Posted on 05/11/2005 4:04:11 PM PDT by jackbill
PRESIDENT BUSH and U.S. Senate Republicans have the far better case in the matter of Democrats refusing to allow judges to be voted on in a straightforward, up-or-down fashion. The problem is that Republicans aren't very good at public relations "spin" — and the Democrats have a ready ally in much of Big Media.
But if the Republicans don't wise up and have the guts to stop the Democrats' current misuse of the filibuster, they will find that a President Hillary Clinton and her pals will have no such problem in suddenly "discovering" that the Founding Fathers never intended judges or other Presidential appointments to be blocked in this manner.
SNIP
To let a small group of extremist Democrats block even a vote on those appointments with this legalistic trick is outrageous. We are quite sure the Presidential Primary voters of New Hampshire will be watching carefully to see how Republican senators act on this crucial matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at theunionleader.com ...
Note well, Chuck Hagel and John McCain.
I will be faxing this to both of them.
I have confidence that Frist will pull the trigger within a week or so.
Fox News Special Report listed seven "Republican" Senators tonight who were either opposed to nuking the filibuster, or sitting on the fence.
Four were definitely opposed - Chafee, McCain, Snowe and Collins. Three were on the fence - Hagel, Specter and Warner. I believe that it was Major Garrett who was reporting. He allowed as how most people believe that Specter and Warner would go along with the party - Specter because he owes a debt to Santorum and Warner because he is a chairman of a major committee.
That leaves Hagel - the wild card. We have to get to him and make sure that he knows that the "base" will spit on him if he doesn't go along and then tries to get the nomination for 2008.
I want my senators to be able to vote up/down on the nominees.
My senators are Hillary! and Lil' Chuckie.
WE can afford to lose five, correct?
Maybe you and others will have money still going to "conservatives" for th next election cycle, but we don't have time to wait till then on this issue. If demorats keep this fillibuster thing up on judges for that long, the GOP will have already suffered a tremendous loss of financial support and will be beat back to minority status in 2006.
Good! I've already sent them all an article regarding all the democrats who have committed the exact same "crimes" as Bolton (and one of them is Biden) - and nobody batted an eyelash.
I also understand Lott was overwhelmed with email faxes and phone calls after his "deal making" was revealed.
Not true. Google the names "Richard Paez" and "Marsha Berzon" and look at who it was who tried to use the threat of a filibuster.
Specter because he owes a debt to Santorum
I think Specter had a real "awakening" when he caught
the tenor of all those E-mails not so long ago.
We want to get the highway bill passed first. After we pull the nuclear option, we can expect Rat filibusters on every bill, at least for awhile.
I feel your pain. We have the same senators.
I received this from conservativealerts.com via e-mail:
We think we have those votes -- but there are several
"swing" Senators who either haven't committed or are
leaning the wrong way. We need to FLOOD their offices
TODAY with phone calls, to counter all of the calls that
far-left groups like MoveOn.org are driving in.
Can you take just a couple of minutes right now to call
these Senators? All you have to say is, "I'm calling to
ask the Senator to please vote FOR the constitutional
option, and allow a vote on President Bush's judicial
nominees." THAT'S IT!
Here are the Senators to call:
Sen. Murkowski (R-AK): 202-224-6665
Sen. Collins (R-ME): 202-224-2523
Sen. Snowe (R-ME): 202-224-5344
Sen. Hagel (R-NE): 202-224-4224
Sen. Sununu (R-NH): 202-224-2841
Sen. Warner (R-VA): 202-224-2023
Sen. McCain (R-AZ): 202-224-2235
This paper does not have to be excerpted.
Primary voters will be watching
PRESIDENT BUSH and U.S. Senate Republicans have the far better case in the matter of Democrats refusing to allow judges to be voted on in a straightforward, up-or-down fashion. The problem is that Republicans aren't very good at public relations "spin" — and the Democrats have a ready ally in much of Big Media.
But if the Republicans don't wise up and have the guts to stop the Democrats' current misuse of the filibuster, they will find that a President Hillary Clinton and her pals will have no such problem in suddenly "discovering" that the Founding Fathers never intended judges or other Presidential appointments to be blocked in this manner.
The filibuster — the rules of which have in fact been changed (by Democrats) over the years — has been used and was intended to be used to slow or block legislation. Sometimes, it has been used disgracefully so. Civil rights legislation was blocked for decades by anti-black Southern senators.
But only when George Bush came to office four years ago did Democrats in the Senate use the threat of filibuster to block judicial nominations from getting before the full Senate for a simple majority vote.
This has to be one of the great and most shameless legal loophole flimflams in our history. With courts being overrun by judicial activists, the voters' only recourse is to elect a President and Senate that will appoint judges who won't try to re-make the law.
To let a small group of extremist Democrats block even a vote on those appointments with this legalistic trick is outrageous. We are quite sure the Presidential Primary voters of New Hampshire will be watching carefully to see how Republican senators act on this crucial matter.
It seems that Dems are calling everything a filibuster.
A threat is not a filibuster.
Cloture is not a filibuster.
My thoughts...
I am convinced, now, that Frist is serious about ending the filibuster. I'm even coming to believe HE has the spine to do it (though the spine of the majority of ep Senators I still question). But I'm also of belief he doesn't want to do it unless he believes all the votes are rock solid.
If that means this drags on much longer, I find it unacceptable. I'd rather have them on record and then commit a year and a half to targeting the defectors than allow the cowwards to bluster and have it both ways when running for re-elections.
I do have the sense if this vote is ever going to happen it'll be next week. I never felt it would be this week with Bolton's vote on the agenda. I do think Bolton's vote is a precursor to this vote. I encourage all to carefully follow the committee proceedings concerning Bolton tomorrow.
Spectre has not been as bad as the Mavericks, but he isn't reliable. He DOES owe Bush, Santorum and the Republican voters that took a chance on him in the primary rather than going where their hearts preferred with Toomey. The question is whether Spectre will honor that debt. Santorum's re-election chances may ride on him. If he proves a decisive vote in ending the filibuster than Santorum is partially redeemed as the main objection to Spectre has always been his history over Bork.
Given the behavior of Voinovich, I cannot trust Warner will vote as we would think he would. Lott is also proving suspicious. Best advice is to target all Reps and all Dems rather than limiting to a few. There are only a handful...maybe so much as a dozen I would trust to be dependable on the issue.
Exactly.
The democrats have been on both sides of this issue in the past AND they have used the "nuclear option" themselves in the past to change cloture on filibusters.
When in their interest, they will do it again.
This is the obvious argument against George Will. If Will honestly thinks there's such a thing as a gentleman's agreement with Democrats that will hold, then he's be in deep senility and in need of a pasture.
"I have confidence that Frist will pull the trigger within a week or so."
Oh, for a nickel for every time I read THAT statement.
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