Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Democrats flaunt constitution and ignore their own precedent (RNC Research)
Republican National Committee ^ | 27 February 2003 | RNC Research

Posted on 02/27/2003 2:39:40 PM PST by PhiKapMom

Democrats flaunt constitution and ignore their own precedent

Democrats, Fearful Of Majority Rule, Filibuster Estrada Nomination

________________________________________________________

PRESIDENT BUSH ON THE DEMOCRAT'S OBSTRUCTION: "The Senators Are Applying A Double Standard . . . By Requiring [Estrada] To Answer Questions That Other Judicial Nominees . . . Have Not Been Forced To Answer. And That Is Not Right And That Is Not Fair. By Blocking A Vote On Miguel Estrada, Some Democrats In The Senate Are Flaunting The Intention Of The United States' Constitution. And The Tradition Of The United States Senate Itself. Alexander Hamilton WroteThat The Purpose Of The Senate Confirmation Was To Prevent The Appointment Of Unfit Characters. No One Can Possibly Call Miguel Estrada 'Unfit.'" (President George W. Bush, Remarks At Latino Coalition Meeting, 2/26/03)

DEMOCRATS ARE FILIBUSTERING
THE ESTRADA NOMINATION

"Democrats Are Effectively Filibustering Estrada's Nomination . . . ." ("Senate Returns To Floor Fight Over Estrada Nomination," National Journal, 2/24/03)

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) Declared "[W]e're Not Going To Allow An Up Or Down Vote On Miguel Estrada." (Jesse J. Holland, "Democrats Say They Have Enough Votes To Filibuster Estrada Vote," The Associated Press, 2/12/03)

Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) Doesn't "[B]elieve That It Is In The Senate's Best Interest To Allow This Confirmation To Go Forward . . . ." (Jesse J. Holland, "Democrats Say They Have Enough Votes To Filibuster Estrada Vote," The Associated Press, 2/12/03)

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Will Support A Filibuster Even Though Her Spanish Language Radio Campaign Ads "During The 2002 Election Proclaimed She Supported Estrada's Nomination." (Jan Crawford Greenburg, "Democrats Vow Senate Filibuster To Bar Judicial Nominee," Chicago Tribune, 2/12/03)

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) Is Angry Over Estrada Nomination And Pledged To Fight. "'If we have to exercise all our rights in order to protect them, so be it,' Kennedy said." (Jennifer A. Dlouhy, "No Letup In Judiciary Wars As Party-Line Vote Advances Disputed Estrada Nomination," Congressional Quarterly Weekly, 2/1/03)

DEMOCRAT LEADERSHIP TO AVOID MAJORITY RULE AT ALL
COSTS: ESTRADA WOULD BE CONFIRMED BY DEMOCRATS
AND REPUBLICANS IF FLOOR VOTE PERMITTED

AtLeast 54 Senators Would Vote To Approve Estrada. FloridaSenator Bill "Nelson became the fourth Senate Democrat to say he would not support a filibuster to prevent a vote. The other three are John Breaux of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Zell Miller of Georgia. Breaux and Ben Nelson also plan to vote for Estrada's confirmation." (Frank Davies, "Nelson To Vote For Bush Nominee," The Miami Herald, 2/26/03)

EDITORIALS ACROSS THE NATION CONDEMN
THE DEMOCRAT FILIBUSTER

The Washington Post Calls On Democrats "To Stop These Games And Vote." "Because of a Democratic filibuster, [the Senate] spent much of the week debating Mr. Estrada, and . . . Democrats are holding together to prevent the full senate from acting. The arguments against Mr. Estrada's confirmation range from the unpersuasive to the offensive. . . . It's long past time to stop these games and vote." (Editorial, "Just Vote," The Washington Post, 2/18/03)

