Posted on 05/26/2005 8:55:24 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
With the Senate scheduled to seek a vote on the president's nomination of John Bolton today, Democrats are threatening a last minute parliamentary maneuver to block the vote.
Yesterday Senator Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut urged his colleagues to vote against the closing of debate on the floor of the Senate until the State Department provided him and his colleagues with outstanding requests for intelligence on a speech Mr. Bolton was blocked from giving on Syrian proliferation. Mr. Dodd also renewed a request from his party for the names Mr. Bolton requested of American officials in National Security Agency intelligence reports. Names of Americans are redacted in these files and are not disclosed unless requested by a senior official...
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Yeah, we will know soon. Of course everyone "thinks" they know what the deal is and by everyone I include Senator no-agreers, staff, FreeRepublic posters etc. I think we will only see the deal revealed over time.
Regardless of what happens ultimately, I hope we get our early spoils, at least Brown, Owen, Pryor and Bolton before it does. It is only reasonable that Frist take the goods offerred first before he "tests" the deal later.
I too am merely a spectator. Graham has talked, not so much too much, as positively about the understanding. He claimed on Hannity's radio show that all of the disputed nominees will go through the "normal" confirmation process now. We shall see.
Regardless, it seems to me that the prinicple is what the American people are looking at, and if not, that is sure as hell what the bases of both parties are looking at. I for one hope they filibuster, then let frist pull the trigger to cover judicial nominiations as well. Wording will be simple "filibusters are off base for ALL/b> presidential appointments.
Let the chips fall where they may.
Graham has said that it would be good if the President consulted with the Senate *before* making any more nominations. He also said that the group was going to tackle Social Security. He leaked out portions of the back room part of the deal.
Is Sen Voinovich afraid that Bolton will do things that lose business for Voinovich, Needles and Dalton, a firm for which both his son and his former Chief of staff hold the titles of MGRM?From:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1410932/posts?page=33#33Here is more on Hollingsworth (Sen Voinovich's former Chief of Staff) who works for a company associated with VND and who seems to be an officer for VND
The United States Enrichment Corp., a company that enriches uranium for use in nuclear power plants, has hired the firm Compass Consulting Group to track energy-policy developments in Congress. The lobbyists working the account include Ted Hollingsworth, a former chief of staff to Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio).
George Voinovich (R-OH): "The son of Ohio Senator George Voinovich has teamed up with three public affairs veterans to open a new public affairs and lobbying agency. The firm, Voinovich, Needles, and Dalton (VND) will be based in Columbus, with offices in Akron, Jacksonville, Washington, DC, and $$Beijing$$. ... George F. Voinovich's partners in the venture are Thomas Needles, the founder of Ohio-based public affairs firm Statecraft; Jim Dalton, founder of Jacksonville's Dalton Agency; and Dalton Agency VP of PR Michael Munz." April 16, 2004.
Most of the American people do not care & they're not paying attention to any of this. The deal makers are counting on it. They do not care what the "old" base wants, because they know that most of the base is against them anyway. They are trying to make a new base out of the uninformed middle.
Dodd is pro-Castro. This relates solely to the syphlitic, murdering, old coot off Florida.
I don't know that I agree with that assessment. If the donks filibuster I would expect and demand that frist do the adult thing and force the vote. Flush the moderates into the open. Take care of the qustion once and for all. It would be the last thing any of them expect. And as I mentioned, the language frist uses can take care of the judicial stuff and the Moderates "deal" in one blow.
There is no downside to this, except to p-off the MSM and donks, which is gonna happen anyway...
Moderation?
When was the last time there was moderation?
Pre-Reid days?
Pre-Boxer days?
Pre-Manslaughter Kennedy days?
Pre KKK Byrd days?
What about the Republican'ts? Are they moderate?
Is Arlen Sphincter a moderate? No, he is a leftist RAT-like socialist. Is DeWine a moderate? No, he is like Sphincter. Is McCain a moderate? No, he is like DeWine. Are Collins, SnowJob, Voinovich, Hagel, Chafee moderates? No, they are like McCain.
There are no moderates in the RAT ranks--they are all Marxists. The Republican'ts have very few moderates and the rest are RAT-like like Sphincter.
There are ZERO Constitutionalists in the Sneate Repubplican'ts ranks, and George Bush is Marxist on social fiscal policy and only a moderate on national security, IF you can claim a president who refuses to guard our borders a "moderate".
The rest of you better realize there are ZERO conservatives or Constitutionalists in the Republican'ts ranks in the Senate.
What good is flushing out the moderates if you lose the vote? It would not be a pure "donk" filibuster. It would be a bipartisan one. That would provide cover for the "moderates" with their targeted audience.
Check out the first line in this post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1411033/posts?page=15#15
Well Graham just said on the Floor he would support the Bolton confirmation.
Because I do not think that we would lose the vote. We need two votes. Graham, DeWine, (and I think), Warner would support breaking a filibuster on these prsidental appointments.
Landreau and other red state donks would have to follow along with us. The best thing (for us) for the donks to do is to try to filibuster bolton.
Bottom line? The donks do not have the votes to maintain a filibuster.
Supporting the nomination is not the same thing as voting to end a filibuster. He can say one thing & vote the other way on the other question. He can cite being fair to the minority & ask that the file they want be given to them before he will vote to stop the debate.
I should turn off the radio & turn on the tube. I've been staying away from doing that, because any time either of my Senators take the floor my blood pressure starts to go through the roof.
Tom Coburn.
I am lucky mine are both ok although I never forget that one first went to the Senate as a Dim.
It all depends on what is in the back room deal.
BTW a warning Voinabitch is talking on the floor of the Senate right now.
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