Barf Alert, please.
-Dan
Posted on 04/16/2005 10:36:56 PM PDT by SmithL
Some Senate Republicans are wisely beginning to cool on the "nuclear option" to end the Democrats' filibuster of a handful of President Bush's judicial nominees.
The option is, by a simple-majority procedural vote, to ban judicial filibusters. It's called "nuclear" because it would vaporize a longstanding Senate prerogative - unlimited debate - and the fallout could be horrendous.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada has threatened to thoroughly gum up the workings of the Senate, which he can easily do, if the Republicans go ahead with the change.
It takes a supermajority of 60 votes to end a filibuster, and Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, with 55 GOP senators, is tantalizingly close to having a free hand to approve nominations. But he may not have the votes to enact the nuclear option because a number of Republicans believe there are good reasons to stick with the status quo.
Filibusters are commonly used to block legislation. Southern Democrats used it for years to hold up civil-rights legislation. Judicial filibusters, while not unprecedented, were rare - until George W. Bush took the White House and Republicans the Senate.
Even so, Bush has an impressive record on getting his nominees on the bench. The Senate has approved 205 of his district and appellate nominees, the latest a 95-0 vote Monday on a federal district judge for New York.
Of Bush's 52 appeals-court nominees, 34 have been confirmed, but the Democrats are balking at 10. And they say they will filibuster those 10 until the nominations are withdrawn. It is not an idle threat. They held up Miguel Estrada's appellate nomination for 28 months until Estrada withdrew in disgust.
Frist is seeking a compromise, and the Democrats would do well to listen not just for their own sake but the sake of the Senate.
The filibuster is one tool for the minority to protect itself from the tyranny of the majority. It is also a mechanism to stop the Senate from acting in haste.
Republicans should keep in mind that one day they could again be the minority. It could happen. The Senate has changed hands three times in the last 15 years.
This particular standoff should not go nuclear.
-Dan
The Republicans would never hold up this many nominees, and if they did the rats would change the rules in a blink of the eye.
The only reason the left is blocking the judicial vote is to deny Religious freedom. To the democrats, only Satanists and sinners are worthy of the bench. The Bush nominees have moral values, and morality will not be tolerated in the U.S.S.A.
This editorial is just wishful thinking on the part of the liberal scumbag(s) who wrote it. There are, of course, a few things that the editorial neglected to mention:
1. Never before have so many judicial nominations been filibustered so brazenly - - nothing in history comes close.
2. When, someday, there is a majority Democrat Senate and a Democrat President, the Republicans will repay in kind what the rats are doing to their nominations now.
3. The shameless Democrats, those same scumbags who invented the art of the smear now known colloquially as "Borking" and who have continued to refine that art for nearly two decades, WILL "go nuclear" when the Republicans filibuster their judicial nominations and then laugh in the faces of the Republicans as they do it.
The Republicans at this point have absolutely no choice but to "go nuclear".
Those Editors may not care whether Senators (or judges) deliberately violate the Constitution. But we do. And most Americans do. And that's why Senator Frist should break the back of the Democrats' obstruction, with the aid of all Republicans who also believe in the Constitution.
Click below for a more honest take on this subject.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "A Triple Black Dog Double Dare to Infinity."
Congratulations to the pinhead that wrote this garbage. That is is stupidest thing I've ever read in an editorial. To heck with the American people. Filibusters are for Democrats to protect themselves from the Republicans. Wow. What a deal.
"Harry Reid of Nevada has threatened to thoroughly gum up the workings of the Senate"
Reid's already doing that .. so why is he threatening ..??
Barf Alert indeed.
The Dems would have already gone nuclear were the positions reversed.
Senator Byrd changed the Senate rules to go nuclear no fewer than 3 times; Senator Lyndon Johnson did it at least once.
The difference is that the Corrupt Old media defended KKK Kleagle Byrd and Johnson, while attacking Republicans for even thinking about it.
They should ignore any "filibuster" and simply bring the nominees to a vote.
A filibuster cannot be had on judicial votes according to current Senate rules.
When Frist has the votes to end judicial filibusters, the libs will cave before letting it happen.It is close to happening now
Not to worry, some pubs would never betray their liberal friends.
None, zero, nada, zilch, never happened....
Very rare indeed.
It would be great if Frist forced the Dimms to really filibuster instead of ending the Senate session and allowing the "filibuster" to resume in the morning.
The Dems want to filibuster...make them do it!
It's not a "handful", that's a point the Republicans need to get across loud and clear. It's an unprecedented third of all of Bush's judicial nominees to the federal bench, which are the only judicial appointments that really matter.
The Constitution only provides that the Senate will "advise and consent." It doesn't say that they will hold a vote of the full Senate.
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