Frist: IT AIN'T OVER YET

Truth Detector ^ | May 24, 2005 | Rush Limbaugh

[Yosemitest]

Frist: It Ain't Over Yet
May 24, 2005

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: And just to stipulate: the office of Bill Frist, we spoke with them just before the program began, and the senator's office says, "We have not ratified this deal," and we were told that Senator Frist has not altered his position, that every nominee deserves a vote on the floor, and the option is still on the table, meaning the constitutional option, and he's going to press for every nominee to get a vote. Now, Brad Berenson also thinks as I do, as I mentioned here moments ago that we need to expose the fraud that this "extraordinary circumstances" is. He writes this: "Let's find out. Before the ink is dry on this deal, the White House and Senate Republican leadership should work together to bring to the floor as quickly as possible all the remaining circuit court appointments, including those of nominees such as Brett Kavanaugh and Jim Haynes." Now, those two names are important, because there's rumor floating around that they are part of an oral side deal, not part of this written memorandum of understanding on judicial nominations, that these two guys would also be thrown overboard, just not mentioned on paper. So the theory is, the idea of bring all these nominees to the floor as quickly as possible -- and especially guys like Kavanaugh and Haynes -- when the Democrats would have previously had on their list to filibuster.

"If any of those nominees draws a filibuster, we will know that the deal is a fraud, the Republican moderates who cut the deal will look ridiculous, and the pressure will be back on to implement a permanent, institutional solution." Which is what should have happened. This is just unreal. You have to look at this and say, "Is there an attempt to sabotage somebody here?" I think there's no question that you wanted to sabotage Fristfor the Republican primary race and I don't think there's any question -- well, there probably is question. Let's put it this way: It would be reasonable to suspect that there was an attempt to sabotage the president here. This could not have happened without the Republicans going along with this. This could not have happened without these seven Republicans going along with it, folks. It's just that simple. Now, Frist is again saying he hasn't signed onto this. Fine, let's bring all these people up for votes. Let's just bring them all up and let's make the Democrats trigger this extraordinary circumstances thing. Make them filibuster some of these. Let's just blow it up. I know: "But, Rush! But, Rush! The Republicans will be accused of breaking the deal!" Frist wasn't part of this. He says he hasn't ratified the deal. You know, what you've just had here is 14 renegades basically take over the Senate. That's what's happened, and if the Senate leadership doesn't stand up to it and fight it, then it's going to become official.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: E-mail wants me to explain this sabotage business again. Let's look at McCain. He just sabotaged Frist for the Republican nomination -- I mean, that's clear -- or tried to. Actually Frist was trying to upstage McCain on this. McCain has held that off, but I think McCain has more contempt for his own party than he does for leftists. He failed to get the nomination in 2000, spent the last four years on payback. He's opposed Bush's tax cuts, steady critic on the war strategy, not sure where he is on Social Security and so forth. It can be no other conclusion than sabotage. This could not have happened without these seven Republican nitwits.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Let me explain this "sabotage" business in a little bit more detail for those of you joining the program late, because I did mention this toward the end of the first hour within the context of the entire first hour. Some of you may have missed the first hour and think "sabotage" is a rather strong word. There's all kinds of contexts going on here, and one of the larger issues that's underneath the surface is the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Now, John McCain wants it. He has so stated. He's bitter over what happened to him in 2000. He thinks that he was mistreated, maltreated, skinned alive, conned, dirty-tricked or what have you by the Bush people, and Lindsey Graham was McCain's chairman in South Carolina and a number of other places. So Lindsey Graham is going to be with McCain, because he's McCain-in-waiting, and he wants to be the next "maverick." Chuck Hagel. We love Chuck Hagel here; he's not part of this nitwit seven. You want the Republican presidential nomination, I mean, there are things you do. To get the nomination, you have to appeal to the base and you have to get them on your side. That's the dangerous space occupied by McCain right now. He does not have the base. The base is livid at him; make no mistake about this. But I'm sure the way that McCain was looking at this within the context of the presidential nomination was, "I've got to keep something from happening here," and that is Frist, by virtue of the nuclear option being triggered and decisive leadership in the Senate shown by Frist. Frist would have vaulted to the putative lead at this stage of the presidential sweepstakes in '08 among the GOP base simply because there's no clear-cut person there that owns it.

