LIVE THREAD: Estrada Filibuster

http://freerepublic.com ^ | March 3, 2003

[RobFromGa]

arkin (D-IA) up.

[OXENinFLA]

THere BACK... Tom Harkin UP.

[nicmarlo]

Sen. Hatch says as far as he knows, none of the dems who claimed they lacked information submitted even one question.

LOL...that's rich!

[Jrabbit]

I thought the 2nd letter was from the House. 50 signatures.

[San Jacinto]

I have called Frist's office each weekday now for just over a week [202-224-3344]. Each time I called, the phone was answered promptly and I spoke to a live person. (The one exception was the day last week when "all circuits were busy.")

Today, I told the young gentleman on the phone that a lot of people following this issue were growing anxious for it to be brought to a head. I told him that I understood that some Senators were in favor of postponing the cloture vote until enough Dems could be peeled off to actually win cloture. These Senators fear that if you force a vote too early on cloture, then the Dems who vote against cloture will be "cemented in" to that position and then they can't be turned later.

I told Frist's office that the issue was no longer whether Estrada was a conservative, but the issue now involved the very legitimacy of the Bush Presidency. In other words, in the minds of the Leahys and clintons of the world, Bush was never really elected and thus had no right to make appointments except upon the express consent of the liberal Democrats. According to this faction, 41 Senators now have absolute veto power over all judgeship appointments.

This is such a pressing issue of Constitutional proportions that it must be viewed as a war between those who would uphold the Constitution versus those who refuse to recognize the duly elected President. The filibuster must be pushed to 24/7 and kept going until they break -- a week, a month, or three months if necessary.

Frist's aide told me that today's debate would show a new direction from the Republican side. I don't know what he meant, but I am waiting to find out.

[RobFromGa]

Harkin:

I am very boring. I live in Iowa. I am a partisan Democratic hack. I will do everything that my leaders tell me.

"My friend from Utah" is "outrageous".

[fml]

is Harkin trying to make the "two wrongs make a right" argument.

[RobFromGa]

Excellent reporting:

Frist's aide told me that today's debate would show a new direction from the Republican side. I don't know what he meant, but I am waiting to find out.

Looking forward to hearing what they are up to.

[Mo1]

Frist's aide told me that today's debate would show a new direction from the Republican side. I don't know what he meant, but I am waiting to find out.

That sounds interesting .. thanks for the update

[RobFromGa]

Harkin:

This is not anti-Hispanic. We love the little brown b@stards. But we prefer the liberal ones. We hate all conservatives. Bush hasn't picked a single Hispanic appointee from New Jersey.. We love them more than they do.

[TLBSHOW]

A New direction sounds good. Bring in the cots?

[1Old Pro]

but I can't understand where the Dems are going with that tack..other than straight to hell...

We're given an issue on a silver platter and Frist is nowhere to be found. They should be playing this thing up big time.

[GOPrincess]

Outstanding job on the phone call, and interesting reporting on what the aide said. Thanks much on both counts.

Emailed Frist last night along the same lines, told him how important it is to all Republicans that this issue not just "fade away," giving the Democratic Party un-Constitutional control over all the President's judicial nominees.

[Mo1]

Harkin sounds like he's stalling for time

Now he's talking about the War on Iraq

[RobFromGa]

Harkin:

Now accusing Bush of rush to war on Iraq. Containment has worked.

[RobFromGa]

[CathyRyan]

Harkin is a human shield

[Sacajaweau]

Script written by Hillary. She just said almost the same thing on her little visit to a munitions center in NYS.

[estrogen]

Interesting from National Reveiw article

It’s a pity, come to think of it, that there is only one Jesse Helms around; quite a few of his colleagues could use a spine transplant. The Senate judiciary committee — Orrin Hatch, chairman — held a friendly hearing a few weeks ago for Bonnie Campbell, a Clinton nominee for the eighth circuit court of appeals. Campbell was Iowa’s attorney general and director of Clinton’s 1992 campaign in the state. After losing a gubernatorial bid in 1994, she was appointed head of the Justice Department office in charge of administering the Violence against Women Act and peddling phony statistics about domestic abuse. You don’t need to be a law professor to know what kind of a judge she would be, and that’s reason enough in our view to reject her.

But even if we’re wrong — as most Republican senators, alas, think — there is evidence that she lacks a judicial temperament as well as constitutionalist convictions. During her 1994 run, she had this to say before the state teachers’ union about Christian conservatives: “I hate to call them Christian because I am Christian, and I hate to call them religious, because they’re not. . . . These are the people that get their orders from God, which is funny because I get contrary orders from God — maybe there’s more than one God.” Shame on Charles Grassley, Iowa’s Republican senator, for supporting Campbell. If Republicans can’t rouse themselves to oppose her lifetime appointment based on her views, they should at least be concerned that she appears to hear voices

Harkin talking about republicans stalling Bonnie Campbell nomination...this from the National Review at that time

[justshe]

Thanks, Rob. Perhaps I only read about the Gonzales' letter in the York story at National Review A New Move on Estrada.

This tells about the letter sent last Thursday to all 100 Senators.