Free Republic

Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin announced Thursday he will retire at the end of 2014. The chairman of the Armed Services Committee, first elected in 1978, is the longest-serving senator in Michigan history and will turn 80 before Election Day next year. In a statement, Levin said the decision not to seek another term was “extremely difficult.”

...From his perch as ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Mr. Levin has been running a one-man assault on civilian appointees fighting the war on terror. He currently has a "hold" on no fewer than four nominees selected by President Bush for key national security posts: Eric Edelman for Undersecretary of Defense of Policy, the No. 3 position at the Pentagon; Peter Flory, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy; Alice Fisher, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; and Benjamin Powell, general counsel in the office of new Director of National Intelligence. Keep...

amBushed (1000+ posts) Tue May-17-05 11:46 PM Original message I nominate Sen. Carl Levin to the top 10 conservative idiots list! A Democrat stupid enough to do the BushCo dirty work in attacking Galloway has to make that list. His questioning of Galloway was an embarrassment to real Democrats everywhere. Just why are the Democrats participating in this charade? Why didn't Levin toss Galloway a few "Gannonesque" questions that he could use to blast Busholini and the neo-fascists? Carl Levin, top 10 conservative idiot.

9-13-04 - Jim McDermott Mr. MCDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, in the one minute it will take to read these remarks, an Uzi can fire off 1,700 rounds. Uzis and similar assault weapons are about to be legal again, as if we don't have enough to worry about in America. For the past ten years, the assault weapons ban has protected Americans from these lethal, military-designed guns. These weapons are not used for hunting animals. They are used to kill human beings. The assault weapons ban has bipartisan support, both in Congress and across the nation. Seventy-five percent of Americans want to...

Campaign Seeks to Halt Gun Makers' Bankruptcy Ploy 5/28/2004 Feature Story by Dick Dahl Oakland plaintiffs attorney Richard R. Ruggieri had never handled a case involving guns until Brandon Maxfield came along. Maxfield was seven years old when he was left paraplegic by the inadvertent discharge of a Bryco Model 38 .380-caliber handgun by a 20-year-old family friend who didn't know the gun was loaded. When Ruggieri examined the facts surrounding the incident he became convinced that the gun was poorly and dangerously designed, so he took the case as a product-liability suit he thought he and the Maxfield family...

Senate committee again delays Saad's nomination By DEE-ANN DURBIN The Associated Press 10/30/2003, 1:52 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch delayed a vote on a Michigan judge for the fifth time Thursday, blaming "very difficult negotiations" with Democrats who are angry about the treatment of previous judicial nominees. Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Henry Saad has been waiting since July for the committee to vote on his nomination to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Despite "continuous bludgeoning" from Republicans who are pushing for a vote on Saad, Hatch said Thursday he is determined...

Martin Sheen endorses Levin in U.S. Senate race The Associated Press 10/15/02 5:04 PM LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Actor Martin Sheen is endorsing Democratic U.S. Sen. Carl Levin in Michigan's U.S. Senate race. Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlet on TV's "The West Wing," appears in a video on Levin's Web page. Sheen mentions Levin's longtime support for tougher corporate accountability standards, campaign finance reform and arms control. "Since arriving in the Senate, Carl Levin has earned the respect of his colleagues and the people of Michigan for his hard work and his high standard of personal integrity," Sheen says...

Levin brothers in the forefront of congressional debate on Iraq By JIM ABRAMS The Associated Press 10/9/02 8:02 AM WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Michigan brothers, a senator and a representative, are taking a lead in urging Congress to think twice before approving a go-it-alone attack on Iraq. "We both feel deeply about this," said Rep. Sander Levin, the older brother of Sen. Carl Levin. "We spent a lot of time talking quietly about this, helping inform each other." In the end the two Democrats, whose state is home to a large ethnic Arab community, reached a similar conclusion: the United...

Terrorism views colored by candidates' backgrounds By DEE-ANN DURBIN The Associated Press 8/18/02 8:52 AM LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Raczkowski is a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves who has spent a decade rising through the military ranks. His Democratic opponent, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, was never in the military but has served in Washington on the Senate Armed Services Committee since 1979, when Raczkowski was 11 years old. With their very different backgrounds, the candidates seldom see eye-to-ey on how to combat terrorism and secure Michigan's safety, or when action should be taken against...