Democrats' Filibuster And "Vicious Attacks" Takes Conflict To "New Level." "That Democrats would oppose a conservative nominee is not surprising. . . . But the Senate filibuster carries such conflicts to a new level. Even some Democrats are appalled at their fellow Democrats' vicious attacks on a highly qualified and respected candidate." (Editorial, "Dems Handle Judicial Nomination Unfairly," Lancaster New Era, 2/21/03)

The Democrat Strategy Is An "Abuse." "Considering the issues currently confronting Washington, the judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada does not rise above partisan wrangling. To block a vote on his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is an abuse of the filibuster." (Editorial, "End Filibuster, Put Court Nominee To Vote," Albuquerque Journal, 2/23/03)

"The Filibuster Should End." "The Democrats should consider that the information they have in hand is all they will get and allow, even encourage, a vote. . . . [T]he filibuster should end this week with the congressional recess." (Editorial, "Voting On Estrada," Bangor Daily News, 2/19/03)

The Filibuster "Ought To Be Abandoned." "The Democrats' tactic employed last week of filibustering the nomination of Miguel A. Estrada . . . is an anything-goes strategy that ought to be abandoned." (Editorial, "Advice And Filibuster," The [Riverside, CA] Press-Enterprise, 2/18/03)

The Filibuster Is "Outrageous." "For Senate Democrats to talk down [Estrada's] nomination is not just embarrassing, but outrageous." (Editorial, "Democrats' Opposition To Estrada Is Outrageous," Providence Journal-Bulletin, 2/18/03)

"It's Time To Vote." "The time is past for the U.S. Senate to talk about Miguel Estrada's nomination to the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit. It's time to vote." (Editorial, "Rush To Judgment," The Dallas Morning News, 2/17/03)

Estrada "Deserves A Vote." "His opponents can vote against him if they wish. But this able lawyer who has Mr. Bush's confidence deserves a vote by the full Senate." (Editorial, "Give Mr. Estrada A Vote," The Hartford Courant, 2/14/03)

The Legal System "Must Not Be Held Hostage." "Our legal system cannot and must not be held hostage to political nitpicking. Estrada deserves to be the first Hispanic on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia . . . ." (Editorial, "Wheels Of Justice Caught In Washington Gridlock, Again," Chicago Sun-Times, 2/14/03)

Democrats Are "Irresponsible." It's irresponsible, this hysteria being acted out to keep Estrada from serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. But Democratic senators do have their excuses, each more petty than the next." (Editorial, "Democrats Turn Ugly On Estrada," Rocky Mountain News, 2/14/03)

It's Time Democrats "Got On With It." "He deserves a vote by the whole Senate which, we would think, given the temper of the times, has other more pressing work at hand. It's time they got on with it." (Editorial, "The Savaging Of Miguel Estrada," The [Charleston, SC] Post And Courier, 2/14/03)

IN THE PAST, SENATE DEMOCRATS OPPOSED
FILIBUSTERING JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Said He Would Fight Any Filibuster. "I would object and fight against any filibuster on a judge, whether it is somebody I opposed or supported . . . ." (Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressional Record, 6/18/98)

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Called Filibustering Judicial Nominations "Improper." "[E]arlier this year . . . I noted how improper it would be to filibuster a judicial nomination." (Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressional Record, 10/14/98)

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) Claimed Filibustering Nominations Out Of The Committee Process Was "Blackmail." "We had nominations that were filibustered. This was almost unheard of in our past. . . . It is used, Mr. President, as blackmail for one Senator to get his or her way on something that they could not rightfully win through the normal processes. (Senator Tom Harkin, Congressional Record, 1/4/95)

IN THE PAST, SENATE DEMOCRATS SUPPORTED
FLOOR VOTES FOR JUDICAL NOMINEES

In 1997, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Said Senate Should "[A]ccept Our Responsibility And Vote People Up Or Vote Them Down. . . . If We Want To Vote Against Them, Vote Against Them." (Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressional Record, 10/22/97)

