[MLedeen]

they will not, they have been very strong. two nights ago they had three quorum calls between 1130 pm and 1 am, dragging the dems out of bed to the senate floor. meanwhile the republicans were there, 49 strong, missing only two one of whom was recovering from surgery and the other had a wife in the hospital...all these moans and groans about "weak-kneed" republicans are entirely misplaced. this is the first time in memory that the republicans have been united, tough and resolute, and we should applaud them, not piss and moan.

[hobbes1]

Heres what I see....optimistically.

The Rats that dont realize the tactics being used.

In all probability it looks something like this...

This is allowed to play out with Frist picking off enough Dems, or pushing it to a 24/7 filibuster, BUT the Press, and public damage is already done, right now there are numerous editorials decrying this action.


Secondly the Idea is to let the war overshadow it.

To Wit:The Democrats are trying to play the "The Republicans are shutting down the government Game"
but to no avail because of the war, while the intended target of this exercise, the Print media, and the
Hispanic media/population are paying increased attention....


The Print media will be useful when they attempt to place Janice Brown on SCOTUS, and the wedge
with Hispanic voters endagers an already paper thin minority voting bloc, the dems cant win without...


Then when a Scotus slot opens up, and it probably will between this Nov and Jan, Bush will probably nominate Justic Janice Rogers Brown, an African American Conservative Jurist, from California. If they go this route, closing in on an election year, the first shots fired by Frist, will be a thorough recounting of the Estrada episode....


(Alot of people including the Dem Caucus think it will be a Hispanic, but I think the Administration will go this way first....That's why this battle is being fought now...Estrada will get the bump up after Brown)

[hobbes1]

about "weak-kneed" republicans are entirely misplaced. this is the first time in memory that the republicans have been united, tough and resolute, and we should applaud them, not piss and moan.

Damn Straight. It is about time they started playing the Dems game.

[sunshine state]

I think that's the other part that some people are missing. We have all 51 Republican votes, but only 49 have been on the floor. Two of them haven't been there. We can't really call for a vote on this until the other two Republicans show up.

[cyncooper]

...all these moans and groans about "weak-kneed" republicans are entirely misplaced.

Thank YOU for adding your voice to this discussion.

If you have a way of informing Rush of the facts so he can set the record straight that might be helpful.

[Miss Marple]

Thank you! I was just going to chime in with the same statement!

Either Rush doesn't understand (unlikely) or he is helping with the confusion of the enemy.

Those who are criticizing should have been watching the Senate over the last few days. They are NOT giving in on this one, despite all the wishful thinking of democrats and their enablers.

[hchutch]

Amen to that.

Too bad we have these Suslov conservatives who don't seem satisifed with anything less than 100%. They make the job harder.