There's no clear-cut preference, and the base is looking for somebody to finally do battle with the Democrats. The way the Democrats have been shafting Republicans for 40 years with all kinds of dirty tricks and lies and smears, here it's time we finally got the majority. We can wipe them out, and we can stop them from behaving in an unconstitutional fashion, thwarting decent people to the federal judiciary, making up lies and destroying people's lives. That was what was possible here for the first time in a long time. Since Robert Bork, this was the first opportunity really, to stop this kind of personal destruction that the Democrats have been employing to make sure that they can institutionalize liberalism on the courts. Let's put it this way. Had this compromise failed, Frist would have pulled the trigger. The Republicans would have had the votes, and the base would have loved Frist. McCain can't let that happen. Within the context of the presidential nomination, of '08, McCain can't let that happen. So the first thing to do is take care of Frist. How to do that? Do something that illustrates Frist as a powerless leader, somebody who doesn't understand how the Senate works, somebody who can't get anything done. Destroy his image among the base. So how do you do it? Easy. You join the Democrats! You join the Democrats. You get seven of your nitwit buddies who want to be just like you. You call seven Democrats; get 'em in a room, and you come up with a deal that basically allows votes on three of Bush's nominees, cans seven others, and maintains the judicial filibuster while eliminating the nuclear option through the rest of this Congress, the next year and a half.

That's the sabotage of Frist, and it had nothing -- if I'm right about it -- nothing to do with this issue. It had nothing to do with the judges, it had nothing to do with the filibuster. It had everything to do with making sure Frist didn't look good. Now, there's nothing inherently unusual about that. I don't want to be misunderstood. This is politics. It's a rough game. This kind of stuff happens all the time. It's not unusual, and it's not really extraordinary. It is frustrating in this case because this is an issue the Republican base really cares about, and the man who wants the Republican nomination basically said (raspberry) to what you care about. Folks, this is a defining issue out there. It is approaching the same status as immigration is. Now, I don't care what the latest Gallup poll says or any other poll about who looks more like children or who doesn't or how many people aren't paying attention. I don't care about any of that. I know who the Republican base is. I know what's necessary to win elections in this country and you don't win elections by listening to the Gallup poll, you don't win elections by reading the ABC News/Washington Post poll or the New York Times/CBS poll. You win elections by being conservative. You win elections by following your principle. You win elections by you see who the people voted for last night, George W. Bush, four and a half million votes. He campaigned on specific issues. Among them was: Certain kind of people nominated to the federal bench. He's just been sabotaged. The president's been sabotaged.

This deal put together by McCain allowed the Sheets Byrd rule again, which now says that the president has to consult with these 14 nitwits for any future nominations. That's not in the Constitution -- and these guys claim that they're not political. They're above politics. This is brazenly political, usurping presidential executive power from the Constitution and bringing over a bunch of nitwits in the Senate, all because of ideology, all because the libs cannot stand fact that they're losing. Now, as for the sabotage of Bush even further on this, it's no secret McCain is still with hurt feelings over what happened in 2000. You know, you have to put yourself in his shoes. Imagine yourself on the bus, the Straight Talk Express. You have Chris Matthews, Judy Woodruff, you name 'em, licking your boots every day, begging you to go on your bus, talking about you as the "straight-talking maverick." You have got love from the quarters that Republicans never get. You've got love, adoration and respect from the mainstream media and the Washington political establishment, and you get caught up in all this, and you think you own it. That's what you think you need to win. You don't need conservative voters. You need the mainstream press. You need Chris Matthews loving you, and you need CNN and CBS, and all these other people loving you -- and then you go to New Hampshire and you win so big that even you are surprised, and then that Straight Talk Express is really rolling, and you have to get two or three more buses to handle all the Chris Matthewses and Judy Woodruffs that want to get on your bus and go with you. So you really get full of yourself. You get full of yourself and very heady, and you think, "By God, I've pulled it off! I own them." And then this thing called the South Carolina primary comes along, and in the South Carolina primary, politics becomes what it is.

