What happened to you Frist? I thought I had the votes.
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.
Successfully busting the filibuster means nothing less than the successful future of the Republican Party. The importance of winning on this cannot be overstated.
Got a link??? :D
McCain's presidental is DOA regardless.
This should be a test of party loyalty. A no vote should mean committee reassignments. If the RINOs want to be Democrooks, so be it.
I agree, but I admit to being one of those folks who thought he was weinie for not getting tougher faster. Now I believe he was SMART to patient, or as my husband put it, "giving them enough rope to hang themselves."
Forgot to slip in "aspirations".
This is what I expected them to do. If Dr. Frist was very clever he would have instructed a couple of Republicans to let Traitor Reid think they were voting to continue the filibusters so Reid would take it to a vote ...
McCain's basic problem:
a) his daddy was an Admiral
b) his granddaddy was an Admiral
c) McCain himself just got as high as Captain.
He thinks that if he could become President it would be better than Admiral.
John McCain, throwing out the first pitch!
What happened to you Frist? I thought I had the votes.
If the cloture motion passes for Owen, then the DEMs can obstruct another nominee, of their choosing, as some future time.
Frist will win.
But we don't know WHAT he will win, just yet. Does he win a vote on just Owen? Or does he reverse the abuse of the Constitution that the DEMs have perpetrated by blocking nominees with a minority of Senators? He can't start getting to the bigger prize if the cloture motion passes.
Don't celebrate yet guys. There are still a lot of people who could go wobbly on us.
It's not over until Barbara Mikulski sings.
A third party maybe ?
Well, DUH!!!! ANYTIME the Dems start offering deals, they are LOSING. What is so freakin' hard about this to understand if you're the lamestream media?
The article Carl is referring to was posted in unnecessarily excerpted form here on FR. You can read the entire article on the NYT website by following this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/opinion/22brooks.html?pagewanted=print
Oh, and if you're asked to log in, feel free to use my
Member ID: upchuck6
and my
Password: upchuck
On October 27, 1967, four days after being shot down, McCain called for a North Vietnamese guard. He told the officer, "O.K., I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital." -U.S. News and World Report, May 14, 1973 article written by former POW John McCain"
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/551478/posts?page=35#35
Can We Believe McCain?
John LeBoutillier
Monday June 4, 2001
Amid all the controversy over John McCain’s weekend with Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle comes McCain’s "denial." He said in a phone call to G.W. Bush, "I have no intention of switching parties or of running for president."
Should McCain be trusted?
Can we believe what he says?
Is this so-called hero someone who always tells the truth?
Here is a private story that may go a long way toward answering these questions:
When John McCain was a POW in North Vietnam, one of his fellow POWs was Colonel Ted Guy. In fact, Ted was the SRO (Senior Ranking Officer) in one of the camps and was therefore superior to McCain.
Ted Guy, by the way, was known as one of the toughest and strictest POWs. He brooked no nonsense – and no cooperation with the North Vietnamese forces.
Ted always liked and respected McCain. After they all came home they remained friendly.
In the early 1990s Ted Guy read every book and article about the entire POW mess and then came to a startling reversal of thought. He realized that the United States government had indeed abandoned hundreds of other POWs at the end of the war and that those POWs were still alive in Vietnam and Laos. So Ted began speaking out, writing to his fellow former POWs – and even held a big press conference in Washington at the National Press Club.
This new position put Ted at odds with McCain, who was then serving on the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs.
McCain has led the fight against all those of us who believe there are still POWs held against their will in Southeast Asia.
One day in 1991 Ted Guy – living then in San Antonio – received a phone call from McCain. (Unbeknownst to McCain, Ted tape recorded all his phone calls.) McCain said, "Ted, I just had a good conversation with your friend John LeBoutillier. I think everything is just fine. …”
When the call was over, Ted called me and told me what McCain had just said. Ted then asked me, "John, did you just have a conversation with McCain?"
Flabbergasted, I replied, "I have not talked with McCain since 1985!"
A few weeks later McCain again called Ted Guy to try to dissuade Ted from leading the pro-living-POW faction. And, again, on went Ted's home tape recorder. McCain began, "Hi, Ted, how are you?"
Ted was ready. He said to McCain, "John, the last time you called me you claimed you had just had a conversation with John LeBoutillier. But in fact you hadn't talked to him in six years!"
McCain immediately replied, "I never said I had had a conversation with John LeBoutillier. I don't know what you’re talking about."
So there you have it!
John McCain is either a complete liar or else he is so mentally unstable that he cannot remember what he said a few weeks earlier to someone he has known for 30 years.
Either way we must never trust him – nor should he ever be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/4/60019.shtml
and on mostly unrelated topics, have a gander at the McCain-related titles here:
http://www.newsmax.com/hottopics/Sen._John_McCain.shtml
............and any funding that benefits Chaffee, McCain, Snow, Warner, and that band of pathetic wimps!
Then Cheney gets to vote.
Saw and heard that exchange! D'accord.
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