Facing threat of Nuclear Option, Dems release 3 hostages
by JohnHuang2
Be honest. Admit it. You were scared. No, terrified. You'd pick up the newspaper, read reports about the GOP's dangerous gamble with its nuclear ambitions in the Senate, and you were horrified. You're watching your favorite soap opera, but in the back of your mind there's fear -- fear of EBS tones going off, Dan Rather announcing that Republicans had fired nukes on advancing Democrat troops, vaporizing D.C., reports of scorching firestorms, radiation, fallout shelters, panic spreading from coast to coast, etc. Things too horrible to contemplate, now unfold. No more atmosphere of harmony and civility in the Senate! The love and respect Ted Kennedy had for George Bush -- vaporized! If you think this couldn't happen, then you don't know how close we came and why saving the judicial filibuster became the most urgent issue confronting the human race, according to Newsweek. If you think press photos of a raping, torturing, butchering, gassing, human-shredder-using murderous tyrant wearing Fruit of the Loom got Howard Dean up in arms, imagine if the filibuster got flushed down the toilet. Desecrating Saddam ain't nothing compared to that.
During the Cold War, liberals chanted, 'Better Red than Dead', but until Monday it was Better Dead than sending Priscilla Owen to the Court of Appeals. So, this is what it's come to -- libbies arguing that putting a Sunday school teacher on a court in New Orleans means unbridled tyranny in America, then agreeing to it as part of a deal to get Republicans to scrap their nuclear program. With the showdown averted, no need to stock up on canned goods or rig up a fallout shelter. Ditto traffic jams, empty shelves, long lines at the check out counter, and liberals spending all their food stamps at once. Now libbies chant, 'Better Red State Judge (Priscilla Owen) than Dead!' Priscilla Owen was a "threat" to the republic until Monday night, but 'The Deal' helped her turn a new leaf, so now she's perfectly qualified to get a vote. Same goes for Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor -- all turned a new leaf, too.
Except for Henry Saad and William Myers. Myers and Saad weren't as "unacceptable" as the really "unacceptable" Owen, Brown, and Pryor, so Saad and Myers aren't getting a vote and Owen, Brown and Pryor are. Which made the whole thing sound like a 4-year high-profile hostage ordeal. We'll let three hostages go, in return we keep our "right" to take others hostage. Deal? Liberals demand lawyers and full Geneva protections for detainees, but no lawyers or Geneva protections for Myers and Saad! The two-page Deal says Democrats can mount a filibuster "under extraordinary circumstances," which means a conservative in Washington getting named to the bench. Which means The Deal courageously postponed the inevitable -- nuking judicial filibusters.
The Deal is the product of 14 "moderates," all eagerly seeking to 'preserve' a 'long-standing, venerated Senate tradition' going back to 2003. A "moderate" in Washington is someone who sees Bush win re-election and Bush's party gain seats in the House and Senate and concludes from all this that the voters want Bush to accept defeat and implement the Democrat agenda. Bush should 'consult' with Harry Reid "prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration," urged the 14 'moderates' in their memorandum of misunderstanding.
'Moderates' are people who see a problem and say, 'How can we make it worse?'
And were you following developments on TV Monday night? Downright amusing. At one point, Fox News showed Sen. John McCain, announcing the deal in a presser. Soon it's Sen. Robert Byrd's turn at the mike, though at first I hardly recognized him -- he looked so different without the sheets. Byrd, with fresh memories of Benjamin Franklin, recounted how Franklin "was approached by a lady who said, 'Dr. Franklin, what have you given us?' And he said, 'A Republic, if you can keep it.'" (Betcha never heard that one before.)
Before the deal Monday night, Byrd spent weeks on the Senate floor delivering stirring speeches on the Cloture Motion, noting how it's provided for under Clause II(m)(2)(A) of Roman Senate Rule XXXII, which stipulates all the amendments to Rule XXXI. The Racial Healer insisted until Monday that allowing a vote on a black woman and sharecropper's daughter -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown -- would mean an end to constitutional Checks and Balances. In other words, the Democrat Party and the Republican Party are separate branches of government in Byrdworld, and allowing votes on judicial nominees would upset the balance of power between these two branches. Senate rules say you can't filibuster budgets, BRAC, CAFTA, war powers resolutions, etc., but add judicial filibusters to that list and Byrd gets his under-sheets in a twist. But, in fairness, keep in mind the nominee is black, and Byrd hasn't fully recovered from the shock of freed slaves.
Other than keeping blacks and Hispanics off the courts, what's the filibuster for, anyway? It's the way one side delays a vote to get the other side to compromise -- keep modifying legislation until a deal can be reached. Now try applying that to judicial nominees. If Democrats complain that a nominee is 'too far right', amputating the nominee's right arm and leg probably won't mollify them much (although you might get Byrd to vote for a black judge after lots of skin bleaching).
Like I said recently, liberals have trouble with basic civics, so lets try this slowly. Legislative filibusters -- that's internal Senate business, a proper prerogative of the Senate. Judicial filibusters -- that's monkeying around with Executive Branch business, violating the Separation of Powers principle. Same goes for other Executive nominations, say, a John Bolton (typical liberal at this point interrupts, sighing, 'You had me and then you lost me').
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So, lemme get this straight. Fourteen towering 'Moderates', in the grand tradition of 'Moderates', agree to postpone making a decision. This is called a 'historic achievement'. Owens, Brown, and Pryor do get a vote, which would imply liberals now accept the principle that conservatives are qualified to serve on the bench -- even blacks and women! But we know liberals don't. Which is why I give this 'Deal' a few weeks. Then it unravels. It unravels at precisely the moment Bush names Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen to the Supreme Court. Then we're right back where we were before The Deal. See how much Moderates always accomplish? These are the people who make things not happen.
Soon, Sen. Frist brings back the "Nuclear Option," because when there's a problem, you nuke it.
Anyway that's...
My two cents
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