Posted on 05/25/2005 8:25:37 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Conservatives who had warned Republicans about compromising on President Bush's judicial nominees delivered another message the day after the deal: Those who betrayed us will pay a political price.
Furious with the outcome, conservative leaders promised to energize their rank-and-file for the next elections while warning some of the centrist Republicans who harbor presidential aspirations to forget about 2008.
"A complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans," said James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative Christian group, who promised that voters will remember "both Democrats and Republicans who betrayed their trust."
The talk of retribution was particularly keen in Iowa, where the state's precinct caucuses launch the presidential nomination process and can make or break White House hopefuls.
"They won't get any help from us - none," Norman Pawlewski of the Iowa Christian Coalition said of the seven Republicans who helped negotiate the compromise. "We busted our hump to get a president who would appoint judges who would be more just. Republican senators betrayed us."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said, "There will be repercussions."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a possible presidential candidate in 2008, was under intense pressure to ensure that each of Bush's nominees received an up-or-down vote. Conservatives made it clear that anything less was unacceptable.
While Dobson credited Frist for "courageously fighting to defend the vital principle of basic fairness," other conservatives weren't as forgiving.
"He let them do this," Pawlewski said. "He's the leader of the Senate. If he is so weak ... he can't control his own troops, then he's not much of a leader."
In Iowa, conservatives had issued a "Dear Potential Presidential Candidates" letter in advance, warning that "our organizations will continue to keep our statewide memberships fully informed and educated on how each of the presidential candidates in the Senate stood on this important issue."
Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center said: "This is the number one issue. Short of a nuclear war, it's the major issue. It's not an issue, it's the issue."
Social and religious conservatives play a critical role in the Iowa caucuses, in part because of the relatively low turnout. Typically, slightly more than 100,000 activists show up for Democratic and Republican precinct caucuses.
"When turnout is so low it amplifies their voice," said Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford. "The activists certainly have a long memory."
Among the seven Republicans was Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a presidential candidate in 2000 who is often mentioned as a potential aspirant in 2008.
"I think McCain is going to suffer," Hurley said. "He's a great war hero and I think he meant well, but it will be proven to be a mistake."
McCain skipped Iowa in 2000 and has not built a base in the state. If he seeks the nomination again, many in Iowa assume that he would skip the state.
Conservatives play a critical role in GOP politics, in part because of their willingness to knock on doors, stuff envelopes and do all the grass-roots work needed in a state like Iowa.
"For candidates, they need a lot of feet on the street and that's what the Christian conservatives will do," Pawlewski said.
For those who don't have a chance to listen/read
Limbaugh on this Deal...
Frist: It Ain't Over Yet
May 24, 2005
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 Frist for 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.
George Allen will be the next President, unless Condi changes her mind. Maybe they will run together?
We must not forget that John McCain of the Keating five took serious money from George Soros for his campaign finance reform bill. A law that Soros used to create the liberal causes that McCain, DeWine, and the rest of the seven "republicans" have handed this gift.
If the Republican moderates think sheets Byrd is a moderate they are mistaken, or or thay are getting support from George Soros.
Tell me that McCain is not another Ross Perot, in it for himself. How else could he team up with George Soros?
I agree, months of toying with the issue accomplished little except prolong the angst on both sides. Leadership? hardly, imo.
Of course some folks will say he needed to build consensus.. consensus was complete the day the 2004 election results were finalized, imo.
Personally, I'd like to see Cheney - Allen in '08 and then, after a few months, Cheney resigns and Rice steps into the Veep slot and Allen is top dog.
But Allen and Rice would be more than acceptable at this point, as well.
The McCain Mutiny will not be forgotten or forgiven. That SOB must GO!!
And if, somehow, 6 RINOs all banded together to give control of the Senate to the Dems, I would prefer that to having the 6 RINOs control the agenda of a GOP Senate for the next 1 1/2 years. We would unify and destroy them in the next election cycle. If the GOP Senate limps along until 2006, the base will be so disgusted that it will stay home, and the opposite will occur--the GOP majority in the Senate will be lost.
More than McCain. We should look at the entire seven. DeWine has always been a McCain guy but this is the first time he has signed onto the George Soros plan.
I think that betrayal would be a better term than deal.
This conservative is angered by filibuster deal.
Now is the time to contact your Senator by mail. Send them an IOU for contributions that are post-dated until every nominee gets an up-or-down vote. Let them know that NOTHING will come there way before then.
They DO NOT need your contributions for this fight. They NEED their SPINES for the fight. The reward comes afterward.
TS
If you saw him speak, it was obvious that lind-sissy graham KNOWS he made a mistake. I'm sure he NEVER thought he'd see this reaction.
I remember when there was talk of Arizona recalling McCain and then election time comes he runs unopposed.
The RINOs aren't exactly quaking in their boots.
We need a third party that will run candidates only in races that have a rino vs a rat and will work with the Republicans to defeat liberalism.
The McCain Mutiny will not be forgotten or forgiven. That SOB must GO!!
The best title yet. I agree and the sooner the better.
Conservatives are " angry ? "
More like nuclear.
Frist may be the nicest guy in the world and I have enormous respect for his surgical skills, but, he is obviously too trusting of his fellow Republicans.
And apparently, so was the WH and the RNC.
We all know that McCain leads a den of Republican snakes in the Senate-the Snakemaster and his band of weak sisters ( in all seriousness, I think that Susan Collins, Lincoln Chaffee and Lindsey Graham are not only weak, but, mentally challenged ) should have been kept on a short leash and watched constantly.
Hagel and Voinovich must have been held up at a Democrat caucus and missed the media side show.
However, Frist said he was blind sided.
As long as they operate with impunity and never, ever pay a price-they will continue to operate as Democrat operatives.
I am a card carrying Bushbot and my disgust at the " hands off, what us worry " attitude by the WH ( Santorum said last week, that the WH had not called any Senators ) is immeasurable.
Monday night's debacle has done enormous damage to the folks who make elections happen and the sad part is that Republican leadership on all levels, is just shrugging their shoulders.
Ditto for me - those 7 bastards should just switch parties for as much good as they do us. RINO SOBs. I can't wait to have a chance to take out my frustrations on them if they dare come to my state as Republican presidential candidates. I hate them all, and I hate the fact that they are screwing the future up for my 2 sons. They can go eff themselves.
Both Sens Lott and Graham (who are in hot water) said on FNC yesterday that a filibuster by the dems will end the agreement. Further blocking by the 7 democrats will end these two sens careers and they know it. McCain on the other hand walks on water.
It would be funny if McCain tried to run for president. Joe Scarborough and a few others said McCain is the big loser. Why? Because they think he is running for president of the USA, not the NYTimes. Well, if this deal works, and the 7 democrats get all Bushes judges through(hard to believe), then McCain deserves our support. If the deal breaks down, or all 7 Republicans sellout any Bush nominees(not likely), then McCain is rightly presidential toast. But he can still stay in the Senate and torture us.
I wonder what they'll call their new party. Whatever it is, I'll just call them the flat & dead in the middle of the road party.
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