Lets trust that Senator Specter can bait the Dems into appearing as raving mad character assasins.
On the other hand, if the Dems act civilized, they will have avoided their first GOP political trap in 5 years.
Posted on 07/23/2005 7:48:15 PM PDT by wagglebee
IT'S been 11 years since the Senate held confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court nominee. With the memory of the proceedings involving Robert H. Bork, Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill still fresh in their minds, the American people are eager for a sense of how the hearings for Judge John G. Roberts will play out. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will try to provide an answer.
The nomination of Judge Roberts has extraordinary significance because he will replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been the decisive vote in many 5-to-4 decisions on the cutting edge of issues confronting our society. Interest groups at both ends of the political spectrum have long been poised to fight this confirmation battle, which could determine a victor in the so-called cultural war.
In this battle, the central issue remains Roe v. Wade, which established a woman's right to choose. Both sides are looking for assurances that Judge Roberts will side with them. Some senators have stated their intention to directly ask the nominee if he would overrule Roe v. Wade. While senators may ask any question they choose, the nominee may answer or not as he sees fit.
The confirmation precedents forcefully support the propriety of a nominee declining to spell out how he or she would rule on a specific case. Abraham Lincoln is reputed to have said pretty much the same thing: "We cannot ask a man what he will do, and if we should, and he should answer us, we would despise him. Therefore, we must take a man whose opinions are known."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Why do I get the feeling that Specter is going to screw this up?!
Specter's legacy seems to be already set.
Arlen's caught McCain's self-aggrandizement bug.
I think you got it mixed up. Arlen has ALWAYS had a high opinion of himself. McCain caught it from him.
why does he have to write an editorial, seems very inappropriate to me .. let him just convene the damned committee and get on with it
Lets trust that Senator Specter can bait the Dems into appearing as raving mad character assasins.
On the other hand, if the Dems act civilized, they will have avoided their first GOP political trap in 5 years.
It almost seems like he wants to reassure the leftists who read the Old Grey Whore that he's on their side.
Good point, I stand corrected. I seem to recall McCain not being this way until he ran for president.
A "telling" comment from Specter, "“I not only voted against Bork, I led the charge against him.”
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?storyid=984
Spector is a bum. The only thing I can say in his favor, is he isn't as bad as Teddy Kennedy would be, if the Democrats controlled the Senate.
Congressman Billybob
Hell, at least Bush would know that Kennedy was against Roberts being confirmed. For all we know Specter will do the same thing to Roberts that he did to Bork.
Well, Specter IS a Liberal Republican but from the editorial seems to state he will tolerate nothing less than an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate even if exited from committee with an unfavorable vote. That has been one of the concerns people have had, whether Specter would attempt to bottle a nominee in committee.
Why didn't Specter mention Ginsberg and Dwyer and how their hearings went? Especially, the fact that Ginsberg answered no questions.
Specter is nothing but a shill and he wrote the exact editorial that the NY Slimes wanted him to. Wonder how much they edited it for him? Heck, they probably wrote it for him.
It wouldn't surprise me.
The Democrats want to ask Roberts how he will rule on specific cases. That is their strategy. Specter is criticizing that strategy.
Specter is nicely saying that the Democrats should go pound sand if they pull this stunt on his committee.
The left is getting used to the fact that Roberts is in. They know we need two more (replacements for Rehnq and Stevens or Ginsburg) to overturn Roe. So they will take it easy this time, and WWIII will be NEXT time.
Don't you think?
He mentions Abe Lincoln.
Yep, and what Abe Lincoln said:
"We cannot ask a man what he will do, and if we should, and he should answer us, we would despise him. Therefore, we must take a man whose opinions are known."
Roberts will be going through notwithstanding ambiguity about HIS opinions. But if we wanted these hearings to be fair and not the ambush-and-mugging-for-camera mess they turned into with Thomas, Specter would require:
1) All questions in writing.
2) All questions to be voted and approved by the majority of the committee
3) The nominee to show up, swear that the answers he gave were complete and honest, and then hold the vote in front of him.
Everything else will be P.R. for the Rats, pure and simple.
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