Here Senator Spineless, you'll need this:
Pretend I'm from Missouri. Show me...
Posted on 01/22/2005 11:16:08 PM PST by SmithL
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is trying out a tougher-guy routine with Democrats this year and hoping it pays off with a big increase in approval of judicial nominees.
The stakes are higher for at least a couple of reasons. President Bush in the near future may have to nominate a replacement for severely ill Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Also, Republicans presiding over the Senate, House and White House believe their November election wins were big and broad enough to be called a mandate for bolder changes.
So, Frist apparently feels he must succeed in speeding along many more judicial candidates to the finish line.
He has been saying publicly that he hopes Democratic senators will voluntarily limit debate and allow votes on all Bush nominees for judgeships. But, if they do not, he has threatened to try to force a rule change to make approvals quicker and easier.
There now are 55 Republican members in the 100-member Senate, and several of those vote against the conservative leadership at times. It takes 60 votes under current rules to limit debate to no more than 30 hours when a minority of senators is trying to stall a presidential nomination or legislation.
But Frist could try to counter stalling Democrats by seeking a ruling from the presiding officer of the Senate, who is a Republican, that indefinite blocking of direct floor votes on judicial candidates is an unconstitutional use of the role of advising and consenting on presidential nominations. Such a ruling, in theory, could be upheld by a simple majority of 51 senators.
However, these are uncharted waters.
Democrats, even if they could not stop or invalidate the rule change by any legal means, could tie up Senate business on other matters.
Opponents of changing the decades-old use of extended debate, called filibusters, note that Frist voted on March 8, 2000, to continue a filibuster stalling one of President Bill Clinton's judicial nominees.
Richard Paez was Clinton's nominee for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals covering some states in the West. Frist was one of 14 senators voting to continue debate on his nomination rather than vote on it. But 85 senators voted to end debate - well over the 60 needed. The next day, Paez was approved on a 59-39 vote.
Frist spokesman Nick Smith said his boss is not opposed to significant debate. He just wants to limit debate to no more than 30 hours after the leadership has filed a motion to set a deadline on debate.
The two major parties, of course, put different spins on the controversy.
Frist has called the Democrats' stalling tactics on Bush nominees unprecedented in terms of blocking candidates who were supported by a majority. He said 10 judicial nominees were blocked by filibusters, and another six were left hanging by threats to filibuster them.
He has said that he would seek a floor vote on a judicial nominee in February. If Democrats allow a direct vote, Frist said, he will not seek to change a key rule. If they don't, he implied, he may pursue a revised rule.
But Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., his party's senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said Democrats helped confirm 204 court nominees in Bush's first four-year term. He said that is more approvals than in the first term of President Reagan, in President George H.W. Bush's single term and more than in either of President Clinton's two terms.
So, Frist's present course could make him a prince to various conservative causes - or mostly a captain of a damaged ship dealing with many angry crew members and rarely able to reach an important destination.
Specter may cause some problems... but I doubt the party will endure what he is doing for long. I don't even believe there are enough vunerable senate seats to cause the Dems to be in the majority in two years time.
Maybe you haven't heard .. Specter has already double-crossed them .. I think Frist will do whatever it takes - and Specter will be left blowing in the wind.
If Frist is so purposeful, it might be best if he keep Specter from hiring from the Legal Department of the NAACP.
Frist was warned about Spectre and went ahead with him anyway. Frist has no one to blame but himself. I thought Trent Lott was bad , but Frist is lining up to make Lott look good. We work hard to send Republicans to Congress and they crap on us. Yes: I agree with another poster, if we cant get the peopole who we voted for to stand up for us we may as well just dump them and go with the opposition.
"Stranger things have happened when you're stupid enough to really p!ss off 75% of your base..."
Enough to cause them to for Democratic candidates? Please now you're exaggerating.
Santorum will have a tough time getting reelected here in PA, we had a golden opportunity to dump Specter and put in Toomey. Santorum came by and campaigned for Specter. If Casey is his opponent, I doubt Rick will pull it off.
I am from Missouri ...
Lest we forget ... Dubya too had a hand in supporting Arlen against Toomey.
Oh, there it is, the old "don't piss off your base or we will vote for a dem". If the base, which I assume you are speaking for, is so damned dumb and treacherous to do that, we are indeed lost.
Here Senator Spineless, you'll need this:
Pretend I'm from Missouri. Show me...
Senator Frist must get the Senate on the rules our Constitution calls for a stop the bs. America is at war with bloodthirsty vermin from hell. We don't have time for the senate's pussyfootin' around.
I don't think Frist has the...Uh...intestinal fortitude to do ANYTHING strong. And to think I thought Trent Lott was a weak-kneed, limp-wristed pussyfooter. Frist is a total joke as Senate Majority Leader - and he wants to run for president.
Isn't Frist out of the senate come the end of the 109th Congress?... Didn't he say something about limiting himself to two terms?..
Do it! Get it over with. You have a shining example of courage just up the street in our President. You have all of us that worked so hard to save this nation. You have all of the tools, DO IT!
The work that I did, and all of the other faithful patriots must not go unfulfilled. Take the country back for all the loyal patriots that worked so hard for the cause of constitutional liberty. Take it back for us! Don't forsake us.
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