Posted on 05/23/2005 4:18:39 PM PDT by jern
Announce Filibuster Compromise
Why were Myers and Saad left in the cold?
I agree.
I think that about sums it up.
Campaiging for the job is one thing, actually doing the job they were elected to do is another. They can go around making promises to make our lives a little more livable and all that rot, many will buy into it, put that person in office. They screw around a while, raise taxes, make our lives a living hell, come home and campaign that the other side did that, get re-elected. It's a vicious cycle.
Graham's spin is encompasses exactly the words in my italics, which I wrote before I heard him. The words in italics are not there. The guy cannot read, or is disembling, or the deal was horribly drafted, and failed to reflect the intent of the parties. It will be interesting if a Dem can be found to agree with Graham's "interpretation." Don't hold your breath.
With enough fillibustering the Democrats can either keep Bush from having an appointment to the S.C. and save Rehnquist's replacement for Hillary to appoint, or they can cave when Bush comes out with his "Souter."
Got it...Thanks.
What a pisser.
An up or down vote for a judicial nominee...60 votes
Screw the American Voter...14 votes
John McCain's defeat next election.....Priceless.
#649 - Mail box is full, good-bye.
The Republican signatories' agreement to oppose cloture reform is contingent (both expressly and as a matter of basic contract principles) on the Democrat signatories' living up to their end of the bargain. The fact that the MOU contemplates that each signatory will use his own discretion in determining whether extraordinary circumstances exist does not mean that Republican signatories will need to defer to a Democrat signatory's determination. On the contrary, it means that a Republican signatory is free to use his own discretion to determine that a Democrat signatory's determination of extraordinary circumstances amounts to a violation of the MOU. And the nomination of any person who elicits fewer Democrat objections than Brown, Pryor, or Owen should not constitute "extraordinary circumstances".
Which one of the Pusillanimous Seven is going to pick up the phone and tell Myers and Saad why they sold them out?
What do you expect Dingy Harry to say? Do you expect him to say he lost and that filibustering is wrong and must stop?
Dingy Harry is not one of the moderates that signed this and he doesn't talk for the RINOs who agreed to look reasonable and give the moderate Dems a chance to go against their party leadership and agree to stop filibustering judicial nominees.
I am disappointed that the Rats got to save face and my tagline hasn't changed for six months, I want these nominees as bad as anyone, but the nuclear option is not necessary if they stop filibustering. They blinked. So I say give them a chance and if they lied, they'll be crushed.
By spinning this as failure we are allowing the opposition to frame what the decision says. I expect to see some clarifications tomorrow from the involved parties and President Bush will likely say something like "I am glad that the Senate minority has agreed to stop using the UnConstitutional filibuster and allow my worthy nominees to get an up or down vote. That's all we have asked for for four and a half years, and now it looks like we'll get them. I hope they don't go back on their word and start these unConstitutional tactics again but we'll be watching."
Yeah. If I'm president Bush, I read that and think, "So what."
He didn't agree to it. The Senate isn't his boss.
Exactly how Rush taunted them for their weakness, and they didn't disappoint.
"...would have never occurred under the watch of...Robert Dole."
Yes, they would. Dole, if you don't remember, was so used to being in the minority that he would have compromised anything. He's a good man, but a real middle of the roader (left-leaning Republican). He wouldn't have been as bad as Trent "it's all about ME" Lot, though.
Seriously, is McCain this frickin stupid? Didn't he know that he'd be enemy #1 in the eyes of the GOP?
I will celebrate no other when this disgusting man no longer holds elected office.
Nope. I'm through. My intial rage is over. I give up.
Try and enjoy what's left of the United States of America folks.
It's over.
Pat Roberts.
That's not what the clear language of the agreement says. Part B says the nuclear option is finished - period. Part A says that the filibuster can only be used in extraordinary cases, true, but the interpretation is up to each Senator. There is nothing in the agreement that links the two parts or makes one dependent on the other.
Since there are enough lawyers in the group, this was deliberately done to sabotage the President's SCOTUS nominees ahead of time. No other conclusion is possible.
We respect the diligent, conscientious efforts, to date, rendered to the Senate by Majority Leader Frist and Democratic Leader Reid...
This is first lie.
We have agreed to the following:
A. Votes for Certain Nominees. We will vote to invoke cloture on the following judicial nominees: Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Circuit), William Pryor (11th Circuit), and Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit).
This is where the "moderate Republicans" give up their best ammunition and give the duplicitous Democrats their much needed plausible deniability.
A. Future Nominations. Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the Advice and Consent Clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.
This is where the "moderate Republicans" lift their skirts and let the Democrats have them for the full measure.
B. Rules Changes....we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress....We encourage the Executive branch of government to consult with members of the Senate, both Democratic and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration.
This is where the Republican scoundrels have sold out the Republican base as well as the entire nation, by rewriting the Constitution before our eyes. What they now demand is a "vetting list" of (only Republican) nominees, wherein the most conservative (=constructionist) nominees will never even make it INTO committee.
Such a return to the early practices of our government may well serve to reduce the rancor that unfortunately accompanies the advice and consent process in the Senate.
Here is the second major lie.
Well, there it is. The autopsy of a sell-out. Why any conservative would vote for any of these Republican sellouts is beyond me.
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