It gets vicious, and your opponent, George W. Bush, mounts a campaign against you that your Judy Woodruffs and Chris Matthews and all the other people on the bus can't defeat, and you lose South Carolina and then you go on in Michigan and then your campaign is reduced to having Democrats in the primary cross over and vote for you on the Republican side. Don't forget that had happened. That was McCain's big strength. That's why the press loved him. "Democrats are crossing over to vote for him against Bush!" So here's your hatred for Bush. It starts because you had it all. You had it all. You were throwing Budweiser beer parties at all of your rallies in South Carolina and New Hampshire. It was the biggest political party we've had in a long time. The press hadn't been happier in I don't know how many years -- and along comes George W. Bush and Karl Rove and whoever else you want to blame for sabotaging you in South Carolina because it was yours. This is McCain's mind-set I'm talking about. Now, Bush goes ahead and gets elected but you as McCain, you know it was yours. (McCain impression) "I was entitled! It was mine. It was mine! I had it! I had it right there! It was in the palm of my hand, sailor." What ended up in the palm of his hand was a bunch of marbles that he was juggling, and ever since he's been seething. Ever since, he's been plotting revenge and taking every opportunity, oppose Bush tax cuts, join the Democrats on every issue, where it would be the last thing you'd think a Republican would do, campaign finance reform, biggest boondoggle and attack on the First Amendment in my lifetime. Pledge to get the money out of politics and all do you is open the floodgates to people like George Soros and MoveOn.org and all the others.

Money doubled in politics. It did not come out of it. It took one election cycle for that to be shown. Oppose Bush at varies stages along the way on the Iraq war, withhold your support on such things as Social Security. "But, Rush, McCain was out campaigning." Well, yeah, of course he wants Bush as a lame duck the second term. It's better for McCain to have a Bush in the White House when you're running in '08 than a first-term Democrat seeking reelection in '08. I remember for the longest time McCain flirted back and forth with Kerry and Bush. He wasn't on Bush's team early, but he did join when it was necessary. But it was for the most part self-serving. Because, again, if you want the nomination in '08 the last thing you want is a first-term Democrat running against you for reelection. So, voila, sabotage. There you have it. Now, as I say I've got a plan here. The plan is Bill Frist has not signed onto this deal, has said so, called our office here before the program started. He's not signed onto this; he's not ratified it. He's not agreed to it. He can bring all these nominees that supposedly have been thrown overboard in this deal, bring them up for a vote and force the Democrats, force them to enact their extraordinary circumstances clause in this memorandum of understanding and then bring the nuclear option up because the nuclear option survives-- the whole point is that's got to go, as an institution the judicial filibuster has got to go. It's got to be tossed out. It's never been done for 214 years. My face is blue talking about all this. So the bottom line with all this is that there is a plan; there is a way around this, but it's going to require Bill Frist to do something very unconventional -- and that is not abide by the so-called deal, but he wasn't a part of it.

He wasn't included in it. He's not one of the seven nitwits -- and he's still saying publicly he wants every nominee to get a vote on the floor. We've had 14 senators here divvy up which nominees get votes and which ones don't. He doesn't have to abide by that. He can say, "They're all going to get a vote. I'm going to bring them all up, let the chips fall where they may, but I'm going to make these Democrats show themselves as who they are, and I'm going to make my seven nitwits show themselves as who they are. I run this place on the Republican side," he could say. If he doesn't do it, then here's where we are. Up to now the face of the Democrat opposition has been ugly. It's been Harry Reid. It's been Chuck Schumer, Ted Kennedy, Pat Leahy, Joe Biden. They're the ones out there saying these people are extreme, they're out of the mainstream, but now these seven Democrat moderates can become the face of the party, and they are loved by the press, and they are said to be above politics and very reasonable, they are moderates, and if one of them comes up and says, "That nominee is extreme," the press will say, "How can that nominee not be extreme? A moderate above-the-fray Democrat has just said that nominee is extreme." Harry Reid doesn't have to say it anymore, Ted Kennedy doesn't have to say it anymore, Chuck Schumer doesn't have to say it anymore. If they don't have a plan to get around this somehow, that's going to be the end result of this, and once you have... Let's put it this way. The press is going to treat these people as Jesus Christ. So when Jesus Christ says, "The nominee is too extreme," it's over, right? Harry Reid says it; it's an arguable matter. These guys say it... and that's one of the things that people are not factoring here yet which is why I wanted to emphasize it again.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Snerdley is reporting that he just got off the phone with Senator Frist's office and -- that was James in Jacksonville; is that right? Okay. James in Jacksonville told us that he'd talked to somebody in Frist's office and they said, "The fight's over. Three people are going to get confirmed and that's it." Mr. Snerdley just spoke with Frist's office, confirmed again they plan on bringing all nominees up for a vote as stated this morning. It is not over. The constitutional option is on the table. Mr. Snerdley said that the person James might have spoken to could have been an intern that gave the caller wrong information. Frist's office said they were being flooded with calls. They have not changed their position that they stated to us this morning. They plan on bringing all nominees up for a vote as they stated this morning, and it's not over, the constitutional option is still on the table. That's the latest from the office of Senator Frist.

