Live thread, Estrada Hearings in the Senate

CapitolHearing.org ^ | 9/26/02

[Hacksaw]

Chuckie Schumer went after him for not remembering a conversation he had with an anonymous person some time ago. Hatch hit the ceiling.

And Herr Schumer will be screaming the loudest if the GOP uses the same standards he does if they regain the majority.

South America is fortunate he was not born there, as he would be in charge of a dictatorship in one of the countries.

[hobbes1]

Leahy Lying through his teeth.....

[hobbes1]

So, Lovely Duchess of Erat, how is Durnik BTW ?

[WhiteFlags2002]

Speaking of "Ugh", the new senator from New York is presiding over the Senate Home-Land security hearings on CSPAN!

[Aunt Polgara]

Well, did you listen to the rest of it? Schummer definitely sounded like he was going to vote no, didn't he? He tried and tried and tried to bait Estrada into telling him how he would vote on cases, but Estrada would't take the bait.

[WOSG]

LOL..."Pinata" ... wait to go Hatch, speaking to the Hispanic community and the rest of us in a good metaphorical way.

hoping we can soon say ... "hasta la vista ex-chairman Schumer ..."

[YaYa123]

According to Charles Krauthammer on with Brit, Estrada is toast. He would have been toast even if he hadn't changed his story on what he said to the student about being "too liberal to clerk for Judge Kennedy", but now the democrats can claim he had a problem with honesty.

Too bad.

[mwl1]

GOP had better fight for this nomination, and fast.

[YaYa123]

I don't know....it looks pretty grim.

President Bush put up a fantastic guy, good credentials, approved even by some on the left because of his background, intellect. A well-respected man. Then what does Estrada do? He lies to the committee. Granted, Schumer sandbagged him, with a question about an anonymous person, but it was obvious after watching the exchange on Special Report, that Estrada got caught trying to hide something. Something stupidly unimportant, but still, he wasn't honest.

He should have just said, "yeah, I told a student I couldn't recommend him for a clerk position because I didn't think he would "fit" with Judge Kennedy. But Estrada must have panicked. (Like Mark Fuhrman when he was asked if he ever said "nigger".) Estrada obviously knew the name of the student, remembered the exchange, and didn't level about it when Schumer asked.

I applaud Orrin Hatch for defending the president's appointee, but you know what? If one of Clinton's appointees had been caught lying to the Judicial Committee, even a stupid lie like this one, we would have been all over him, claiming he was unworthy to serve.

If we win back the senate in November, Estrada might get on the bench..but knowing the kind of honesty President Bush expects, he might not put his name back in the hopper.

[bvw]

Saw that exchange .. same opinion ... Estrada with his mouth hanging open and Schumer in full gloat. Hatch two steps off the pace in getting the unfair "anonymous quote" counter slammed against Schumer -- too late, damage done.

[linn37]

they bushwacked the guy ,he could'nt remember and when he did it made him look dishonest when he had to backtrack.To bad,Next.

[YaYa123]

I'll feel better if as you say, he really didn't remember the guy. But I believe FOXReport said this incident was reported in a recent THE NATION magazine. Estrada should have been ready for the question.

[PogySailor]

Unfortunately, the mainstream Hispanic lobbying groups don’t consider him “authentic”.

[speedy]

I agree. Looked bad. It's over for now for Estrada and quite frankly he should have been able to swat that one away fairly easily. Plenty more conservative nominees out there, keep throwing them in front of the Dems. At some point it does cost them a few votes, not with the Stepford faithful, but with some swing voters.

[WOSG]

This is how the "Pinata" attack happens: Keep attacking and picking on something, until something lands

The point is this: The leftists like Schumer dont give a da*n about pecadillos or minor gaffes - if they did they wouldnt have defended the perjurer-in-chief. They are just looking for any EXCUSE for destroying yet another highly qualified skilled and able Judge ... They attacked Pickering and got to call this man who went after the KKK and worked on racial reconciliation a 'racist'; for Priscilla Owens, who voted with her court 90% of the time and was reelected with over 80% of the vote in Texas eletion to the state Supreme Court, was called 'outside the mainstream' for daring to support parental notification laws, duly passed in Texas.

Whatever the Liberals cook up for Estrada in their Pinata bashing attacks, know this: This is about the leftist Democrats and liberal special intersets who want to "own" the Federal courts; destroying competent and able Conservatives and turning them down is about ideology & abortion.

All other matters are smokescreens for their real aims of keeping the Judiciary Left-wing

[Aunt Polgara]

I didn't see the news, but I DID listen to the hearings. Estrada DID NOT change his story about what he may or may not have said to the guy(?) who wanted to clerk for Kennedy!

Over and over again, Schumer kept trying to get Estrada to change his story. The only thing that changed was Schumer's questions!

Estrada was very clear. He did not remember ever having such a conversation. He had no such litmus test. In fact, he did recommend liberals for other positions, even recommending a dem operative (one of Leahy's aides, I think). He was trying to be too honest and said that the only way he could think that something even remotely like what was alleged could have happened is if he was joking around with a "friend". He did say that he would tell Kennedy if he thought that someone, either liberal OR conservative, would put their ideology ahead of the law. It sounded like he was being very honest to me!

[Aunt Polgara]

quite fine, thank you very much :-)

[Aunt Polgara]

I sure wish I had seen this news story that you all are talking about. Of course, Estrada might have looked confused because Chuckie kept changing the question, trying to confuse the poor guy. I'm surprised that FOX would have put a clip up that made him look so bad.

First the question was "did you say this to this unknown person at this unknown time?" Then later it was did you ever say to anyone that someone might be too liberal for a job? How can you answer a question like that???

[speedy]

Agree with you completely, and well put. Our guys have to play it 100 percent right 100 percent of the time, or the Liberals will slam them. We are indeed held to a higher standard.

[speedy]

Estrada was definitely sandbagged, no question. It's just that he should have seen that question coming and had a set answer for it. But yes, Schumer is a vicious little worm who, with all the rest of the Rats on the panel, was simply out to get Estrada.