Posted on 11/15/2006 12:12:55 PM PST by Liz
Exultant Chuck Says Hell 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 Presidents 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 wont happen.
From now on, all the Presidents 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 governments funding priorities in New Yorks favor, to steer the Democrats toward a radically new position on Iraq and, while hes at it, to cement his position as the unofficially declared tactical guru for the national party.
And in case anyones wondering, yes, Mr. Schumer is entirely comfortable with this sort of power.
With his Gold Toestockinged feet dangling, the 55-year-old slumped in his armchair on Friday morning as if it were a leather throne. On his apartments 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 couldnt be coming at a better time.
I am writing a book, about how to build a permanenta 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 Presidents 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.
Ive always had some influence, and I guess now, because of what weve been able to accomplish, I have some more influence, Mr. Schumer said. So when I say we shouldnt do this or we should do that, I guess people will pay a little more attention. Or go along with it, even if they dont agree.
Certainly, the party wasnt united behind Mr. Schumers election strategy this year. He championed a traditional approach: directing the bulk of the partys 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 victorythe Democrats picked up six Republican-held seats and defended every Democratic oneMr. Schumer hardly seemed ready to concede the point.
Fifty-state is a good thing to do, but it didnt 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 throughhe ended up giving us $7.5 million. We tried the honey approach rather than the vinegar approach, and it worked.
--SNIP--
Yeah, but we sure taught those Republicans a lesson by staying home last Tuesday!
Can you imagine what it is like to see his mug on tv? The guy LOOOOOOOOOOVES press conferences which he give in his whiney voice. His wife, the unlovely Iris Weinshal, is the head of the Department of Transportation thanks to Rudy Giuliani, who would not give jobs to Republicans. She is inept and incompetent.
His wife, the unlovely Iris Weinshal, is the head of the Department of Transportation thanks to Rudy Giuliani, who would not give jobs to Republicans. She is inept and incompetent.
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Ah yes, the beauty of liberalism. And just another reminder that Rudy is not the man for the White House.
A spot-on description. Folks like that have a propensity to topple flat onto their faces. Pass the popcorn, please.
and there is the ex-wife, and the support for partial birth abortion and the fact that he did nothing to build up the GOP in New York. The list is endless.
"No judge who doesn't believe wholeheartedly in the leftist agenda will ever get out of committe"
Exactly, Look for Harriet Miers to go up to SCOTUS. Goodbye constitutional jurists for the courts.
Democrats controlled the Senate in '94, but nevermind.
I don't like Schumer but at LEAST he is willing to FIGHT for what he believes in. I fully expect the girlie-men in the Pub Party to approve every Judge any dem president sends to them
Get outta that bed LY. Aged hippies are not in charge..at least not yet.
The same W is still in charge for the next 2 years.
If you wake up Nov 8th and The Beast is in charge, then you can stay in bed.
That easy Nancee.
A moderate is someone who has no convictions. Their actions depend on which way the wind is blowing at any particular time.
They like to define themselves as openminded, and that's the problem. They opened their minds and all their thinking brains fell out.
I wish I were. You, sir, are too optimistic to face reality. You picked only the Senate, fine with me.
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.
Here is where you miss my point: Can we elect Conservative Republicans in Maine or Oregon? A blue dog Dem, maybe, but C. Repub, NO! Some other states are not bright red anymore and have a lot of Hispanics who are mad about the immigration issue, can you say New Mexico? J.D. Hayworth's loss, rings a bell???
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)
Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island?????
Picking Conservative Republican "seats" in any of the above states? The only seats the voters in these states are willing to give Conservative Republicans are electric chairs! LOL
I haven't even brought up the other states which are purple at best. Iowa rings a bell?
I won't hide my head in the sand when faced with reality.
Nancee, you may be interested in the '08 strategy.
The people I enjoy the most on this forum, are the ones with the greatest senses of humor!!
I really do get it. How could I not with a Senator named Specter? Here's the best part of your message:
"They like to define themselves as openminded, and that's the problem. They opened their minds and all their thinking brains fell out."
AMEN!!!
They are more power hungry than anything else!!
Nancee
That is a good one...and accurate.
Your coments about Conservative Blue Dogs is an interesting one and I'll reserve judgment on that one until I've had a chance to observe how this new crop of Dogs actually hunt.
If they turn out to be Lap Dogs, then your point is moot.
If they turn out to be real Blue Dogs..well then... whole different ball game.
What a giddy little man.
SPECTER is actually SPECTRE, head of this organization:
SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.
Here he is without his mask:
You think so, huh???? He is never without one of his masks.
The really sad thing however, it the loss of Rick Santorum; makes me crazy!
Thanks for helping me to laugh! I can only look at that picture once!
Nancee
You're right on the money.
After '06 election, the word "Conservative" doesn't not only mean "Republican".
I'm afraid it's a perception of being Conservative more than a real Conservative as we know it. The MSM will be bestowing the title of "Conservative" on dims just to blur the line. It ain't gonna be easy for us to "distinguish" between the two because of the "limited" exposure of the alternative media.
It will take some doing to show that whoever turns to be a Lap Dog not a Blue Dog, IS NOT Conservative. There is a lot of ignorance out there plus, giving "Conservative Dem" voters something to hang their hats on.
A pretty good strategy for the Dim-witted to come up with, I might add.
The Blue Dogs will NOT be able to stand up to the far-left, Soros/MoveOn smears or will be dislodged as traitors to the cause.
We will see!
Nancee,
You started me on this thread and I'm returning the favor. More '08 FYI
>>Best bet would be a senator like Jeff Sessions.
I would nominate former Montana Governor Mark Racicot if the opening comes in the next few months. He would be hard to paint as a hard-line right-winger but he is conservative enough to be an improvement over either Ginsburg or Stevens. The Democrats might realize that it could be in their best interest to keep Racicot from returning to Montana and taking Max Baucus' Senate seat.
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