Posted on 04/26/2005 12:58:10 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Senate Republicans are expressing concerns that Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter will defy party leaders and oppose the so-called "nuclear option" to end Democratic filibusters against President Bush's judicial nominees. The Pennsylvania Republican -- who was nearly passed over for the committee chairmanship because of his independent ways -- says publicly that he is undecided about whether he'll vote with Majority Leader Bill Frist and Republicans to limit filibusters of judicial nominations. Click to learn more... But a Senate speech last week in which Mr. Specter advised senators to ignore "party loyalty" has some Republicans convinced that he might break party ranks -- a move that could doom Republican support for overriding the filibusters.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Some of us predicted this...
And .. doom his career .. but I guess we'll find out this week.
You can always count on good old Senator "Scottish Law"
to betray the people who put him where he is.
Big mistake to go all out to support this weasel. President Bush, Rick Santorum...are you listening?
I'm shocked!
It wasn't so long ago that he was making watery-eyed petitions and promising to behave himself. This is exactly why many of us recommended against giving him the chairmanship. Let's just hope that he behaves opposite his nature.
I'm sick of this crap; talk is cheap.
Let's leave them before they leave us.
We should have seen this coming.
The filibuster is a cherished right and the bedrock of Scottish Law.
lol! Senator Lechter is such an ass!
It's past time for someone to set a fire to the seat of this RINO! And I hope that this person is Rove or Bush!
The real problem here is that Frist has lost control.
This issue should have been dealt with at the beginning of the session, in Jan.
Instead, what was Frist doing?
He was touring Asia to garner good pr for a future presidentiall run.
He didn't save one life in Asia and his visit forced resources to be diverted to him and his entourage as opposed to helping out with the relief efforts.
His visit didn't lead to one dollar of increased aid and served no purpose except to increase his profile.
So instead of doing the job he was chosen for, he was campaigning.
He really sickens me.
His strategy is amazing. He keeps "threating" to pull the constitutional option but never does. Dems know he is weak and so they have taken control of the Senate agenda.
Unfortunately, our entire Senate leadership is quite horrid compared to the Dems.
Frist, running for president and outfoxed at every turn by Reid.
McConnell, still recovering from extensive surgery and not much help in the whip department.
Santorum, running scared, and under the impression that the Al D'Amato playbook is a winning one (running to the left during an election cycle). Santorum is a wimp who should know that by going soft and liberal, he won't get anymore liberal votes in PA, but he will piss off enough conservative voters to sit home this election.
And that's our Republican leadership my friends.
Bush and Rove aren't doing much either. They have the worst congressional liason in history and are content to let our Republican majority hang itself.
What does Spector care about a political career he has cancer which will probably kill him anyway. We said from the beginning he never should have been on the Judicial but NOOOOOOOOOO, they had to place hime there. It was nothing but a stupid move to allow him to be where he is.
I actually have some respect for LBJ now that I see what a bunch of asses Senators can be. He would have kicked their teeth in for this kind of behavior.
Cyber....have you seen Spector lately? The man is very ill(looks like he is on deaths doorstep) so I don't think he is worried about his career...he is more worried about his next chemo treatment.
Isn't it grand how Bush bailed out Specter during the primary fight? Now Bush is helping out the Clintons and calling the Minutemen 'vigilantes'. What a guy!
I live in PA, but I didn't vote for specter. Freepers on the PA board were in all-out war about whether or not they should vote for Specter. It was wrong for Bush, Cheney, and Santorum to get involved in the primary. I think Toomey would have won if they had all stayed out of the primary.
*Ping
Let's just put it this way.
Spectre can redeem himself for Bork by supporting this. If not, Santorum will probably lose election and Spectre's legacy will be sealed but it will not be the admirable record he hopes to retire with.
I don't think people should assume he'll vote no. Spectre really hasn't been the disrupting factor the other RINO's have been since he received backlash for his comments following the election. This is something that will go down to the wire on what he decides to do.
BTTT....
A bump back to you in our beautiful state of PA. The sun is shining today!
You've posted a few really interesting articles today, thanks.
Boy, if only someone had seen this coming maybe we could've put a true PA conservative in office last year... < /sarcasm >
Remember all the lobbying by MILLIONS of people across the US (every major family group, religious group, etc) to prevent Specter from getting the judiciary chairmanship?
