G.O.P. Asks Conservative Allies to Cool Rhetoric Over the Court (No Complaining About Gonzales)

NY Times ^ | July 6, 2005 | DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and CARL HULSE

[nj26]

The White House and the Senate Republican leadership are pushing back against pressure from some of their conservative allies about the coming Supreme Court nomination, urging them to stop attacking Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales as a potential nominee and to tone down their talk of a culture war.

In a series of conference calls on Tuesday and over the last several days, Republican Senate aides encouraged conservative groups to avoid emphasizing the searing cultural issues that social conservatives see at the heart of the court fight, subjects like abortion, public support for religion and same-sex marriage, participants said.

Instead, these participants, who insisted on anonymity to avoid exclusion from future calls, said the aides - including Barbara Ledeen of the Senate Republican Conference and Eric Ueland, chief of staff to Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader - emphasized themes that had been tested in polls, including a need for a fair and dignified confirmation process.

Mr. Ueland acknowledged that he and others had been working almost since the vacancy occurred last Friday with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation to persuade conservative activists to steer clear of divisive language.

"Every contact we have with these folks is 'stay on message, stay on purpose,' " Mr. Ueland said. "The extremism of language, if there is to be any, should be demonstrably on the other side. The hysteria and the foaming at the mouth ought to come from the left."

In other calls, emissaries from the office of Harriet Miers, the White House counsel, are urging conservatives to stop discussing individual nominees, especially Mr. Gonzales, whose views on abortion and affirmative action are viewed with wariness by some conservatives. Steve Schmidt, a White House spokesman working on the confirmation, joined some calls, participants said.

[TAdams8591]

Your analysis is right on the money!

[speedy]

Agree completely, my friend. Thank you for stating it so eloquently. Now, let's get back to ranting and raving, slipping and sliding, dancing and prancing!!

[Badray]

That clinches it for me.

I'm going to start ranting against Gonzalez.

[bill1952]

The attacks are not shrill because once he is nominated there isn't a damn thing that you ro I can do about it.

And that concern is not shrill.

[Zechariah11]

That would be me, and I will emphasize it: by demonizing Gonzalez, the right is making a case against whoever Bush DOES nominate, because the press will label that person as the "tool of the Christian right extremists."

Precisely.

[tomkat]

The White House and the Senate Republican leadership are pushing back ... urging them ... to tone down their talk of a culture war.

LOL !
Fat chance, fellas   

[Wolfhound777]

It's a good way to lose votes.

My thoughts exactly. So much for the conservative mandate that was won in 2004. We aren't getting the right people on the bench, SCOTUS is stealing private property, the borders aren't being secured, we have CAFTA, the L.O.S.T treaty is being pushed by the administration, the GWOT on terror can't be won unless we eliminate the 4th amendment, etc.

[Seattle Conservative]

I agree. The other thing I'd like to toss out for consideration is that Gonzales is Bush's pick as AG, if conservatives keep talking down about him, how will his staff, the country and the rest of the world look at him - it may not allow him to be as effective in his job.

The other 'strategery' might be that the more the conservatives talk about all of the other candidates, the more ideas and dirt the Dims will be able to dig up and quote and dish out to them, should one be appointed. Therefore, as the Prez and his staff do so often, 'mum' is the word until he throws out his surprise (which he seems to be good at - I think he rather enjoys keeping the MSM and Dims caught off guard).

[PhiKapMom]

Few words to some of you whiners --

First to those of you saying they won't donate to the Republican Party again -- I would take Las Vegas odds that you never did donate -- pretty easy to say what you won't do from behind a computer -- we do not know if you are Dems pretending to be conservative or not. You have screen names that a lot of us don't recognize from the past so it does make some of us wonder.

The rhetoric should be cooled because what I am seeing is mindless attacks with NO facts to back them up. Latest is that Gonzales is pro-choice -- couldn't be farther from the truth -- NARAL sure didn't think so when they went after him after he was nominated to become Attorney General. Some of you would rather start rumors and get people upset then post the facts. Doesn't take much to find out that the law he ruled on Texas was a bad law and anyone that is a strict constitutionalist would have thrown it out! But not on here, he was a bad justice because he wasn't an activist judge in Texas. Seems some of you are more interested in having your agenda moved forward and don't care if it is an activist judge that does it as long as it is what you want.

The rhetoric on here has gotten out of hand -- the President is going to do what he feels is in the best interest of this Country in picking non-activist judges which is what I thought conservatives wanted. I actually thought conservatives wanted facts not rumors as facts but I am learning about the type of conservatives that some on here pretend to be.

