May 10), Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family told Don Wildmon, chairman and founder of the American Family Association, that a "totally reliable source" informed him that the senior senator from Mississippi has arranged a deal that would effectively prevent Majority Leader Bill Frist from invoking the constitutional option -- sometimes referred to as the "nuclear option" -- to stop the Democrats' continued filibuster against the president's conservative judicial nominees.
Speaking to Wildmon on American Family Radio's AFA Report, Dobson conveyed his feelings about the report given to him by that source.
"I don't remember being so disgusted and alarmed by what I just had confirmed in the Senate as I am now," Dobson stated emphatically. "Senator Trent Lott is about to sabotage Majority Leader Frist and cut a separate deal with the Democrats to preserve the filibuster of judges."
According to Dobson, Lott and five other GOP senators will join six Democrats in the arrangement. "The deal, which Senator Lott vigorously denied yesterday, proposes that four of the ten filibustered judges would be confirmed -- but that the filibuster would remain intact," the Focus on the Family founder says.
What's in it for the Democrats? Dobson explains: "The Democrats, for what it's worth, have promised not to filibuster [nominees for] Supreme Court justice [vacancies] unless there were 'extreme circumstances,'" Dobson says skeptically. "Guess what that means: it means that it's business as usual."
The possible deal was first mentioned on Monday (May 9) by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. Wildmon, like Dobson, voiced strong feelings about the plan at that time. "This is exactly the kind of compromise the liberals have been looking for," Wildmon stated in an Action Alert to his organization's supporters on Tuesday morning, distributed before he received word from Dobson. "Senator Lott's proposal will do nothing but allow the liberals to still be in control."
Wildmon describes the vote to end the filibuster as "the most important vote taken this year in the Senate" -- and Senator Lott's proposal, he says, "means we lose."
When he received word on Monday of the possible deal being discussed by Lott and Senate Democrats, Wildmon began alerting listeners to his American Family Radio stations throughout the Magnolia State, encouraging them to call the senator's main office in Washington, DC, and district offices located in four Mississippi cities, and providing phone numbers for those offices. Lott's offices were reportedly kept very busy fielding calls from constituents voicing their opinion on the filibuster deal.
© 2005 AgapePress
If the Dems went for Frist's compromise, I could take that since it was fair.
I WILL NOT, not even remotely, accept Lott's "compromise" (more like giving away the store the ass*&*&).
If he tries to pull this crap, I can imagine folks will not be happy...
He better not do this.
There's another alternative which is actually the likeliest. Conservative Republicans sit on their hands next election and give Congress and the Presidency back to the Democrats. Frankly, I can't see a lot of difference in the parties right about now.
Tapping my feet...waiting to hear the facts out front...getting impatient though.
I really am not a radical- but I'm infuriated by the treatment of these judges by the Senate.
Let's hope for the sake of the Republican Party that Lott hasn't pulled some slimy stunt..
(sigh) You are probably right. Looks like we are in for a United States of Mexanada soon, and global government after that. It's obvious the Republicans are DEEPLY hostile to national borders. So we will export American wealth until -- in a socialistic fashion -- all people of every nation have the same outcome.
We need some senators that'll b*tch slap back!
He must be blackmailable....what else could there be?
"I'd join a real Conservative Party."
I think there's a lot of us real conservatives out here. In time enough will be to the breaking point and turn things into a 3-way race in major elections.
Seems like the GOP better pay attention. I know the true GOP conservatives care, but can they not stop the slide?
Yes, but in the larger sense Lott doesn't help himself. What he does by sabotaging conservatives is CONFIRM that the party made the right choice by dumping him. He'd do much better for himself by being in the forefront of the drive to confirm ALL Bush nomineess - - - if people saw that he was stronger even than Frist, then they'd regret having thrown him over.
Remember how Reagan shone at the 1976 GOP convention, when he lost to Ford? He didn't throw a tantrum. If he had, people would have said to themselves, "the right choice was made - Reagan's a low-class loser." Instead, he took it like a man, and stepped up and delivered a gracious and eloquent speech. His listeners said, "Wow, we should have gone with him!" Nobody's gonna say that about Trent if he screws the Republicans out of small-spirited spite.
Accountability in a Member of Congress?
That is the LAST thing they want, and it is the ONE thing that they will all cover each others backs on.
Things like this happen because GWB wants to be loved instead of feared.
Trent Lott doesn't have the authority to play "lets make a deal". I'm not believing anything until I hear Senator Frist say it.
He's using this as his bargaining chip.
It's called the Constitution Party. To hell with the Republicans.
| The Counsel of Trent (Lott Expects to Be Majority Leader Again in 2007) |
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| Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism 05/10/2005 12:22:27 AM CDT · 57 replies · 707+ views The American Prowler ^ | 5/10/2005 | The Prowler Senator Trent Lott expects to be majority leader of the Senate in January 2007, if not sooner, according to a Rules Committee staffer. Lott, who chairs that committee, has been using his chairmanship as the launching pad for the political comeback, most recently in his back door attempt to broker a non-nuclear-option-proliferation agreement with Democrats. "Different things motivate different people," says the Rules staffer. "In the case of Lott, it's anger over the way he was treated by both his fellow Republicans and the media after the Strom Thurmond dustup. He wants his old job back, and he wants to... |
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If the pubbies cave on this....
Words fail - just mind boggling cowardice plus stupidity. A sure formula for disaster.
I think Lott wants to be seen as the guy who put an end to the nuclear option. He will be a media darling for 15 minutes and he can bask in the glow of peacemaker. That's how the MSM will portray it of course. He's been in Wahington long enough to crave that kind of attention.
Thanks for that article.
Amazing...... He's certainly been living away from Mississippi too long and lost his roots.
He needs to be stopped.
(And these people are PAID to act this way in Congress???)
"I got a call from the RNC begging for ad money. I'm afraid I was not too polite."
My "membership drive" envelope that came in the mail today is going to the burn pile. We emailed and voted our hearts out in November...and this is what we get.
I get flamed every time I say it, but it's still true: Standing up to Saddam wasn't that difficult, because everybody hates Saddam. Standing up to liberals at home - Teddy Kennedy, Joe Biden, Hillary - now THAT's difficult, because it mean risking the wrath of the mainstream media. Bush hasn't proved to me that he has the cajones to stand up to liberals at home.
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