You sure about that?
Posted on 05/20/2005 9:47:04 AM PDT by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Rick Santorum says he "meant no offense" by referring to Adolf Hitler while defending the GOP's right to ban judicial filibusters as Senate leaders prepared to start a countdown Friday to a vote over whether to stop minority senators from blocking President Bush's judicial nominees.
"Referencing Hitler was meant to dramatize the principle of an argument, not to characterize my Democratic colleagues," Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the GOP leadership in the Senate, said of his remarks Thursday.
Passions have been running high as senators argue over whether Republicans should allow the out-of-power Democrats to use Senate filibusters to effectively thwart President Bush from reshaping the nation's courts to his liking.
Republican John Warner and Democrat Robert Byrd are trying to avert that showdown, but Senate centrists have not been able to compromise on controversial nominees like Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen.
Byrd came under fire in March for comparing Hitler's Nazis and the Senate GOP plan to block Democrats from filibustering. Santorum, a Pennsylvanian, criticized Byrd's remarks at the time, saying the Nazi references "lessen the credibility of the senator and the decorum of the Senate."
But on Thursday, Santorum said that Democratic protests over Republican efforts to ensure confirmation votes would be like the Nazi dictator seizing Paris and then saying: "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me? How dare you bomb my city? It's mine."
Santorum later said in a release that his remark "was a mistake and I meant no offense."
The Republican Jewish Coalition applauded the statement. "Sen. Santorum is sensitive to the effect of his words and the inappropriateness of the analogy," Executive Director Matthew Brooks said.
If senators are forced to vote next week on Owen's nomination to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, centrists say a historic confrontation is sure to follow over whether filibusters of appellate and Supreme Court nominees should be prohibited during the rest of the Bush presidency.
"Once you start into the procedural votes, the real procedural votes on the first judge, then it's going to be very difficult to put the genie back into the bottle," said Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio. "I think most of us look at that as once you have that first vote, it's going to be very difficult to get a deal done."
Republicans were expected to announce Friday that the Senate would hold a test vote on Owen on Tuesday, and if she doesn't garner 60 votes - the threshold for overcoming a filibuster - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., then would move to have the Senate declare filibusters out of order for Supreme Court and federal appellate court nominees - a change that has been labeled the "nuclear option."
The Republican-controlled Senate has been debating Owen's nomination since Wednesday. "We will continue that debate," Frist said. "Ten hours, 20 hours, 30 hours, as many hours as it takes for senators to air their views. But at some point, that debate should end and there should be a vote."
While it takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, Republicans intend to supersede the rule by a simple majority vote. With 55 seats, Republicans could afford five defections if all 100 members vote and still prevail on the strength of Vice President Dick Cheney's ability to break ties.
Democrats have threatened to slow the Senate's business to a crawl if Republicans prevail, and they served up a preview this week by invoking a rule that prevented some committees from meeting.
"The attempt to do away with the filibuster is nothing short of clearing the trees for the confirmation of an unacceptable nominee to the Supreme Court," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. He accused the president of an attempt to "rewrite the Constitution and reinvent reality" with his demand for a yes-or-no vote on all nominees.
Democrats already have blocked seven Bush nominees, including Owen, with filibusters. Centrists hope to strike a deal that would stop Frist from banning judicial filibusters while blocking Reid from filibustering all of Bush's most controversial nominees at the same time.
Must be an administrative error or something.
That phrase right there sums up the Republicrats perfectly. They don't actually do a damned thing.
You're repugnant. If a man loving his children, even the one who only lived for an hour, is some sort of provocation to you, you might want to rethink things.
SD
I take it that when you debate you prefer to skip the insult by analogy and get right to personal insults.
For the record, i am never ashamed of my comparisons of modern evil to Hitler, and NEITHER should you be, you spineless weenie Santorum!
Look at your own post, won't you?
You don't counter my contention that MurryMom has a flabby, flaccid mind. You attack my fairness.
You attack me.
You are (ironically) guilty of EXACTLY the accusation you bring against me.
Go and sin no more.
-- Father Andrew Greeley, in a column published today.
The point you missed is that there are more creative ways of insulting the political opposition than bringing out the "Hitler" card every time there is a disagreement on an important issue. My post didn't compare the boy wonder from Tyson's Corner to the Nazis and I'm not even a United States Senator.
you lose.
No kidding. Now explain to me why it is necessary to mock Santorum's love for his son who died shortly after birth? Is that better or worse than careless Hitler analogies?
SD
Exactly! He didn't bother me with that statement but the demorats are soooo sensitive these days. THEY can say it but a pubbie? oooooohhhhhh, what he said! Sob.
He was wrong to imply 'rats are nazis. The correct term is 'Stalinists.'
I heard the comment. I thought it was pretty funny. He should apologize and say "I wasnt' refering to all democrats when I linked them to Hitler, just Sheets and the Swimmer"
Not here...
You sure about that?
If devout Catholic Michael Moore confessed his filmed lies to Father Greeley what would Greeley say?
"Go and lie some more"?
ping
I'm generally fogging out on this whole judicial appointment controversy, although I believe the Republicans should hold tight and stick together on this issue.
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