Posted on 06/24/2005 11:26:15 AM PDT by ken5050
I thought this was worth bringing to everyone's attention. First, a brief history. You'll recall the media PR orgy after the Senate gang of 14 signed the compromise. Then a day later, in response to tremendous pressure, Graham and DeWine BOTH said that if the Dems filabustered, the nuclear option was back on the table, and they would both support it. Reid said several times that in his view, the NO was gone forever, while Frist said it remained viable, and he would NOT hesitate to use it. Yesterday, the hard left Dems, Schumer, Leahy, and Kennedy went on at length in the Senate..blustering, threatening, trying to shape the battlefield in obvious anticipation of a retirement and nomination next week. Just a.....
Now why would he say this, just before the weekend? He's the first Dem compromiser to make a statement like this.
Only one possible reason comes to mind. He's been told that the Dems are going to filabuster, to force the GOP to use the nuclear option. The Dems are going to try to run on the GOP being unfair to the minority, changing the rules, and they will try and gum up the Senate..Pryor was trying, feebly, to stake out his position in advance.
Even though the hearing will be long and arduous, it's important to remember that marking out the territory early will be important.
Rehnquist, and/or O'Connor will retire, and the next day Bush will announce his nominee. Look for all 55 GOP senators to say that of course they'll wait to see what happens in the hearings, but they fully expect to support and vote for the nominee. The usual. Which means that the Dem will have to counter the public perception of approval, that it's a done deal; by announcing that the nominee is the worst possible thing ever that W could have done.
The hearings then become kabuki theater, and it's a question of how long Specter lets them run, and then how long Frist lets the circus go in the Senate before asking for cloture, whiuch will fail.
The rules change will then be invoked, with Graham and DeWine initiating it, in an attempt to gain some degree of expiation with the GOP base. So look for all the other GOP signers, including McCain, to support Frist. So the Dems will want a solid party line in opposition.
They will attempt to make the case NOT about the merits of the nominee, rather about how "bad and unfair the GOP is."
Pryor's comments today have made than crystal clear. Gonna be a fun summer for us political junkies......
FYI
Can we really trust McCain to do that, though? Let me say that I trust DeWine and Graham far more than I do McCain...
Thanks for the info, Ken. Now, explain this to me if you know: why is there so much print and why are so many in Washington (presumably) so convinced of a SCOTUS retirement? Surely, the justice(s) would not have leaked a word of it, nor would the White House. What's going on? Is this just speculation run amok? Regards,Kate.
I hope that what you say turns out to be true. The Repubs should have gone nuclear, er, constitutional the first time.
Oh BOY!
McCain wants to be president..he's gonna hang himself out as the only Pubbie NOT supporting Frist...I expect the Pigeon sisters to go along..even Chaffee. Warner will definitely be with Frist the next time..
I wouldn't say I have trust of DeWine or Graham.
Rather, if anything spurred them to do the RIGHT thing it would be a need to save their political hides from the fallout of the base.
DeWine's re-election is very shaky, and he doesn't even have a challenger in the primary yet. Graham does have a challenger, one well funded that finished second in the '04 Senatorial primary.
McCain isn't going to sell out his base- the MSM.
Yes, it's speculation..but it makes a lot of sense..The CJ and others, are old, tired, some have medical issues..better to go out, with dignity, at the end of the term, on your own terms, rather than at the whim of your doctors...The SC justices are also political creatures..everything is all about politics..
MSM doesn't vote in the GOP primaries..
If I remember correctly you said that if the Dems filibustered, the nuclear option was back on the table, and you would support it. Sen Mark Pryor of Arkansas said that "...in his opinion, the agreement means that the nuclear option is off the table..." Senator Graham, were you lying about the agreement, or is he lying about the agreemen? If you are lying, well I'm not surprised. If Sen Pryor is lying, you made an agreement with someone who couldn't be trusted. In either case you have done a very poor job of representing the people of SC. Maybe though you are trying to represent the liberals of NY, or trying to curry favor with the perky Katie Couric. You have time to speak with her, but not repond to your constituents. And now I see you are backtracking on your support of the war on terror. If you thinkpublic support is waning then get out there and make the case why it is necessary. Of course public opinion of your constituents didn't matter when it came to selling out the president and the country on judicial nominees. I'll never forget.
McCain's base-his constituency-IS the MSM.
No, they don't vote, but it is to THEM McCain is deferential. It is to THEM he structures every action, including CFR.
Byrd is a 50-50 chance.
He doesn't even know what's going on around him anymore, so maybe we'll get lucky and he'll hit the "yes" button.
bull... i trust spector the least and he's the one that is going to let this meander into a political hot potato for a while to come... he's got cancer, he just won, what i believe to be his last senatorial race, he's got nothing to lose and his emerging liberalism is starting to show... essentially, he's convieniently forgotten where his bread was buttered...
mccain is a loose cannon that has moments of lucidity from time to time... he's harmless as a senator and more of a populist for leftists to glom onto and call an independant centrist... the whole thing is a sham...
LOL!!!
There you go! That's positive thinking. :-)
I think Specter voted for Pryor, Rogers Brown, and Owen, though.
Can't say the same for the Northeastern RINOs.
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