I attended a fundraiser tonight for my State Rep who not only talks about being a conservative but he lives it day in and day out. I have spent two campaigns helping him win re-election and this time as our Vice Chairman of our County Party, I will help him once again. He is honest, conservative as they come, sponsor of the pro-life license plates here in OK, for family values, pro-military, but he would think some of the people on here are out of touch and have no common sense from what I am reading on this thread.

My State Rep epitomizes what I believe Conservatives are all about. Unfortunately, I am learning that a lot of so-called Conservatives on here do not. Your bashing of the Senators including my two conservative Senators Inhofe and Coburn is beyond pale -- I am getting to the stage of wondering why I bother to post facts on here any more because it is getting more and more obvious that a lot of you could care less as long as you can spout off from behind your computer and no one knows who you are -- then you can stir the pot all you want.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I've got 10 years of pathetic Congressional "leadership" on my side of the argument.

[Miss Marple]

What was being asked is to stifle the public rhetoric. No one was asking you not to send an e-mail or a letter.

Let me try one more time. See if this makes sense to you.

Gonzalez was never going to be the nominee, else he wouldn't have been placed in the AG postion, because the President doesn't want to have to go through two confirmation hearings, both for a justice and a new AG.

Conservatives who foolishly thought Gonzalez was going to be the nominee have been going ballistic and trashing him in the press. The left has seized upon this as both a way to make the Right look anti-Hispanic and extreme, and also a way to paint whomever is nominated as a "tool of the extremists," as well as portraying Bush as beholden to the Christian Right.

You may not care about this, but if we want to win elections in 2006, the middle voters need to not believe this.

In addition, Al Gonzalez is a close friend of the President, and attacking him in public is not going to make the President happy. What is the point in making the President angry at groups whom he would normally pay attention to?

Continued agitation about Gonzalez is playing into the spin put out by the Left (aka New York Times/Washington Post/Tim Russert/CNN etc.).

[Soul Seeker]

The WOT is progressing just fine according to military on the ground. I have no reason to disbelieve them.

The right people have been to date set on the bench.

These two critisisms are without merit.

[hosepipe]

[ G.O.P. Asks Conservative Allies to Bend Over and Take Another One 'for the Team'. ]

LoL... With no petroleum jelly either..
This fornicating stuff is getting way old..
Its sheeple abuse.. let them go abuse a donkey..

[Wolfhound777]

Republican Senate aides encouraged conservative groups to avoid emphasizing the searing cultural issues that social conservatives see at the heart of the court fight, subjects like abortion, public support for religion and same-sex marriage, participants said.

The arrogance of these pols is astounding. All of them should be voted out of office without question. The subjects mentioned above are exactly why we elected them in the first place and exactly what we want emphasized for court nominations! If they are unwilling to push the conservative agenda, they don't deserve their cozy empires in congress critter land.

[bill1952]

Your assumption, by saying that you are being pro-active, is that the President will nominate Gonzalez unless you make a lot of noise.

No Mame. I never said that, or even intimated it.

You assume that.

I am saying that I'm making my concerns known before they make no difference in any case.

Personally, I don't care why gonzales would not be nominated, only that he is not.

[rwfromkansas]

bill, Then fine. Have your voice heard.

IT HAS BEEN HEARD, or they would not be responding.

Now, shut up.

The Dems should be the ones who should be seen as going mentally insane on this issue.

I posted contact phone numbers for Rove's office (and did an oopsie by apparently also posting the WH situation room direct line as well.....oops.) But anyway, if you wanted your voice heard, you could have ranted to Karl Rove's secretary.

Our voices have been heard. It is time now to tone it down that we have let him know we are watching. We don't know who is going to be nominated, nor are there any clear signals. It is time to just take a breather.

We may not know until next week, at the very earliest. Our voices have been heard. Now just go out and have some fun for crying out loud. Relax.

If it starts to be that there are signs that Gonzales will be the nominee, we can ratchet it up a bit then. But, there is no evidence at all that that is the case.

[tarheelswamprat]

What's the call. Is Gonzales more or less conservative than O'Connor?

Wrong question and premise. The real issue is whether Gonzales will be faithful to and uphold and apply the Constitution in his decisions. His professional actions to this point do not inspire confidence that he will do so. There are other potential candidates available whose professional track records do provide convincing evidence of their Constitutional integrity. Pointing this out is not "demonizing" him.

[bill1952]

Yes. I have no matches yet. 8^)

[Soul Seeker]

Your bashing of the Senators including my two conservative Senators Inhofe and Coburn is beyond pale

Who has bashed Inhofe and Coburn?

The people taken to task usually are McCain, Lindsey, DeWine, Hagel etc. All deservedly so. In my experience Inhofe and Coburn are generally praised. In particular I admire Inhofe for standing up against the Abu Grabib hysteria. But I do not respect the senate body as a whole.

[bill1952]

I do hope that you are right.