Posted on 06/09/2005 5:16:56 AM PDT by ken5050
Good Thursday morning, fellow political junkies. Today's cloture vote on the Pryor nomination is scheduled at 4:PM. Follow along with us, here, and comment...
An item in today's Washington Times suggests that only those inside the Beltway, and on this thread, are following this issue. Most Americans don't even know what a filabuster is.
Yesterday, several GOP senators, notably Allen, said that they were strongly in favor of pushing ahead with all nominations, to force the Dems to decide if they want to filabuster, and then to go ahead with the nuclear option before a Supreme Court nominee comes up.
I mention these because it may help to explain the strategies of Frist and Reid.
There is no way that Allen and other, IMHO, are speaking out without first clearing it with Frist. Frist got rolled by the compromisers. No way he is antagonizing his core supporters. This is a multi-pronged offensive by the GOP to keep up pressure on the Dems.
Also, Frist, and McConnell have been very close to the vest in revealing his plans. Will he call up the other nominees, those NOT covered in the compromise? If the Dems feel that the national PR spin will not work for them, and it's hard to explain why you won't allow an up-or-down vote on some judges, after allowing them on the most contentious..heck, even the DUmmies don't understand that one..then they may feel they have to hold the filabuster until the SC vacancy ocurs. In which case, Frist may keep on force-feeding them one cloture vote after another, right down the line.
As even Mara Liasson noted on Brit's show last night..the compromise isn't turnig out so great for the Dems. Recognizing that the nuclear option, despite what Reid said, is still very much on the table, she said that basically, they've "won the right to filabuster but only if they never filabuster."
It's also possible that Frist wants to bring up the energy bill, and to revisit the Bolton nominationbefore going nuclear. The point is, taking as proof that there isn't a remote consensus on this thread as to what his strategery is, that the Dems don't have a clue. And the first rule of war is to confuse your enemy as much as possible.
I'll be back in a few hours. I wanted to get the thread up and running. Could someone please check the Senate start time, and if it's changed, asked the admin moderator to correct the header? Also, could our crack research team list which other judges are already cleared? I've lost count. Other items:
Consider sending an e-mail to Sheets office, politely hoping that he speaks in the Senate today. We miss him. BTW..there was some confusion yesterday. Many thought that Byrd had first voted AYE for JRB, then changed his vote..The first AYE was Burr of NC..we misunderstood the Senate clerk on the audio feed.
FLASH: As I type this, FOX news just reported that Dean has a meeting with Senate Dems today. Where is the Mnority "woodshed" located?
Our beloved Howlin seems more intrigued with the machinations of the Michael Jackson trial then following Dem bloviating, whereas MinuteGal opined on yesterday's thread that watching these judges being confirmed was, and I quote, "even better than sex!" Ladies, which is it?
And, in the spirit of sportmanship, we cannot fail to congratulate A-Rod on being the youngest in history to hit 400 homers (while his pathetic Yankees continue to languish in fourth place,and have ZERO chance of making the playoffs this year)
yabba dabba doo , man
Good MORNING all..
Good morning, Ken and thanks for the thread. I do have a question: what is scheduled after the Pryor vote? Will the Senate continue to be in executive session? Thanks.
I screwed up my header..please change "cloture" to "confirmation"..thanks..
Thanks pookie....I can't keep up with these daily threads..it's a lot of work.how dp you do the cartoon stuff? I asked the admin mod to correct it..BTW..do you want on the ping list..? Also, if you have a really good cartoon that fits the thread..post it here..
I'll never donate to the Republican Party again!!!
They won't get away with this travesty....
oh...
sorry.
< / sarcasm >:-p
also..in the first line of the text.."cloture" should be "confirmation"..pretty please..? thanks
I thought the cloture vote passed late yesterday afternoon and today is the confirmation vote.
"briefs" eh?
Opps...and I just questioned you about that before I read down. Sorry about that, chief!
tightie whities!
Personally I still feel that once Pryor is confirmed this afternoon the speed of other nominations brought up will increase. And I think a pool should be started concerning how many hours after Pryor is confirmed before Bolton is brought up for cloture vote again. Me thinks sooner rather than later.
Monday about 930AM is my guess. I think the momentum changes drastically with these 3 confirmations. Hope it's not just wishful thinking!
Good morning to one and all from the Republic of Singapore!
How I've come to enjoy my nightly meetings on this thread.
A thought.
A few weeks ago I was boiling mad at the compromise.
Now, I am mellowing and even predisposed towards it.
By the end of today and this week, we will have our top three judges sitting on their respective circuits on a life time basis.
We will have a few other judges confirmed as well.
As for the rest, I would advise calm and patience.
Frist and Bush are right, we have to move on to other things for a bit.
The energy bill, the budget, social security, etc....
The rest of the judges will be confirmed after the vacancy to the Supreme Court is filled.
We can afford a little calm.
We will get our judges, put a little faith in Rove and Bush.
And even Frist.
I know we have been waiting for so long, but we had a great week.
And we need to keep our eye on the prize and not demand immediate gratification.
...the United States Senate just confirmed Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals!
The first African-American woman to serve on the California Supreme Court, Justice Brown truly embodies the American Dream.
Born in Greenville, Alabama as a daughter of sharecroppers, she attended segregated schools throughout her childhood.
She went on to earn her B.A. from California State in 1974, and her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1977.
She has dedicated all but two years of her distinguished twenty-six year legal career to public service.
Justice Brown's confirmation is a blow to the partisan campaign of judicial obstruction that blocked a fair up or down vote for 10 nominees in the last Congress.
As they have done so against many other qualified nominees, Democrats leveled harsh, heated and, I believe, unfair criticisms of Justice Brown.
You may recall some of what was said in recent months:
"This woman is living on another planet, and we were right to stop her from getting on the bench."
"This is not the kind of judge who should be on the nation's second most powerful court."
She is among the "worst of the worst."
As with the recent confirmation of Priscilla Owen, today marks great progress.
Justice Brown's confirmation is in keeping with the principle of fair up or down votes for judicial nominees.
And we will continue to insist that principle--which stood for 214 years of Senate history--stands in this Congress.
It's been a long road, but today Janice Rogers Brown--a compassionate woman, accomplished lawyer and jurist--got the vote and the respect she deserves.
Stay tuned ... more such announcements to follow.
Bill Frist
Good evening...then to you..BTW.is this getting any play in the press over there?
Some.
The Washington Bureau (sic??) Chief for the Straits Times, Roger Minton is a very interesting character.
He got badly burned during the election campaign. In the few weeks leading up to the November elections, he wrote article after article about how Kerry was going to win and how the Dems had a very good chance of retaking the Senate and possibly the House.
Now the Straits Times is owned by the government in a round about way, and the government and the Lees (Lee Kwan Yew, the founder of Singapore and his son, the current prime minister) were very much hoping for a Bush victory.
Needless to say, after the election Roger had quite alot of egg on his face. Indeed he was publicly mocked by many public officials for his inaccurate articles.
As a result, Minton is giving Bush and the GOP alot better press. In fact, last week he had a massive article on why Bush and the GOP are actually doing alot better than the American press would like to admit. He even wrote that he thought the GOP would pick up quite a few seats in the Senate, the House, and in state Governorships in 2006.
Who knew Frist lurked?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.