Posted on 11/15/2006 12:12:55 PM PST by Liz
Exultant Chuck Says He’ll Veto the Next Alito; New King of Washington Promises Moderate Court; Rove-like, Plans Permanent Democratic Majority; More N.Y. Homeland Money, Iraqi Federalism
More than the inability to influence Iraq policy or the President’s tax cuts, Chuck Schumer says that the single greatest failure of the Democrats as an opposition party was allowing Samuel Alito to join the Supreme Court.
“Judges are the most important,” said Mr. Schumer, who orchestrated the implausible Democratic takeover of the Senate last week. “One more justice would have made it a 5-4 conservative, hard-right majority for a long time. That won’t happen.”
From now on, all the President’s judicial appointments will need to meet the requirements of Mr. Schumer, the Park Slope power broker who has happily accepted the mantle of chief architect for the Democrats’ effort to build a majority for the 2008 elections and beyond.
The Senator also intends, in the coming months, to rework the federal government’s funding priorities in New York’s favor, to steer the Democrats toward a radically new position on Iraq and, while he’s at it, to cement his position as the unofficially declared tactical guru for the national party.
And in case anyone’s wondering, yes, Mr. Schumer is entirely comfortable with this sort of power.
With his Gold Toe–stockinged feet dangling, the 55-year-old slumped in his armchair on Friday morning as if it were a leather throne. On his apartment’s front door, a neighbor taped up a front page of The New York Times heralding the Democrats’ success and scrawled “Congratulations Schumers!” across the cover.
The candidates that Mr. Schumer recruited, groomed and bankrolled had won a comprehensive victory over the incumbent Republicans, giving the Democrats a narrow majority in the Senate to complement a rout in the House. Since the election, Mr. Schumer has been awash in attention from the media, his Democratic colleagues and even from the President, who called, quite sportingly, soon after the results were finalized.
For Mr. Schumer, who was installed on Tuesday as Vice Chairman of the Democratic caucus and officially reinstated as head of the DSCC, the attention couldn’t be coming at a better time.
“I am writing a book, about how to build a permanent—a long-term majority,” Mr. Schumer said during an early-morning interview in the pink den of his apartment near Grand Army Plaza. He sat between a view of lower Manhattan and portraits of Democratic icons Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Al Smith. “I generally have an eye toward longer-term strategy and politics, and I think my colleagues rely on me for that.”
His book, Positively American: Winning Back the Middle Class Majority One Family at a Time, will be released right around the President’s State of the Union address, and will fit neatly into the role that Mr. Schumer now envisions for himself as tactician in chief for the newly ascendant Democrats.
“I’ve always had some influence, and I guess now, because of what we’ve been able to accomplish, I have some more influence,” Mr. Schumer said. “So when I say we shouldn’t do this or we should do that, I guess people will pay a little more attention. Or go along with it, even if they don’t agree.”
Certainly, the party wasn’t united behind Mr. Schumer’s election strategy this year. He championed a traditional approach: directing the bulk of the party’s financial and logistical resources toward handpicked candidates in a few competitive races. Howard Dean, who heads the Democratic National Committee, advocated a “50-state strategy,” spreading money around toward the longer-term goal of making the party viable even in areas that have been Republican strongholds.
After the victory—the Democrats picked up six Republican-held seats and defended every Democratic one—Mr. Schumer hardly seemed ready to concede the point.
“Fifty-state is a good thing to do, but it didn’t help us in this election,” said Mr. Schumer. “My only disagreement with Howard is that he should help us fund taking back the majority, because it would make a difference with things like the Supreme Court. And he came through—he ended up giving us $7.5 million. We tried the honey approach rather than the vinegar approach, and it worked.”
--SNIP--
I think a spunky Republican Senator should bring ethics charges against Schumer, saying that his little announcement here is a violation of his responsibilities as a member of the Judiciary committee and he doesn't have the temperment to sit on it.
I don't care whom the Dems have to replace him with, if there were some way to get him off this committee, it would kill him.
No. Only the Senate can police its own. And so you might see a lot of call to get rid of Reid and possibly Dorgan, but any Democrat who says word one about it will find himself napping forever in Ft. Marcy Park.
Most excellent!
The only this permanent he'll probably get is a permanent toopay.
oops! this=thing
AMEN!!!
Nancee
**(Schumer plots permanent majority)**
I don't think so.
Yep, Ginsburg passed with over 90 votes. This was because most of the Republicans (like Orrin Hatch) thought that Clinton was entitled to choose the judges, and if the judge was "well-qualified" and did not have any history of corruption, he/she should be confirmed, even if his/her ideology was different from that of the Republicans.
You are right.
Veto? Is he President? Or king? I thought he was just another disgusting, corrupt senator.
I'm reminded of James Mason in Heaven Can Wait "There is a plan. There is always a plan."
I believe that the loss in 2006 will ensure a Republican President and Republican majority in Congress for 2008 and beyond as the swing votes will see what they forgotten: how really terrible the Dems are at governing.
fyi, we are defending 21 senate seats in 2008 and the rats are defending 12. We need to win 23 out of 33 just to get to 51.
W should do what his father should have done.
With each nomination they turn down, the next one served up is more conservative and less desirable to them. Meanwhile, SCOTUS will be tied 4-4, which is better than 5-4 for the bad guys. If it goes on long enough, maybe Ruth will have to retire, too, and then we'll have a 4-3 majority.
Sooner or later, if the politics is played right, the country will get tired of the obstructionism.
The mantra is: "the President picks the nominees, not the Senate..."
No it did not. When the senate is 50-50, all committees are also 50-50 including judiciary.
Really, it came down to Maryland, NJ, Ohio, PA, Missouri, Virginia, and yes even Rhode Island.
You are wrong. Claire McCaskill, Sherod Brown, Whitehouse, and Ben Cardin are not.
a full floor vote on a nominee is still possible without a positive recommendation out of committee.
Perfect.
Make a Recess appointment of a highly qualified black woman. Then have all of her family to the White House, and let her husband and kids tell all of America how proud they are to be there for the first black woman on the Supreme court.
Let Schumer try to fire her!!!!!!!!!!!
"The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."
When or if they do refuse to confirm, reappoint her again , and make it clear he will not tolerate such racism in the democratic party. That this woman will not give up her seat for democrats and go to the back of the bus!!!!
You are wrong.
Here is what we need to do to achieve a filibuster proof conservative US Senate in 2008.
We have to do is to get rid of the following rinos, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Warner, Lamar Alexander, Libby Dole, Smith from Oregon, that bridge to nowhere Stevens guy, Chuck Hagel, and Sununu, Domenici and McConnell in the republican primaries, then we need to hold all 21 of our seats
Then we need to win 11 out of the 12 democrat seats (Arkansas: Pryor (D) Delaware: Biden (D) Illinois: Durbin (D) Iowa: Harkin (D) Louisiana: Landrieu (D) Massachusetts: Kerry (D) Michigan: Levin (D) Montana: Baucus (D) New Jersey: Lautenberg (D) Rhode Island: Reed (D) South Dakota: Johnson (D) West Virginia: Rockefeller (D) )
That makes 60 for us !
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