Frist Won't Meet With Pro-Lifers to Discuss Specter

CNSNews.com ^ | Nov. 18, 2004 | David Thibault

[smokeyb]

Specter came out 2 days after his primary win and stated he was not a rubber stamp for the president.

[smokeyb]

Well said, joanie !

The only thing I will add is that we didn't even need Bush and Santorum to support Toomey. We just needed to keep them out of campaigning for Specter. Toomey lost by 14,500 votes. I guarantee that Santorum and Bush swayed at least 7,250 voters in Arlen's direction. It's sad when you have to fight your own party.

[snopercod]

It seems that voting for republicans has become nothing more than the sanction of the victim.

As you know, I only voted for Bush because the alternative seemed unthinkable to me at the time. But now that the (very short) honeymoon celebration is over, the hangover is setting in. There is no doubt in my mind that he (and his philosophical soul-mates who call themselves "Republicans") will continue to bargain away the principles on which this Country was founded.

I personally called the members of the Judiciary Committee as did thousands of others. I'm sure their royal highnesses got a good laugh out of that during their "closed-door sessions".

P.S. I apologize for sending you the link to the Noonan piece on Specter.

[snopercod]

I'm sorry, but allowing the issue of Arlen Specter to be framed as a "Pro-Life" issue is what guaranteed his appointment to chair the Judiciary.

[realpatriot]

"Freedom" still has an inviting appeal to it, IMHO."

I truly don't believe there is any of us that know what freedom feels like. We have definitions and descriptions, but it's just like looking at a picture of the Grand Canyon. It's not the same as being there.

I think it's too late in my life to feel freedom or liberty (or justice for that matter) but possibly our children have a chance.

That chance lives not with the Democrats and sadly, not with the Republicans.

These tracks don't go to liberty or freedom. The only way is another track.

[jla]

Kiss federalism good-bye in your view of the world, eh?

I don't think the leader of a Christian organization, seeking a meeting with a U.S. Senator will revoke any of Madison, Hamilton, & Jay's letters. It's ridiculous to think otherwise.

Mahoney isn't a constituent, and even if he were, he isn't owed a meeting with Frist solely on that basis.

He's a U.S. citizen, and he's the head of an organization that represents constinuents living in TN.
Back to your inane notion that Mahoney has no business asking to meet with Frist because he isn't "domiciled" in TN - does this mean no person should donate to a political campaign of anyone not representing their state or district?
Does one have the right to ask to meet with a Congressman from another district in one's state?

Mahoney needs to get over himself.

So do you.

And Poohbah...God Bless you.

[Poohbah]

Does one have the right to ask to meet with a Congressman from another district in one's state?

Yes. But the Congressman is under no obligation to meet with him, and deserves no condemnation for declining to meet with him.

He's a U.S. citizen, and he's the head of an organization that represents constinuents living in TN.

Actually, he's a talking head on CNN that represents an organization that is so nonexistent, I couldn't even find a web page for it.

I checked with a buddy in DC: the GOP is not bothering to meet with groups that didn't significantly contribute to victory through GOTV or other real "sweat equity."

In short, if all your group does is put out press releases and appears on CNN, and it doesn't actually do any real work come election time, you're not going to get a meeting. Organizations whose main gig is appearing on GOP-hostile media are doubly suspect. Mahoney's group fits this description to a tee.

This came about because, in days of yore, the GOP discovered that certain groups have a habit of not doing anything during the election, but after the election they would show up saying "We got you elected, you owe us (fill in the blank)."

Mahoney needs to discover the virtue of hard work. And he needs to get over himself.

[Landru]

They're going to do what they want to do, I'm afraid, & to hell with what anyone else says.

So in that sense its not as if this kind of thing hasn't happened many times before in the republic's history.

...is it. ;^)

[cardinal4]

Folks, this has been decided, and the decision is coming straight from the White House. Bush and Rove pandered to the conservatives to win this election, and now are going to steer moderate.

I doubt it. I read somewhere, probably here, that Specter was floored by the opposition and was caught off guard by reaction to his statements. He'll tow the line, the outcry let Specter know who he really was..

[kevkrom]

American Revenue Department - ancient_geezer and kevkrom

I'm blushing...

Isn't there a department of Booze and Scantily Clad Women I could oversee instead, though?

[TexasCowboy]

I really don't understand where it is that you're coming from.
How can there be discussion about abortion?

There can be no discussion about evil. What is, is.
I will never budge from the evil of abortion, and if I win no converts, so be it.

