ESTRADA Live Thread- 3/06/03

self | 3/6/03 | RobFromGa

[RobFromGa]

Starting on C-SPAN2 at 9:30 am.

Please, no HUGE graphics!

Follow along on C-SPAN!

C-SPAN

[hobbes1]

That's right. And the next round of complaints from our side will be....

They are denying the man a chance to have a Vote on the Floor.

[killbuckner]

If they go the course they are- and Estrada gets nominated with 20% of the democrats voting for him he would be awfully hard to stop if he were ever nominated to the supreme court. By then he would have 2 years of appellate judging- giving him a paper trail and proving that he isn't an ideologue. If they get him in through the 24/7 "technicality" that sort of sits over him as a judge. Its better to get him in with 60 votes. If that turns out not to be possible shove him down the dems throats with 24/7 but that certainly should be plan B.

[steveegg]

I've often thought a DEPMA list should be part of the FR profile package.

"Future feature, John?"™ ping

[MeekOneGOP]

The Dirty 'RATS !

[IrishRainy]

Tell her office that she agreed to support Presidential judicial nominations in her campaign and now she is a LIAR!!!!

So I wonder who "owns" her now? Wasn't her election really, really close, but she suddenly ended up winning (much like the S. Dakota one)? Maybe we should ask who's pulling her strings when we call her office.

If she says she didn't have enough info, remind her that she obviously submitted no further questions either.

I guess we need a bit more "info" from her, too.

[VRWC_minion]

Did it ever occur to you that the R's want the rats to have to block Estrada ? You need to sharpen your political acumen.

Estrada as well as the entire judge issue is a tool, a wedge in which the R's are using to split the rats. If it was too easy to get him through he wouldn't be an effective wedge.

You need to learn that on the one hand your right about maintaining the will and ability to use superior force and on the other the use of lesser weapons can achieve the same immediate results while at the same time achieving bigger picture results.

It really is frustrating reading the comments of people who has all the strategic thinking ability of a 2 year old child whos total pursuasive arsenal is holding his breath and throwing a tantrum.

[PhiKapMom]

I love it -- DEPMA list!

I am sitting here cracking up at the new acronym!

[hobbes1]

It really is frustrating reading the comments of people who has all the strategic thinking ability of a 2 year old child whos total pursuasive arsenal is holding his breath and throwing a tantrum.

It was put best (re:TLBSHOW) when someone said, in the great Chess/Checkers debate TLB is playing tiddlywinks...

[steveegg]

How could I have forgotten to ping the originators?

[RobFromGa]

You can have 55% of the royalties on use of the term, I'll take 44%. LOL!

[Howlin]

The worst thing about little Mary is how quickly she was ready to blame the "Latinos" on her OWN re-election committee for putting out erroneous ad supporting Estrada.

I hope they don't forget.

[deport]

It really is frustrating reading the comments of people who has all the strategic thinking ability of a 2 year old child whos total pursuasive arsenal is holding his breath and throwing a tantrum.

---

LOL. Well don't get too frustrated as that is what you are dealing with some of the time around here, imo. HAYSEEDS or TURNIPS

[Otta B Sleepin]

Now is the time to contact your democrat senators to register your complaints. Let them know that they will pay a political price for this.

Done.

[PhiKapMom]

I say 50/50 -- I am not greedy! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TLBSHOW]

Did it ever occur to you that the R's want the rats to have to block Estrada ?

(That is why Republicans must get him confirmed. If they fail, they haven't a prayer of getting any conservative nominee approved. They might as well pack it in.)


read this...its the truth because is all fine and dandy that they vote against him but it does no good if no one know......

Miguel who?

Posted: March 6, 2003



Today, there is a showdown of monumental proportions taking place in the United States Senate.

Unfortunately, most Americans are completely unaware this showdown is taking place. It is the vote to end the four-week filibuster that has prevented a confirmation vote on Miguel Estrada, the man President Bush nominated for the D.C. Court of Appeals.

