Posted on 05/22/2005 9:36:11 AM PDT by wagglebee
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist reportedly has the votes to enforce the so-called "nuclear option" against judicial filibusters instigated by Democrats, despite claims to the contrary by Minority Leader Harry Reid.
After a Thursday meeting with Senate Democrats, Reid boasted he was ready for the coming battle. "It was one of the most pleasant experiences of my entire life," he told reporters. "We walked out of there so united. We talked about what's going to happen after Tuesday," when the filibuster showdown is expected to come to head.
But according to New York Times columnist David Brooks, Reid was blowing smoke.
"Harry Reid, told a small group of us Friday he was cautiously optimistic that he had the votes to defeat the nuclear option, but I think he's wrong," Brooks said Sunday.
"John McCain, Lincoln Chafee, John Warner and maybe Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe will vote against the nuclear option, but none of the other Republicans are likely to."
"Bill Frist has the votes," he predicted.
Brooks also reports that attempts by Senate moderates to hammer out a deal to avoid the filibuster showdown have collapsed.
"The talks stalled. Joe Lieberman didn't bother to attend the final meeting. Positions will probably harden over the weekend, making a deal less likely tomorrow," he said.
I am not so sure. McCain scored alot of points with me during the 2004 presidential campaign. I imagine he did so with other conservatives.
But almost all the other time he is an antagonist to Bush, to include this issue. His one saving grace has been his pro-life stance, but this judge nomination fracas is all about pro-life versus pro-abortion forces. He is ruining his primary chances by siding with the pro-abortion crowd on this one. If a nominee is really so outrageous to be worthy of a filibuster, he will most likely fail in the up or down vote itself. This whole deal is a ruse by the democrats that is about to blow up in their faces. They would have been better served to have saved it for a Supreme Court nominee that they could not stomach. But alas, they are about to be rendered irrelevant. McCain, Snowe, Chafee, and any other "moderate" is about to be rendered irrelevant as well.
Reid doesn't have sh*t. The constitutional option will take effect this Tuesday.
I think McCain has a little more stature than John Anderson did. There are some veterans, in particular, that would vote for him solely on that basis. Of course there are a few other veterans who don't think much of him, but on balance McCain is a threat.
Interesting prediction. I think it will only happpen if the 'defecting' democrats have tacit approval from the party leadership. Which further will lead me to conclude that the democrats haven't lost all semblence of reason and common sense.
Reids comments over the past couple of weeks tend to make me question this. He seems desparate. I guess we'll find out if he's really a loon or just playing one in the Senate.
Thanks for your post. I really like well thought out politcal predictions, and it's the reason I follow FR. One sure has to wade through a pile of wasted bandwith to find them though.
I said that McCains activities AS a POW and his activities with Chairman kerry while he was minority "leader" of the Senate Select Committee on POW's will be his undoing.
And it will. What you want to believe as of now will make no difference during the primary. He won't get to first base. Jimmy Carter modified the Military Code of Conduct by lowering the standard, largely due to McCains activities and campaigning against it.....the testimony will speak for itself. He's no hero, he's a wimp who got a pass.....and then later turned his back on those who were never released, along with kerry.
In that sense, I agree with you. I don't think that McCain was a "hero" as a POW, but I don't think he was a traitor either. His conduct later is deplorable. I doubt he will be able to raise the money within GOP circles that would be necessary to launch and even moderately effective campaign. Besides all of this he is not young and he has had some serious health problems.
Odd.
"Your history is out of order."
I made no statement of history, so I don't know wtf you're talking about. The following is the basis for what I DID say:
Roberts Rules of Order is used by The United States Senate, The Unites States House of Representatives, State Legislatures, county and city governments, school districts, churches, clubs, corporations (both for profit and non-profit), and organizations of all size and description, as a means to conduct structured deliberations in an efficient, effective, responsible manner.
I've said it for weeks that he has the votes. When Hagel just came out and said he was for the nuke option, that all but sealed it.
I think he'll ultimately get at least 51 votes. I don't even think he'll need Cheney anymore.
look, ya shot off about something extraneous, and now you are going farther afield with nuance. If you hadn't felt the need to try to make me responsible for something I didn't say, this wouldn't be necessary. Now fkoff.
McCain as a POW did not violate any article of the UCMJ.
McCain as a POW did not follow the Code of Conduct recommended for military members in unfortunate situations such as capture. The Code was instituted to preserve military and personal discipline but not legally binding. The duress suffered by POWs was too great to sanction legal proceedings.
Did McCain violate the Code...Yes.
Was he legally prosecutable...No.
Did McCain harm the US military....Yes! McCain was a talker.
Name, Rank and Serial number. Rule #1 in the Code of Conduct.
McCrazy with this stab in the back to Bush and other Repubs, along with his Love of Kerry and liberal Democrats like Chris Matthews, has as blown any chance he had of being the Repub nominee. His hatred of the "religious right" ant his love of the MSM is absurd.
Maybe he should talk to Hillary, he might be her VP.
The claim that John Warner is a definite vote against the Constitutional option...do you buy that? The man is an establishment Republican and a Committee chairman(Armed Services). Would he really give his vote to the Dems? I'll have to see it to believe it.
I personally think that Frist will stand his ground and turn Reid and his minions into the political equivelant of charcoal briquettes. McLame will become a trivia question. Lieberman won't go near this issue.
how is going to claim he is in favor of judges who would even be reasonably conservative on the abortion issue after this? If we need a moderate for 2008, I'll take my chances with Rudy - I don't think he would bring any kind of active pro-abortion agenda, we'd more or less have the status quo, and he has much better executive leadership skills then McCain.
That would be Reid's "Nuclear Reaction"
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