Posted on 07/05/2005 7:44:32 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If Gonzalez wasn't being considered, the President would have publicly expressed some of the points you made above, or simply stated that AG Gonzalez is happy in his present post and is not interested in a spot on the SC at this time. He hasn't.
Gonzales is more conservative than O'Conner. How much more is uncertain.
President Bush has to defend Gonzales to some extent, even if only to preserve his effectiveness at his AG post. No way the President can stand idly by while his newly-confirmed Cabinet Officer is savaged, no matter the source of the savaging.
Moreover, the public defense of Gonzales affords the President political cover. He is now more free to bypass Gonzales (which, my guess, he was going to anyway); for one thing, he'll be able to say that those "crazy right-wingers" didn't intimidate him -- and then nominate a "crazy right-winger."
Works for me.
So we're not even to complain when they kick us?
Ricky has done his best over the past few years that he isn't even a conservative, let alone an extremist.
BTW, Ricky is going to lose because he has shifted to the left.
Much agreed. The time to be pro-active and speak out is NOW. Not AFTER Gonzalez or someone like him is picked.
bashing of the Senators including my two conservative Senators Inhofe and Coburn is beyond pale
I must have missed that post. point to it.
BTW, my past fund raising and political works far exceed the time since I found this forum.
I guess since he hasn't made a public statement that he isn't considering Miss Marple I should start preparing for the confirmation hearings.
Well, the concern isn't about Condo or Donald, is it?
"The WOT is progressing just fine according to military on the ground."
You missed the point. I'm not talking about the shooting war or the military. I am talking about our loss of rights at home (secret accusations and charges, warrantless searches with no judicial review, etc.)
I have a different opinion on the court.
I only want a conservative judge .....bump
Ah, well I don't happen to feel my rights have been stripped away by the Patriot Act so I'd still disagree.
Whereas my rights have been stripped away in, say, the recent KELO decision.
The insider reaction is feeding the sense of unease in flyover country.
So you are absolutely sure that the General Attorney of the United States is not an American?! My advice that you go early tomorrow morning and ask your doctor for a different prescription
Reasonable people wouldn't be concerned about Gonzalez, either.
Your not hurting my feelings by disagreeing :) I just happen to think it's unecessary and the potential for abuse is just not worth it.
However, I suspect that you are wrong. Gonzalez IS in the running and that' s why the president has refused to deny it. Thus, now is NOT the time for conservatives to be "quiet".
"Should he also make a statement that he isn't considering Condi Rice or Donald Rumsfeld"
In the context of the conversation on this thread the above comment makes NO SENSE, sorry. Neither Rummy or Rice appear to be in the running for an SC position, there has been no discussion among conservatives about them either way and thus no reason for them to be mentioned by the president. The same cannot be said for Gonzalez.
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