In 1997, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) Said "It Is Not . . . Appropriate Not To Have Hearings On [Judicial Nominees], Not To Bring Them To The Floor And Not To Allow A Vote . . . ." (Senator Joe Biden, Congressional Record, 3/19/97)

In 1997, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Said The Senate Should Not"[O]bstruct The Process And Prevent Numbers Of Highly Qualified Nominees From Even Being Given The Opportunity For A Vote On The Senate Floor." (Senator Barbara Boxer, Congressional Record, 5/14/97)

In 1998, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) Said "We Owe It To Americans Across The Country To Give These Nominees A Vote. If Our Republican Colleagues Don't Like Them, Vote Against Them. But Give Them A Vote." (Senator Ted Kennedy, Congressional Record, 2/3/98)

In 1998, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) Demanded "Vote The Person Up Or Down." (Senator Richard Durbin, Congressional Record, 9/28/98)

In 1999, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) Said "An Up-Or-Down Vote, That Is All We Ask . . . ." (Senator Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, 10/5/99)

In 1999, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Said "It Is Our Job To Confirm These Judges. If We Don't Like Them, We Can Vote Against Them." (Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congressional Record, 9/16/99)

In 2000, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Said "[W]e Are Charged With Voting On The Nominees. The Constitution Does Not Say If The Congress Is Controlled By A Different Party Than The President There Shall Be No Judges Chosen." (Senator Chuck Schumer, Congressional Record, 3/7/00)

In 2000, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) Urged "[T]he Republican Leadership To Take The Steps Necessary To Allow The Full Senate To Vote Up Or Down On These Important Nominations." (Senator Tom Harkin, Congressional Record, 9/11/00)

In 2001, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) Declared "[W]e Should Have Up-Or-Down Votes In The Committee And On The Floor." (CNN's "Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields," 6/9/01)

In 2001, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) Said "My Expectation Is That We're Not Going To Hold Up Judicial Nominations. . . . You Will Not See Us Do What Was Done To Us In Recent Years In The Senate With Judicial Nominations." (Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume," 6/4/01)


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: anticonstitution; democrats; hypocrites; liars; obstructionist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last
To: drjimmy
Somebody should flaunt a dictionary in front of the RNC so they will know the difference between flaunt and flout.

Beat me to it! At least they weren't talking about "viscous lies".
41 posted on 02/27/2003 4:13:35 PM PST by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Wait4Truth
DISPICABLE...This is a death match!

I think he probably used "DESPICABLE".
42 posted on 02/27/2003 4:16:50 PM PST by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
Thanks for the post! I wish there was something we could do to get the media to report the story.

Also, I think we should threaten vacation boycotts against states with Dem senators supporting this filibuster - and write editorials to their local newspapers explaining our intentions. I'll try to get together a list of such states, but South Dakota comes to mind, as well as the home of the Big Easy, which is looking forward to another Mardi Gras.
43 posted on 02/27/2003 5:11:56 PM PST by Puddleglum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cicero
Flout or flaunt...

They are doing it "irregardless" of the word you use.

HAHAHAHAHA

44 posted on 02/27/2003 5:51:22 PM PST by gov_bean_ counter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
Democrats flaunt constitution

Thanks for the ping over and as I recall I said this back on the first few days on this issue. With links and truth about the rats and just what they are doing,.
45 posted on 02/27/2003 6:06:36 PM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: 69ConvertibleFirebird
The Senate, the President, and Judges

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/843984/posts?page=16
46 posted on 02/27/2003 6:39:44 PM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
Democrats flaunt constitution and ignore their own precedent

What a weird coincidence, so do the republicans!