END TRANSCRIPT

Read the Articles...

(NRO: Dirty Deal? Bradford Berenson)

(Washington Times: 7 Republicans abandon GOP on filibuster)

(NRO: Senator John Cornyn: The filibusters were unfair, Dems admit)

(Boston Globe: Deal in Senate averts filibuster showdown)

(Los Angeles Times: A Center Forms to Outflank Left, Right)

(Los Angeles Times: Conservative Groups Accuse Senators of Sellout)

(NRO: Andrew C. McCarthy: The deal is no victory)

(NYDN: Filibuster deal averts 'Armageddon')

(NY Post: Deborah Orin: President Could End Up The Big Winner)

(NRO: Is "extraordinary circumstances" a Fraud?)

[Inge_CAV]

"Look at the splendid products of college education. You just can't beat it, if you are an enemy of the United States."

I agree!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

The confusing thing about college is, it can produce great minds, such as Alan Keyes. But for every genius it produces, how many lemons? Maybe 20 lemons, 15 tainted halfway-conservatives, and 35 leftists for every true conservative. And of the true conservatives, how many make it very far in the political arena?

[chronic_loser]

Could we get just a LITTLE sanity on this issue?

1) The nuke option is still there, and is even MORE potent now, as the dems have to go on line to defend "extraordinary" circumstances.
2) The judges will all be confirmed. The ones that were really really offensive to the libs were the ones specifically exempted from the filibuster.
3) The senate should have an option of a real filibuster (not these halfa*sed ones, but where the senate stays in session 24/7) to obstruct some leftist when the other guys get in power.
4) The "moderate" crowd of GOP senators have been IDed for some time. Conservatives increasingly mount primary challenges to these unreliables, and they DO get the message. Arlen Specter comes to mind. If we can defeat them in primaries with good people, I am all for it. Howling curses on them with no plan is just silly. Personally, I am more concerned with reducing the power of the fed than punishing Olympia Snowe for heresy.
5) The fed is leviathan. It is big, unweildy, cumbersome, and difficult to change. Just as it is idiotic to expect an aircraft carrier to turn on a dime, it is stupid to expect conservative changes to be anything but incremental. Consistent, forceful pressure (which sometimes includes removing them in primaries) works. Maniacally shrieking that you won't give another damn dime to the f*ing hypocrites till they shape up just shows how naive some freepers are.

The hysterical element of freepers so TIRESOME sometimes. Any deviation in strategy for getting these judges confirmed or in strategy for restoring balance of power, and the hysterical pitchfork brigade gets busy lighting up the torches.

Taking your marbles and going home is a dumb dumb dumb way to play this game. Politics is what it is, and the first rule is not to expect many people to be principled leaders. If you get 'em, thank God for them and support them tooth and nail. Given the moral state of the USA, how do you expect us to elect a senate/congress full of selfless leaders???? Talk about naive, sheesh!

I rather think some freepers are simply dyspeptic and enjoy the electronic soapbox to bellow out their displeasure on whatever is the issue du jour. Mylanta would be cheaper, and might allow them to channel that zeal into something that makes a difference. If you demand all or nothing you will get nothing EVERY time.

[Tarpon]

Isn't it odd that Reid was on TV the very hour a deal was struck to allow those radical extremists that Reid was railing against on TV be confirmed. Reid didn't have a clue this was coming, he had a sheet thrown over his head with no eye holes -- Yet the media portrays it as a win for Reid. So the media lies, what else is new.

Look at it this way, the ax hanging over Reid's neck is, use the filibuster, lose the filibuster, and the Klan ain't gonna to be happy about that -- gotta protect them rules and all.

Frist is hanging tough and moving forward with the other 47 Reps. Anyone else notice that the gang of 14 can't do squat about nothing, except obstruct? If Frist makes it to the goal, he still wins.

On the other hand, if Reid or any other Dem filibusters, the 7 Dem's drop the ax on Reid, or the deal is poof, back comes the Constitutional option, the Klan shows up on Reid's doorstep advising him of the consequences of allowing those precious rules being changed. Hey even the Klan can be right once.

