If you aren't watching C-SPAN2 right now, it's worth the time to switch.
What kind of filibuster is this we are seeing? It is almost amusing. Where are the Senators? I was here last night. I followed three Republicans talking. We were supposed to be in session until 8. Nobody from the other side of the aisle showed up to talk. I am not sure there are any around today to complain. They are supposed to be telling us why this man should not be on the bench. We have been here for 2 days, and fewer than 25 Democratic Senators have come to the Senate floor. It has been a pretty vacant situation. Republicans shut down the Senate each night. Nobody seems to want to come and raise the issues and debate them. If they want to filibuster, if they have serious concerns, I suggest they come down and express it. Let's talk about it.My colleague, Senator Specter, during the Judiciary Committee hearings gave the Democratic Senators every opportunity they desired to raise, for as long as they wanted to, any issues they had with Judge Alito. He allowed them to call a whole host of witnesses who would be critical. The truth is, I don't think any of them knew Judge Alito. Most of them had axes to grind one way or the other from some political agenda they had. Even out of that group, I don't think but one or two actually said they were against him. Laurence Tribe raised some concerns, but he never said he was against the nominee or that he should not be confirmed. He is a professor himself, and he knows the legal expertise Judge Alito brings to the court.
If you have something to filibuster about, come on down. Why put us through this? Senator JOHN CORNYN has called this effort needless and strange. That is a good definition. Other words come to mind: pointless, political.
The Democratic leader, Senator HARRY REID, went before the Democratic caucus, according to the New York Times, just last week and urged his colleagues to vote against this nomination. They made it a political agenda item to block this nomination. Is it Presidential politics or politics in general? I submit both. Senator Reid's spokesperson, when asked, said: Well, they want to get as many votes as they can against him to make it an issue in the election--for politics, not a question of whether the judge is ready, qualified, and able to serve.
Maybe this is some sort of theory that, We can reward our base--the National Abortion Rights Action League, the People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, some of those leftwing groups that have been driving the process for years. Maybe it will keep them happy. Maybe they will keep sending money. Maybe they will keep attacking George Bush and saying he is appointing extremists to the bench. Maybe that is what they are trying to do.
There is no basis to object to this nominee. There is absolutely no justification for denying him an up-or-down vote, which is what the filibuster attempts to do. We can all agree, I suppose, that it is an international filibuster because it was apparently hatched in Davos, Switzerland, where Senator Kerry now is with those masters of the universe trying to figure out the world economy. Maybe they ought to spend more time trying to get gasoline prices down than worrying about conjuring up a filibuster of a judge as able as Judge Alito. They are not here in the Chamber, and that is what we have every right to expect.