Posted on 08/16/2005 5:07:43 AM PDT by OESY
...From his perch as ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Mr. Levin has been running a one-man assault on civilian appointees fighting the war on terror. He currently has a "hold" on no fewer than four nominees selected by President Bush for key national security posts: Eric Edelman for Undersecretary of Defense of Policy, the No. 3 position at the Pentagon; Peter Flory, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy; Alice Fisher, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; and Benjamin Powell, general counsel in the office of new Director of National Intelligence.
Keep in mind that we are now seven months into Mr. Bush's second term and in the middle of a huge, post-9/11 change in U.S. security strategy. Yet Mr. Levin is denying an elected President his choice of officials to staff the government at this crucial time. Mr. Levin had his chance to make a policy argument against Mr. Bush last year, but he and Senator Kerry lost the election. His hassling of civilian officials now looks like obsessive political revenge....
Mr. Levin is desperately seeking facts to fit his fantasy that Mr. Feith abused intelligence reports in the leadup to the Iraq war. The Defense Department has spent hundreds of man-hours fielding Mr. Levin's requests for documents and delivered up thousands of pages. The Senate Intelligence Committee looked high and low for evidence of abuse but found nothing; it issued a bipartisan report last summer that didn't touch Mr. Feith.....
Senators like Mr. Levin are damaging the ability of the executive branch to function. Instead of getting an up or down vote, any potential Presidential appointee knows he can end up in a state of suspended nomination for months, and even years. Many will say, Why bother?...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I just don't understand how the minority can have so much power?
The majority tolerates it.
It's easy when you have ABCCBSNBCCNNMSNBCFOX and 99% of print media in your back pocket.
Where did the practice of putting a "hold" on nominees originate? It's not in the Constitution. If it's just one of those ridiculous Senate rules, it can be changed by majority vote. Oh, I forgot...Frist and the tiny covey of RINOs in the Senate won't pass anything the Dims might object to. This is a truly pathetic situation.
I think it's fair to say that this is something that Frist should take care of. If he can't do his job then he should step down, and let an "arm twister" do it for him.
"I just don't understand how the minority can have so much power?"
MINO & RINO are just two of the words that come to mind. Bill Frist is another. Mike DeWine another. Lindsey Graham another. And on and on and on and on .....................
This Republican Senate majority would abdicate their leadership to the Democrats if they had a 98-2 majority. Absolute worthless bunch. A waste of my votes. Never more!
With leaders like Frist, its easy to do.
With leaders like Frist, its easy to do.
Right. 'Frist' is the German word for 'wuss' (or it ought to be, anyway).
Don't blame me, I voted for Rocky.
Constitutional Option for all appointees. The only thing the Dems understand is power. Let the filibuster of legislative issues remain for now but not for Executive appointments. In the meantime make recess appointments that are needed in the War on Terror.
The DAY WILL COME, when the Dims are in charge of the Senate and the Presidency and the GOP will attempt to filibuster a Presidential nominee, that is the day you will see the entire MSM and the people of this nation finally agree that the Majority must rule and the Constitutional option will be enacted with much fanfare and PRAISE!!!
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