Frist has filed a cloture motion. The cloture vote will be Monday afternoon, then the vote on Alito will occur Tuesday morning. He will be sworn in at noon on Tuesday, in the WH..( a GREAT photo op, BTW)..then he'll run over, with family to the Supreme Court building..for another photo op...then I expect that Alito, Roberts, and most of the justices will appear at the SOTU..
Kerry supposed flew back last night/early this morning from Davos, and is going all out to mount a "filabuster" A few Dems have said they will support it. Hillary isn't sure yet what she wants to do.
Enough Dems have said they do NOT support a filabuster, tat he whole thing appears to be an exercise in posturing and pandering to the left/lib loony base..an earlystart to the 2008 primary season.
Reid really looked disconsolate, "deeply saddened" yesterday afternoon, when he threw in the towel.
So, what will happen today? I expect that some of the virulent anti-Slito Dems will bloviate on the Senate floor. Boxer has yet to speak, IIRC, and we know she's got a LOT to say, right...and the Dems will try and get some media exposure for the weekend..so it seems they have to put on a show today, to set the stage for the "filabuster" on Monday..
I have a suggestion for the GOP leadership. Since they are alternating every hour, when it is the GOP's turn to speak, the senators should just read the text of Sheet's speech into the record..Heck they can even practice waving a Constitution around..
Anyhow, if you're around at noon, or during the day, check out the Senate and/or this thread..
| Filibuster Part of Secret Kerry Plan for 2008 |
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| Posted by pookie18 On 01/27/2006 12:32:14 PM CST ScrappleFace ^ | 1/27/06 | Scott Ott A spokesman for Sen. John Kerry's government-in-exile in Switzerland today said that the Massachusetts Democrat's threatened filibuster of Judge Samuel Alito's Supreme Court confirmation is part of Sen. Kerry's secret plan to position himself as "the party's strong second choice in 2008." While Democrats wondered, and Republicans jeered, at the apparently futile filibuster effort, the senator's spokesman said "no one should underestimate Sen. Kerry. It would be very difficult to do so." The unnamed spokesman said that the man who lost his 2004 presidential bid by a mere 3.5 million votes has a detailed plan that will bring him within... |
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Kerry's really planning to run again, then. Wonder how much of her cash Mama T's going to be willing to get up off this time.
" Reid really looked disconsolate, "deeply saddened" yesterday afternoon, when he threw in the towel."
Makes me deeply happy.
I think it comes down to a matter of the Democrats wanting to filibuster Alito, but not having the balls to do so, because they know that they are going to need the filibuster as a weapon on the next nomination; the replacement for Justice Ginsberg.
I think the Dems are reading the tea leaves, and trying desperately to keep the money machine turned on in an election year, while at the same time they are repulsing their far-left base by allowing Judge Alito to be approved to SCOTUS. Judge Alito's swearing in isn't going to make the likes of moveon.org and their donation machine happy.
Classic case of painting yourself into a rapidly diminishing blue corner...
But the real line in the sand for the Democrats is going to be when President Bush appoints an outstanding conservative like Janice Brown, to replace the liberal Ginsberg. I think they know it's inevitable and imminent, and the last thing they want to have to fight on in an election year.
Delicious!
I thought we already covered the kid with the stolen purse, John.
Are we rambling, John?????
Now we are body-searching again, John????
You are repeating yourself, John.
Kerry yielded the floor....
before he didn't.
Ken, so dummy, (me) leaves the computer go to the other room to watch C-Span2 and Kerry is talking. EWWWWWWWW, thanks. lol
Ahh. This thread just popped up into Breaking News. I was wondering why no on was on the previous one anymore.
May I suggest that you put a link to the new thread at the end of the previous day's thread so we can find the new one, especially if it isn't on the sidebar as Breaking News.
The only thing a DOA filibuster attempt would lack is theme music.
Might I suggest the soundtrack from "Evita"?
obvious from kerrys comments that he either did not watch the alito hearings, was not paying attention, didnt understand what was said or is just flat out lying with regards to alito. or any combination.
kerry further sinks his political career. did you know he served in viet nam?
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.