The media constructs their carefully crafted cocoon of lies, the public walks right by. Times change.

[beyond the sea]

I agree, and pray that Frist and the other forty-eight Republicans actually DO this.

They most likely won't....... but, if Frist really wants to be President of the United States, doing as we suggest would give him a great leg up on that success!

[beyond the sea]

Right on......... don't worry, the day will come right around August.

[Yossarian]

I don't think a man in Lindsey's position would go through a marriage, let alone a divorce (except possibly in Massachusetts) if you catch my drift.

The Politics of Personal Destruction is another party's gig, not ours. If we're going to punish anyone over this, let the punishments be political, not sleazy rumor-monging.

[beyond the sea]

He talks like a wimp.

He talks like a very conservative medical doctor......, measured and carefully..........WAY too carefully!

[beyond the sea]

great post.......

[IamConservative]

Could we get just a LITTLE sanity on this issue?

I tend to think we made excellent progress on this issue. The essence of the deal is that 7 Donks agreed to vote for cloture with the 55 Republicans on judicial nominees preventing further filibusters. If they fail to do this, the Republicans still can implement the rules change. Without the "extraordinary circumstance" language, the 7 participating democrats would have in effect have been voting for the rules changes. I think if the Republicans would have pulled the trigger in the nuclear option, the Bush presidency would have effectively ended on all issues except judges. I think Graham and Frist are playing good cop / bad cop. Graham went forward and gave the Donks a way to crawl in off the cliff. Frist continues to growl on the end of his chain ready to nuke'em if the 7 break their word to vote for cloture on judicial nominees.

[sdpatriot]

wow. thanks for the lecture.
the only post on this thread that reads with any "Maniacally shrieking" is yours. calm down.

[NeoCaveman]

I've heard over the past few days Lindsey Graham being touted as a potential VP for McCain...

You misheard. Graham and McCain are planning on being mates, not running mates.

[68 grunt]

I kinda liked reading his post. The disloyalty of McManiac and his band of merry dweebs hurts us and makes us mad, but it ain't that bad. I think his post was a rather good lecture.

[sdpatriot]

i love it when McCain and other RINO's out themselves.. : )

and i love to see republicans - and freepers get mad at the dirty rats and rinos. i think it takes some fire in the belly to get things done... including get rid of some RINOs in the next election.

[68 grunt]

Fire in the belly is one thing, ranting another. The onliest way I wanna get rid of rino's is in the primaries. We get rid of the most corrupt first, the demoncraps. Sure, lets run stong people against the rino's in the primaries, and maybe get rid of some of those (pejoritives). Lets start now by IDentifying viable candidates to run against the rino-weasals. McManiac is in until '8, correct? The way he looks like he is about to explode makes me wonder if his lifeline goes that far? Which of the scum are running in '6 and who are conservative candidates who we can start promoting?

[DIAZO]

skink,

I think a better moniker for the seven GOP turncoats would be the "sabotage seven". I really believe that the formation of a PAC to oust these RINO's is in order. My suggestion for a name for this PAC (with thanks to Rush) should be NIT-PAC. Spread the word.

[SerpentDove]

"Am I the only one who finds it interesting that a man of his age is not married? "


As a middle-aged single guy, never been married, let me tell you, it does NOT in and of itself mean he's gay.

Some people prefer happiness over marriage.

[cookcounty]

And let the Dems go ahead and do the filibuster, the real filibuster they demand to have.

Let them shut down the Senate by asking every single day day for 18 months for yet another day to debate Judge Kavanaugh or whichever others they choose.

[sdpatriot]

eww.. the rats are gloating......
LOL

they really are. hope that pi$$es off a few more conservatives.






http://www.gopusa.com/news/2005/may/0525_frist_loser.shtml



Payback: Democrats Cast Bill Frist As A 'Loser'
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
May 25, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -- The way Democrats see it, they didn't just win the battle over judicial nominations; they also won the right to call Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist a loser, and they wasted no time doing it.

Frist "put his reputation on the line" for the "right wing fringe," and he has failed, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said.

Not only did Frist lose the skirmish over the judicial filibuster -- "his hopes for victory" in the 2008 presidential primaries "just took a serious hit," the DSCC said. (more at link)

[68 grunt]

... eww.. the rats are gloating......

You knew they were going to ... not to worry is empty and shallow gloating, completely misplaced. The public are awakening to the demonratz empty and shallow souls.