47 posted on 02/27/2003 7:03:06 PM PST by thepitts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
Thanks for the ping. Good thread.
48 posted on 02/27/2003 7:08:52 PM PST by hoosiermama (Prayers for all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thepitts
Just figures -- FR is really slow today, it took me forever to get this up, and some pipsqueak from RATS.com comes on here with idiotic comments!
49 posted on 02/27/2003 7:25:04 PM PST by PhiKapMom (Bush/Cheney 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Puddleglum
That's a great idea -- boycott STates with Senators who filibuster!
50 posted on 02/27/2003 7:30:11 PM PST by PhiKapMom (Bush/Cheney 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Puddleglum
Also, I think we should threaten vacation boycotts against states with Dem senators supporting this filibuster - and write editorials to their local newspapers explaining our intentions

Not a bad idea .. I was going to made plans for my family to head down to the New Jersey Shore this summer ... but I can rearrange those plans a bit

51 posted on 02/27/2003 7:46:50 PM PST by Mo1 (DC Chapter .. Patriots Rally for America IV .. on Saturday, March 1st)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
I could just burst, bust, blow up, whatever the proper term is!! These lousy RATS make me so angry. They have no right to do this under the constitution, and yet they just keep getting away with it!

Off with their heads!!!!!! GRRRRRR!!!!
(of course the above is just a figure of speech! Disclaimers are our friends!)
52 posted on 02/27/2003 7:51:11 PM PST by ladyinred
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ladyinred
I second everything you had to say! I called Corzine's office today and by the time I got off the phone I was near shouting! Their aides are so condenscending compared to Republicans!

53 posted on 02/27/2003 8:07:50 PM PST by PhiKapMom (Bush/Cheney 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
"Because of a Democratic filibuster, [the Senate] spent much of the week debating Mr. Estrada, and . . . Democrats are holding together to prevent the full senate from acting. The arguments against Mr. Estrada's confirmation range from the unpersuasive to the offensive. . . . It's long past time to stop these games and vote."

Hypocrites

54 posted on 02/27/2003 8:38:37 PM PST by Victoria Delsoul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
Please don't flaut your ignorance.
55 posted on 02/27/2003 8:56:07 PM PST by LanaTurnerOverdrive
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: PhiKapMom
My dictionary has this for flaunt: to treat contemptuously

That's because your dictionary is following the structural linguist heresy about language: whatever is, is right. The way the dictionary should have presented what you did above:
flaunt: "to display ostentatiously or impudently "; but sometimes used, even by writers who should know better (see Oscar Lewis) as an illiterate substitution for "flout," which means "to treat with contemptuous disregard": Such writers flaunt their lapses in discrimination with a word choice that flouts the English language.

56 posted on 02/27/2003 9:09:29 PM PST by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Bahbah; All
Howdy ! Yeah, yesterday was a real pain in the neck all day. FR server seems to be working great this morning. I guess John got the 'bugs' worked out.

Does anyone know what the problem was? Was there a post anywhere regarding that ? ...

57 posted on 02/28/2003 3:00:08 AM PST by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye SADdam. Prepare to meet your buddy Stalin in Hades!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: MeeknMing
I'm not sure what the problem was but I do know this.

Whoever perpetrated this B.S. and C.F. needs to have their you-know-whats thrown in the gulag.

If I'm not mistaken, it's against the law to initiate a "Denial of Service" attack on a web sever.

We'll see what happens.

58 posted on 02/28/2003 3:09:23 AM PST by E.G.C.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: E.G.C.
I'm not technically knowledgeable. I know what BS is, but not CF.

Sounds like you are saying it was possibly an attack by a hacker as sabotage ? ...

59 posted on 02/28/2003 4:16:50 AM PST by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye SADdam. Prepare to meet your buddy Stalin in Hades!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: MeeknMing
Well, it was slow too here in Southwest Oklahoma. In fact there were even some cases where I couldn't get the page to open.

Same thing with Yahoo alternate FR page.

And yet, all of the other web sites I bookmarked were accessable.

This sounds to me like someone or some individual(s) did this because they didn't like what we were doing politically.

This seems to be the consnesus of some of the freepers here too.

Something is up and I've a feeling someone(s) is going to end up in the gulag as a result.

60 posted on 02/28/2003 4:44:44 AM PST by E.G.C.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson