Live Filibuster Thread Tuesday

CSPAN ^ | May 24, 2005 | AliVeritas

[AliVeritas]

FReepers be prepared for surprises today.

[steveegg]

No.......is he blaming Frist for dragging his feet? The whole thing was definitely mishandled (White House included), IMHO.

Dunno if the blame is for dragging his feet (though I think this qualifies - "'Hold me back, hold me back,' Bill Frist's body language seemed to say."), but here's the money paragraph -

The Senate majority leader at once approved yesterday's deal, disapproved it, and promised to unsheathe the nuclear option again if necessary to make sure future nominees get the "up or down" vote that was the ostensible goal of the showdown. Yeah, right. We might ask whom Mr. Frist thinks he's kidding, except the answer is obvious: the Family Research Council, Rush Limbaugh, Dr. James Dobson, etc. Unless we missed something, the "compromise" yesterday that he vowed to "carefully monitor" was a compromise to preserve the minority's privilege of filibustering judicial nominees. In return for this eternal concession, Republicans will get three -- count 'em, three -- judges approved.

BTW, it sounds like he didn't fool Rush too much.

[Carolinamom]

How in the hell did Byrd get the sobrique of "Conscience of the Senate"?

[Sacajaweau]

Interesting!!

[defconw]

George Allen?

[johnb838]

They kicked the can down the road.

[AndrewC]

Here's the important way to look at the vote.

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---81
Akaka (D-HI) Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Bingaman (D-NM) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Burr (R-NC) Byrd (D-WV) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Chambliss (R-GA) Clinton (D-NY) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC)	DeWine (R-OH) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Durbin (D-IL) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feinstein (D-CA) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Harkin (D-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johnson (D-SD) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Leahy (D-VT) Lieberman (D-CT) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ)	McConnell (R-KY) Mikulski (D-MD) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reid (D-NV) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Santorum (R-PA) Schumer (D-NY) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---18
Biden (D-DE) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Corzine (D-NJ) Dayton (D-MN) Dodd (D-CT)	Dorgan (D-ND) Feingold (D-WI) Jeffords (I-VT) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ)	Levin (D-MI) Lincoln (D-AR) Murray (D-WA) Reed (D-RI) Sarbanes (D-MD) Stabenow (D-MI)

Not Voting - 1

Inouye (D-HI)

[You Dirty Rats]

How in the hell did Byrd get the sobrique of "Conscience of the Senate"?

He inherited the title from the former Stalinist Senator Howard Metzenbaum -- yet another disgrace from my state.

[Carolinamom]

sobrique = sobriquet..........sorry.

[steveegg]

They kicked the can down the road.

And stubbed their toes in the process.

[piperpilot]

If the tables were reversed, the Dems would being doing the same thing (except they would have forced the vote and changed the rules)

You are so right. When McCain first came out with the argument that we don't want to implement the Constitutional option because some day the Republicans would be in the minority, the first thought that came to my mind in response was that the Dims would not hesitate to change the rules to prohibit the filibustering of judicial nominees if they were the majority party and the Republicans had filibustered one or more of their President's nominees. I have no doubt WHATSOEVER that, if the situation were reversed, the Dims would have pulled the trigger long ago and had no qualms about it. That's what makes this whole situation even more infuriating. I am absolutely LIVID!!!!

[OXENinFLA]

Not Voting - 1 Inouye (D-HI)<<<<<<<<<<<< Signatory to the deal.....

[onyx]

It's been a while, but I suspect he obtained it the same way all those buildings and bridges in his state got named for him!

[Carolinamom]

I've tried to get through to Graham's office to give them that little fact of BROKEN deal, but so far all I get is a busy signal.

[LisaFab]

Wasn't that Lieberman's tag till he got 'Gored'?

[Zuben Elgenubi]

That's got to be a deal breaker. How long does he have to register his vote?

[piperpilot]

Yep. He was on after 11:30 a.m. break.

[MarcusTulliusCicero]

I apologize if these ideas have already been put forth today since I'm at work and haven't been able to keep up with the entire thread.

First, I think Arlen Specter is unhappy because he lost a lot of potential power with this deal. It occurred to me a couple of days ago when considering whether or not Arlen would vote for the Constitutional option that he would hold his nose and vote yes to overturn the judicial filibuster because he would then become the most powerful Senator in regard to judicial nominees. He would then set himself up as the knight in shining armor who could single-handedly (by not scheduling votes in committee) for any nominee that he deemed to be too "extreme". Today he is probably imagining the hours of press coverage that he lost portraying himself as the knight in shining armor protection the nation from right wing extremist originalist judges.

As for Frist, I like his attitude today. I was a bit disappointed last night when he rushed to the floor and basically took an "Oh well, what can we do" attitude. I think it was explained to him shortly afterwards that this is a coup led by McCain to basically wrest Majority Leader power on him. (It also occurred to me to wonder whether McCain has made any oral deals with these traitors about voting for his new global warming legislation....it wouldn't suprise me a bit...hmmm....anyone think an quiet offer of McCain/Graham might have been mentioned at some point behind closed doors?) In any case, any emails from FReepers to Senator Frist complementing him on his refusal to endorse this compromise might mention that in effect his primary battle with Senator McCain has officially begun. If he loses this battle he loses a lot of credibility. He needs to challenge the compromise, even if he loses. He needs to reassert the authority of the Majority Leader. I think the current attitude of the 7 traitor RINOs is that Frist wouldn't schedule votes on any "unapproved" nominees. He needs to do just that and get these traitors on record voting to filibuster judges.

[Carolinamom]

You're probably right....in fact, you are, but Lieberman destroyed that trust when he railed against clinton, yet voted to let him off.........and when he chucked every conviction he ever had to run w/algore. Holy Joe is not very holy imo.

[Pepper777]

* RINOS would do well to read the pulse of the nation by looking at the blogs and not the WAPO or NYtimes. *

Imo, McCain considers those like the NYTimes and etc as HIS base!!!

Wow the caller on C-Span is telling it like it is~!!! Told the RINO's off, in NO uncertain terms. Good for him!!

[BlessedByLiberty]

"... He is pretty much finished in the republican party. Look for him to bolt in '07..."

My only disagreement with this is that I think McCain will bolt very soon. He'll call a tearful presser and rail against partisanship, money in politics, the right wing, and of course "extremism." He'll declare he is an independent and MSM will continue to salivate over him, applauding his "courage."