[jammer]

Ostrich Frist. Well, we know one person who will NOT take the presidential office in 2009.

[ZULU]

From my persepctive Specter owes his re-election to Bush. Without Bush's support he would have lost the primary. He very nearly lost the general election. (The only disappointment eletion night was Specter's re-election.)

Specter is unfit to sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee let alone chair it. His outburst several weeks ago was not only ungrateful and arrogant - it was also stupid and ill-conceived. It demonstrates a total lack of judgement.

Myriads of conservative Republicans wrote their representatives, Bush, Cheney, Frist, and the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanding Specter be barred from the Chairmanship.

They were ignored.

The Senate once again demonstrated an inherent lack of backbone, contempt for those who elected them, and illustrated that their priamry allegiance was not to their constituents but to each other.

The system is broken.

Its breaking down more and more every day. Each day, each hour, each minute, the collective forces of the ACLU, political correctness, the entrenched elected officials, the bueaurocrats who disdain the public who pays them, the conspirators and prevaricators in the legal "profession" and the courts who serve their own feelings and pockets rather than the Constitution, are dismantling our Republic.

I don't know how we are going to get back, or if we ever can.

The greatest experiment in human political history is being destroyed before our very eyes.

[Walkin Man]

Pro-life activists, seeking to derail the appointment of Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter to the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will not get a chance to personally argue their case with Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Nothin like givin the back of your hand to the people that elected you and your party eh Frist??

[Minuteman23]

You don’t cure a cancer by adapting to it. You cut out its source, and you treat its after-effects.

Thank you, Joanie.

[jla]

I checked with a buddy in DC: the GOP is not bothering to meet with groups that didn't significantly contribute to victory through GOTV or other real "sweat equity."

You and your pal in DC are cluless as to who elected Dubya, aren't you?
Frist and Specter will be watched very closely from here on out. One, just one, hint of a sellout and the Christian Right stays home in '06 and possibly '08.
Then, over beers, you and your pal can practice mumbling, "President Hillary Rodham-Clinton".

[redgolum]

Very simply, through hints and innuendo the Republicans through a bone to the religious right, the NRA, and a host of others to get a bigger majority in Congress and reelect Bush.

But they can't really change anything. I have had family work in Washington, and the atmosphere they described was one where no matter what your constituents believe, the politicians will try to do things to make their peers and the press like them.

So now that we have elected Bush, they can go back to selling out the very base that put them there. I am disappointed, but more at myself than the politicians. I knew they were snakes, and shouldn't be surprised that they bit me.

[jammer]

You're probably right. The way to get attention is to yawn and roll over instead of going to vote. Or better yet, vote for someone else. The talking's over, as you say.

I DO think it's sad to see the gradual awakening of people to the tricks played on them. Me? I expect nothing from them and am elated when they do anything correct. But it's going to be bitter around here for the next couple of years for folks with so much emotion invested. Gotta' remember: they're just gutter politicians, some worse than others, but almost none acceptable in honest circles.

[conservativecorner]

As pissed as I am concerning this article and Frist's behavior, I agree that we should probably keep our powder dry for now. The leadership knows how the base feels concerning Darlin' Arlen, and there may be a behind the scenes reason for allowing his nomination to move forward. My gut feeling is that they have made it very clear to Arlen that if he doesn't tow the party line, he's out as chairman, and I think the leadership isn't bluffing on that account. Frist should of made time to meet with one of the blocks that gave him +4 in the election, and it was a missed opportunity on his part.

We can Daschle these guys in the next cycle if they disappoint, and we can support conservative candidates through various mean including, but not limited to, the Club For Growth which kicked ass this election cycle with their targeting of donations to candidates that support conservative agendas.

[SuziQ]

One, just one, hint of a sellout and the Christian Right stays home in '06 and possibly '08. Then, over beers, you and your pal can practice mumbling, "President Hillary Rodham-Clinton".

An how many innocent babies will be protected then, while you're sitting home smugly thinking about how you put the screws to the Repubs. who didn't do everything you wanted them to do?

You have to work with what you have, not deal in 'what ifs'. You don't alienate those who are able and willing to help you as much they can. We live in a Representative Republic where not everyone agrees with us. It took 15 years or so for the public to realize that abortion on demand was bad for this country. It has taken another 15 just to get them to realize that some restrictions are OK. It may take another 15 to get it outlawed entirely, if we can ever do so. You build alliances along the way, you don't scream, yell, pout, and take home your marbles when things aren't going EXACTLY the way you wish they would. You work with what you have, and you get the job done.