The phone lines at the Capitol switchboard were jammed, almost 24x7 with calls AGAINST giving Specter the chairmanship. But, in typical Washington fashion, the Powers That Be (on our own side, da#n it), decided to do what THEY thought was best - and went completely against public opinion and gave it to him ANYWAY.
Supposedly, he had to write a letter promising to support W's judicial nominees, move them through committee, and generally behave himself.
Predictably, this "promise" wasn't worth the paper it was written on.
So, what would most of us do at this point if Specter doesn't play nice? Yep - we'd nuke his Scottish behind right off the committe, strip him of his chairmanship and run him out of town on a rail.
But our R leadership? Oh, nooooo..that wouldn't be "appropriate".
Our side is getting CREAMED lately. If we don't do something major and show some real leadership, I fear we're gonna get trounced in '06 and '08, because there is a VERY large # of us who have HAD IT with this "leadership" that we put into office in the last election. And we'll be sitting home come next election, DESPITE the consequences.
For want of a few hundred votes...
After President Bush supported him, Specter is turning Judgas.
Well, yeah. Why DID George W. Bush travel to Pennsylvania to stump for this @$$#01e? And why did Rick Santorum go along with it? I'll betcha "Political Reality" had something to do with it.
Thanks for the ping OK
This is the line in the sand - the GOP delivers on judges, or they get dumped out of office. The choice is theirs.
Assuming he even lives long enough to finish his current term, there's almost no chance he'll run for office again.
You're welcome. The Republicans need to deliver on a couple of other items too, like tax reform and Social Security. Otherwise they're all talk.
Well, there's plenty of judgasses that should be turned, but I doubt Spector would turn them the right way.
Leni
This was eminently predictable, and in fact many people predicted this would happen. Specter is a vile, gutter lowlife who's out for himself and himself only, and he always has been.
I think they already did.
Far more often than I'd like, "political reality" is just an excuse for just "going along to get along", or weakly choosing to go the "path of least resistance". Other times, this term does indeed correctly describe the unfortunate need to compromise.
I consider the President's and the NRA's support of creatures like Specter and Carson are, to me, the former -- no excuses. Perhaps there are things going on there at those high political altitudes that we peons are not even aware of which force these things, but I don't buy that 99% of the time.
But as I said, despite the cases where the GOP and/or the NRA fall down on the job, overall they do one helluva lot better than the alternative, and I believe that as long as we continue to hammer them, things will continue to improve. You can't change any club that you don't belong to, and even then, improvement is measured in millimeters. Unfortunately. But I never saw anything in the real world that was easy, or quick.
Of course, you are free to stamp your feet, hold your ears shut and continue to demand 100% perfection, while we who are involved continue to carry your weight. We are used to it, and it certainly won't stop our slow advance to restore this nation to it's founding concepts.
Be well,
Schumer was talking about this yesterday, and listed certain defectors as McCain and Chaffee. The other possibilities will probably be negotiated in backroom deals. Snowe, Collins and Specter are all possibly to likely opposed to application of the Constitution, preferring instead the collegiality that can only come from being an elitist.
--Amen, brother---
The NRA stance on Brad Carson cost them members here in Oklahoma. Brad Carson was a flat out liberal and yet they supported him. It didn't go over well here at all. In fact, Carson bragged to Cong Sullivan (R-Tulsa) that he only drove his beat-up pick-up truck in election years to relate to the NASCAR crowd -- ditto the hunting. But yet the NRA supported the fraud! Worst part was the local NRA not replying to complaints -- they could care less.
NRA lost support from people I know in my area here in Oklahoma. They went over to Gun Owners of America.
Good luck with your septic system. I'm getting off the computer now and plan to finish getting ALL my photos in order. This has been an unexpected three day project. It all started when I put together a photo album from my daughter's wedding.
This is what happens when you make deals with RINO's.
I find faxes are the best way to get through, email is ignored and phones are answered by some 18 yr old.
Which just reinforces my point of view -- he is still an NRA life member. Just because they had their bureaucratic heads up their butts in this instance doesn't make one immediately throw out all the good things for a few that are bad.
Oh, and he's a member of the GOA as well, as am I. And the SAF, and the CRPA, and the GOC, and... well, you get the idea.
Cheers,
Another opus-related ping.
Specter will vote yes if his vote is needed, and "no" if they already have 51. Don't worry about it, he plays this game all the time.
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