Posted on 11/04/2002 2:58:44 PM PST by Always Right
Just heard this guy on MSNBS. He says he is a strict constructionists and is against judicial activism and could support Bush's judicial appointments. Democrats will have a cow.
Not really. Strict Constructionist is a key word a liberal would not use. Being against judicial activism is also says alot. Barkley does not like the way the Dems are handling Bush's nomination and said he could support them. The guy is an independent, but on intrepreting the Constitution I like him better than many Republicans in the Senate. And remember, this guy has no political reasons to align right now. The longer he would wait, the higher the bidding would go. I really liked what he said, and don't see any reason to be skeptical.
I doubt if he is a Bible toter, but Liberals will hate this guy quickly. This is really huge news and no one seems to get it, or are too skeptical to believe it. If Bush can push many of his nominations through, that would be a huge dagger in the heart of liberalism and their judicial activism.
Jesse The Body is a hothead, and when he's pi**ed, he makes it known in many ways.
Now, today's appointment, as the pundits say, may be Jesse's way of showing his disapproval with today's Mondale/Coleman debate having excluding the Independent candidate; my guess, however (judging by the look on his face last Tuesday) is that he's exacting revenge for having been booed to the point of walking out of the Democrat-Party staged Wellstone "memorial."
Because if Talent wins there will be one more defection. They need Barkley to stop that.
The guys an independent. He has already talked to Trent Lott. I see the guy as closer to a Libertarian than an outright Liberal like Jeffords.
He can't. If the Republican lead in January is going to be 1, then Daschle will offer Chaffee the moon. If it's going to be larger, they won't bother, or he won't take it. Barkley is irrelevant to those calculations, because he won't be there in January. He's a place-holder for 4-6 weeks, and his positions are utterly and completely irrelevant.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/11/04/politics1832EST0735.DTLDean Barkley was a founder of Ventura's Independence Party
ASHLEY H. GRANT, Associated Press Writer(11-04) 15:45 PST (AP) --
With BC-Minnesota Senate
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- The nation's newest senator ran Jesse Ventura's gubernatorial campaign while managing a car wash -- a cigar-chomping, plain-speaking type who schmoozes reporters as much as the governor disparages them.
In Dean Barkley's early third-party Senate runs, he hauled fake donkeys and elephants in cages to ridicule the big parties.
On Monday, after Ventura unexpectedly appointed Barkley to Minnesota's vacant Senate seat, the man credited with founding the state's third-party movement put his feet up on his desk and took calls from Senate power brokers.
First was Sen. Jim Jeffords, the Vermont independent who usually sides with Democrats, tilting the chamber their way.
"What do you think is going to be coming my way in the next week? What should I be looking out for?" Barkley said he asked the senator, getting the reply: "Don't commit to anything."
Twenty minutes later, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., called Barkley's cell phone. Lott did most of the talking and raised the issue of bottled-up judicial appointments, and the two agreed to meet.
Barkley was caught off-guard by Ventura's choice, despite their close ties; Ventura at one point said he might appoint an average citizen, even mentioning the man who picks up his garbage.
Learning he got the job an hour before it was announced, Barkley quickly changed from jeans and a sweatshirt into a suit and hustled to the Capitol.
"I heard it on the radio that he was going to do it and I wondered who the hell it was going to be," Barkley said.
It's clear Barkley, 52, sees himself as a big player, no matter how brief his stay turns out to be. "I plan on using this power the best that I can to get the best deal I can for the state," he said.
Barkley is filling the seat left vacant by the Oct. 25 death of Sen. Paul Wellstone. The Democratic party picked former vice-president Walter Mondale to run against Republican Norm Coleman.
Amiable and knowledgeable, Barkley is regularly seen around the Capitol chomping an unlit cigar, visiting with whomever cares to talk. He understands politics and policy, but realizes he has a lot to learn about his new job.
"I've only been at this now for a couple of minutes," he said.
A suburban lawyer, he is a founder of Ventura's Independence Party, which grew out of the Reform Party founded by Texas billionaire Ross Perot. Before that, he was a Democrat, but said he got fed up with big money running the party.
An unsuccessful 1992 bid for Congress was his first run for office. In 1994 and 1996, he ran for Senate and won enough votes to catapult the then-Reform Party to major party status in Minnesota.
He persuaded Ventura to run for governor in 1998 and moonlighted as chairman of the former wrestler's campaign while managing a car wash. Ventura later appointed Barkley as director of Minnesota Planning, the state agency in charge of long-range policy.
Ventura and Barkley are similar in many ways. Both speak freely and consider themselves socially liberal and fiscally conservative. But Barkley is not as confrontational as Ventura; he likes to work behind the scenes while Ventura craves the spotlight.
The two got to know each other well when Barkley was a regular guest on Ventura's talk radio show. On the air, Ventura twisted street-gang names, refering to the major parties as Rebloodicans and Democrips.
"He talked like us," Barkley said.
Yes, but for how long would he be in office?
Find me ONE that IS a republican.
No evidence, that I'm aware of.
Ron Paul, of course.... but other than him.
Wonderful!
So Talent wins and we have +2 on Court nominees?
What about votes going to the floor and such? Can the GOP put in a new Majority Leader or use some other procedural method to thwart Daschle in the lame duck session?
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