Posted on 11/01/2005 11:25:20 PM PST by indianrightwinger
G.O.P. Reaches to Other Party on Court Pick
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and CARL HULSE Published: November 2, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 - Facing deep Democratic skepticism over the choice of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. for the Supreme Court, the Bush administration turned quickly on Tuesday to moderate Democrats who could be crucial to the confirmation as the two sides braced for a polarizing fight over Judge Alito's legal views.
The White House hurried Judge Alito into a get-acquainted session with Senator Tim Johnson, a Democrat who represents the solidly Republican state of South Dakota, even before the judge met with senior Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, who will first consider the nomination.
On Wednesday, the judge is scheduled to meet with Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a moderate Democrat who helped engineer a Senate pact to break a stalemate this year over judicial nominations, and on Thursday with Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas, another moderate Democrat who signed the pact.
None of the three sit on the Judiciary Committee.
"I think it would be natural to try to reach out to people who hadn't yet taken a position or might give some consideration," said former Senator Daniel R. Coats, Republican of Indiana, whom the White House has enlisted to guide Judge Alito though the Senate.
The unconventional scheduling of Senate meetings is one sign of the importance of the nomination. If confirmed, Judge Alito would succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the swing vote on the court for abortion rights and other issues, and his judicial record strongly indicates that he leans toward the conservative half of the court.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Alito wins confirmation, with Chafee, Collins and Snowe voting no, and Ben Nelson, Tim Johnson and possible Pryor voting yes.
The three RINOs can probably get away with it. They did not get a chance to vote for Ginburg. So, their feet cannot be held to real fire for voting against Alito.
Repubs don't need Collins, Snowe or Chafee. Most likely Snowe will vote with the majority along with 5-7 dems. Alito is a lock. We can only hope that the dems will be stupid enough to filibuster so the repubs can go nuclear. With Gaham and DeWine on record of supporting the nuclear option, it will pass. Then the repubs can start approving some of the appellate court nominees who have been stacking up with a simple majority. The dems won't be able to block good nominees like Estrada or Pickering.
RINOS simply are a waste of time, money and efforts to elect. Period.
Pryor and Johnson are rabid partisans they have voted in lockstep with Schumer on every fillabuster.
The only dem that hasn't gone along with the fillabuster is Nelson.
Smart. Talk to the "centrists" ASAP. Playing mother-may-I
with Reid and the other rabid Rats is pointless.
Alito is a great nominee. If he doesn't make it, we will have the RINOs to blame. Alito himself will do just fine.
Slutty, ugly women who hit the bars on the weekend, get knocked up by aging overweight truck drivers and then head to Planned Parenthood for a "routine personal-health procedure."
Unless Harry Reid says jump. Johnson and all the other dems except for Ben Nelson always say how high.
For example after the gang of 14 deal Reid went to the dem caucus to see if they would block federal appeals court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and all of them except Nelson said yes King Harry.
There is also speculation that Bill Nelson will vote for Alito because he's up for election in Florida in 2006.
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