Posted on 05/24/2005 3:36:16 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan had no kind words for Sen. John McCain this morning on the Don Imus radio program.
Buchanan said that Bill Frist had the votes to override the filibuster, but that McCain, with his "deal," in essence supported the Democratic filibuster and took the leadership of the Senate away from Frist.
Buchanan told Imus that with a change in the rules, President Bush's judicial nominees would have sailed through the Senate, that any Supreme Court nominees would sail through the Senate, and that "the great battle for the supreme Court was about to be won today" except for the efforts of the "McCain Seven," who, Buchanan believes, have sold out the positions of the president, Sen. Frist and the entire base of the Republican Party.
That's quite a lot to heap on the shoulders of those seven Republican senators (Snowe, DeWine, Warner, Collins, McCain, Chafee and Graham) who cut this deal with the Democrats but Buchanan isn't convinced the deal has to go through.
He told Imus, "If I were Senators Allen and Frist, I would say, 'Senator McCain, you've cut your deal with the Democrats and that's fine, but you haven't cut any deal on our behalf.
"'We've got seven judges here, and we're going to vote them all out of committee, and we're going to bring them to the floor [of the Senate], and every one of them is going to get an up-or-down vote.
"'If the Democrats filibuster, we're going to try to invoke cloture, and you can vote with Harry Reid and Ted Kennedy if you want - all four times.'"
This would present a problem for McCain and his ambitions. Buchanan added, "If they do that, McCain will then be forced either to go with the Republicans, and vote to break the filibuster ... or he votes with the Democrats, in which case he will cut his own throat, repeatedly, in his desire to be the Republican nominee [for president].
"Frist and Allen and the others are in the catbird seat, as long as they've got the nerve to stand up and say these fellas have cut the deal, it's nice to have the three judges, but we do not accept the deal that denies us [the other] four."
In other words, Frist and the others have to stand up for not only the Republican Party but also for Frists own leadership.
"If they don't do it, they're in effect ceding the decisive leadership in the Senate Frist would be ceding it to McCain," Buchanan said.
But the issue is not simply about one or two judges, according to Buchanan. It's about the tyranny of the Supreme Court over the last half century.
"This is about the U.S. Supreme Court. The Republicans have to break that filibuster because ... the Supreme Court's been conducting a social revolution in this country for 50 years, and Bush has a long-shot chance of bringing down the curtain on it and you should not give up that for some idea of non-partisanship in the U.S. Senate," he said.
Buchanan surmised that Bush needs to appoint three Supreme Court justices to override the liberal bias of the court, and "take it out of being a judicial dictatorship and judicial tyranny and restore it to constitutionalism."
Imus then asked what McCain and the others might be motivated by in making this deal.
"McCain gets big media that says 'John McCain is the man of the hour,' then he gets the Democrats coming around saying 'McCain saved things, he's a moderate, he's a man of the middle,'" Buchanan answered, "but he's done it at the expense of Frist and the Republican Party."
by the time this is over, the majority of these seven, will jump to independent, where they ALWAYS were...
we then have a plurality in the leadership but NOT the majority, and THEY have the dreaded swing vote... in other words CONTROL. They broker the power and the deals. Just like jeffords did.
They should be shown the door if they don't walk the line NOW.
But they won't be.
Cut their political nuts off, ONE at a time, starting with the MOST vulnerable.
Which one is it? Snowe? DeWine?
There is more than one way to skin a jackass in elephant's clothing.
W could do it, but wont.
Welcome to coalition government and the multiparty system.
That's worse than simply being a RINO! I'm not sure what his new label ought to be.
How about "RINO Dashole"? Think that sums it up.
I don't know about anyone else, but I sure as hell wouldn't want someone like Zell Miller -- let alone 50 of them -- serving as "leaders" in my political party.
I am surprised and disappointed in your comment about my hero Zell. Quite possibly you havent read anything about this great patriot of ours. You urgently need many Zell Miller types in Canada as we do in the United States. I love this man. He is fearless.
Sorry, Alberta, I think you touched a raw nerve.
My best regards to you.
Oh gads!!! Yeck!!! I didn't realize this was a La La article from NewsMax or I wouldn't have opened it. But my comment to Alberta is still valid.
Sorry, Demkicker. I knew what I was going to say was not going to be popular. I know nothing about his skills, as most of us here do not. He has never treated me. But he seems to be popular for his surgical skills at another zoo, the zoo in Washington DC. At least his patients can't turn around and sue him much less complain.
Anyone who goes from doctor to politician is a suspect for lack of skills. He must have a good press office.
Frist really only needs two votes (Cheney would provide the 51-50 margin), and he might look for them on the Dem side. I don't know if they are really totally united, but I find it hard to believe that Reid is all-inspiring.
He sure isn't going to get votes from the McCainiacs, who will do anything to thwart Bush.
7 senators defected. It'a a math thing.
If anything good comes out of this latest episode and the amnesty bill for illegal aliens it's that McCain has most likely lost all hope of ever getting into the WH.
Ego, envy, jealosy, greed, insanity - McCain's got it all!
LOL, you are right about that Happy!! He's really 'full of himself' right now too!
Who is the guy on the left? I don't recognize him.
May I add the ACLU to your list?
Zell Miller was quite the opportunist in 2004. If he were truly a conservative, he would have endorsed George W. Bush in 2000. I may be wrong, but as I said before -- I tend to question the motives of someone who decides to go public with his new-found principles when he's retiring and peddling a book.
Devolve posted that in #49. Perfect.
"Today Graham and Warner both sounded like they would go along with the nuclear option if/when the Dems decide to filibuster again."
Lindsey Graham said on a radio interview in Upstate SC at 5 PM that he and DeWine would go with the nuclear option if the Democrats filibustered a judicial nominee. If Warner goes along too, Frist will have one more than he needs to invoke the nuclear option. I bet Graham regrets aligning himself with John McCain. Too bad Arizona doesn't recall him! He's a royal pain and does not belong in the Republican Party. He does more harm than good!
Thanks for the ping!
Dunno about his McCain's skin cancer -
It's McCain's cancer within that is the problemo -
Be my guest! ;)
That sort of facial distortion is consistent with a melanoma metastasizing into the salivary glands. My Doctor mentioned awhile back that McCain probably won't be a factor five years hence.
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