If you go out on the street and ask the first dozen people you meet, "Who is Miguel Estrada?" you will be hard-pressed to find one or two people who can answer that question.

Why?

The news has been consumed by the war against terrorism, the possibility of the invasion of Iraq, the threat posed by North Korea and the state of the economy. It takes a mighty big story to break into that foursome and the sad truth is the new Republican Senate leaders have not been willing to do what it takes to make the Estrada filibuster a newsworthy event.

It is important to understand that the old-fashioned filibuster of the '50s and '60s went by the boards when the rule to invoke cloture – the process of ending debate – was changed in 1975, from requiring a vote of two-thirds of those present, to a vote of three-fifths of all senators.

In the old days, if the Senate was held in session around the clock, the party wishing to block a vote had to be present because 51 senators are necessary to constitute a quorum. However, now that three-fifths of all 100 senators (60) must give their approval to end debate, it is no longer necessary for those wishing to hold up a vote to even be present.

Nobody said that breaking this filibuster would be easy. The way Senate rules are written, it is next to impossible to break one without some backroom deals – and Democrat leaders are not willing to deal.

Democrats view Republicans as pushovers – and why not? While Democrats know how to play hardball, Republicans are infected with terminal niceness. Think about it. In the last half century, in the over 12 years that Republicans have controlled the Senate, they haven't gone to the mat on anything. They simply don't know how to fight from the leadership position.

If Republicans had been in control of the Senate when Bush 41 nominated Clarence Thomas, he likely never would have made it to the Supreme Court!

It is little wonder that the radical Democrat leaders in the Senate simply have decided that they are not going to let this president put conservatives on the bench. They aren't about to budge! Why should they when only a few political activists on each side are even paying attention?

Unfortunately, prior to today's cloture vote, Republican leaders ran up the white flag of surrender by moving off their position of forcing the Democrats to debate Estrada – and only Estrada – until the Dems were willing to give in and allow this man a vote.

However, the effort to force Democrats to debate Estrada was half-hearted at best. The Senate's new majority leader, Bill Frist, was unwilling to keep the Senate in session 24-7 and to order the sergeant-at-arms to round up absent senators. He even let them out the weekend before the Presidents' Day recess, after threatening to keep the Senate in session. He not only appeared weak, he lost valuable time.

Senate leaders then called on conservative groups to pound senators in swing states. In short, Frist and his lieutenants were asking conservative activists to do the heavy lifting they were unwilling to do themselves.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for Saddam Hussein and Frist knows – and Democrats know – once the bombs start falling in Iraq, he no longer will be able to get the public's attention with Estrada, even by having his party answer quorum calls in their pajamas in the middle of the night. He has lost that opportunity.

If today's cloture vote fails, Frist will go on to other matters, he now deems more pressing. Meanwhile, he will have put those Democrats still in the undecided column "on record," presumably so conservative activists can go out and work them over for him while he and his buddies continue to "play nice" with the obstructionists.

Candidates for the federal bench do not get any more attractive than Miguel Estrada. He is a Hispanic with an impressive, squeaky-clean record, who has the backing of five former solicitors general from both political parties and is rated "well qualified" by the American Bar Association.

He is a candidate that every honest Democrat would have to love. That is why Republicans must get him confirmed. If they fail, they haven't a prayer of getting any conservative nominee approved. They might as well pack it in.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31374

[Political Junkie Too]

Lieberman voted no

So, the first Jewish candidate voted to block the first Hispanic candidate? I guess that running on being the first of something is no longer an option.

-PJ

[mabelkitty]

We need Miss Marple to write us a song.

[Political Junkie Too]

Graham punted and now he can say as a Presidential candidate that he would have voted to invoke cloture if that positions suits him!

And people can say that Graham doesn't have the fortitude to make the tough decisions.

-PJ

[Mo1]

They are denying the man a chance to have a Vote on the Floor.

Get the votes on the record .. if they want to vote no .. FINE .. PUT IT ON RECORD!!!

[Mo1]

And people can say that Graham doesn't have the fortitude to make the tough decisions.

Good Point