Posted on 05/23/2005 5:24:27 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile
Yes, that would serve them right. Call the vote on Owens as scheduled. Then schedule debate on Pryor or Saad....any one of the ones that they haven't explicitly decided to support. Force the issue. Ah, but I'm dreaming. Such a strategy would require a real leader to carry out. Plus it hasn't been focus grouped yet or been included in the talking points everyone seems to parrot.
Arlen's silence is totally consistent and explainable. If the filibuster rule had been changed, it would have made Arlen Specter the most powerful man in the Senate regarding the judiciary. He then becomes in fact what he has always fancied himself....the last best hope to protect the nation against those nasty extremist Conservatives. He either wouldn't schedule votes or he'd just have some fellow RINOs place holds on whichever nominee he doesn't personally approve. So it was always my guess that he'd hold his nose and vote to change the rule and then sit back and gloat.
I know I'm done with 'em.
The leadership never signed on to this.But from their point of view it is not bad. Here's why:
The weren't going to filibuster owen or pryer or brown . They were going to vote on the cloture motion so the nuclear test wouldn't have been possible. In the meantime, their vote means there is no longer anideological litmus test.If these three are not extremists, judges who hold the same views cannot meet the "extraordinary circumstances" test AND all the judges will have up or down votes.The Reps still have the constitutional option if they need it for scotus.
"The weren't going to filibuster owen or pryer or brown . They were going to vote on the cloture motion so the nuclear test wouldn't have been possible."
The hell the Rats weren't. This deal is because of the RINOs, not because of the left. The nuke test waffling isn't because the left isn't solidly pro-filibuster--it's because the RINOs AREN'T solidly agin' it. THEY weren't going to filibuster owen or pryor or brown--they were going to have to go on record as for or against them without being able to have the Rats torpedo them for being extremist or racist or sexist.
"In the meantime, their vote means there is no longer an ideological litmus test.If these three are not extremists, judges who hold the same views cannot meet the "extraordinary circumstances" test AND all the judges will have up or down votes.The Reps still have the constitutional option if they need it for scotus."
And as long as you're dreaming I want a 1966 Testarossa. The remaining white guys will be filibustered and the RINOs will torpedo us then as they wouldn't have for Brown or Owen. And the rules change will never happen, and thus won't be ready for the SCOTUS. If it isn't changed now, it won't be changed THEN, with all the bluster and bullshit a SCOTUS nomination entails, especially for a conservative judge.
Really--it was all over DC--several Dems were going to vote for cloture to preclude a filibuster and a vote on the rules change. Take a deep breath--the ideological litmus test has died (If Brown and Owens and Pryor meet it, no other candidate meets the "exceptional circumstance" test; if the Dems try to renege, they will be said to have broken the agreement and the fence sitters have cover to vote for the rules change.
Please--His was the second signature (right under Frist) on the motion to confirm Owens. He did nothing but support the leadership.
I have been watching and voting against Arlen Specter since 1980. His signature on a piece of paper is a waste of pulp and ink. If you don't think he has ulterior motives for every move he makes then you just simply aren't familiar with the man. He does absolutely nothing that doesn't serve his self-interest.
"Really--it was all over DC--several Dems were going to vote for cloture to preclude a filibuster and a vote on the rules change."
Yeah, and Frist was going to move for cloture in a week, too.
There is no breaking that litmus test for liberals. Let me know how the conservative white males do on the floor...oh, sorry, they won't get there, the filibuster is alive and well!
"Losing them as the faces of the filibuster is a complete sellout by the RINOS so that the Rats get their way and shut down the other appointees."
I think you're overreacting. Pricilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown were the two judges the 'Rats were the most opposed to. In addition to them, about five other filibustered judges that the 'Rats have agreed to allow votes on. Do you really think they enjoyed making these conessions?
Bill Frist deserves credit for taking the line he did. Filibustering nominees had become almost routine for the 'Rats, and Frist forced them to partially back down. Knowing that Frist is willing to use the nuclear option casts a pall over the 'Rats.
The compromise isn't great, but it's still an improvement.
Agreed.
I'm not crazy about the deal, but the doom and gloom 'I'm staying home next time' crowd is just really, really stupid.
Wouldn't work, because at least some of the 7 would have to vote for the Nuke option, and they wouldn't under those circumstances. Heck, I wouldn't either. That's a bit too petty and rediculous.
Wouldn't work, because at least some of the 7 would have to vote for the Nuke option, and they wouldn't under those circumstances. Heck, I wouldn't either. That's a bit too petty and rediculous.
1) Try spellcheck.
2) It didn't happen, not because it's petty and ridiculous, but because the Republicans prefer to let the RINOs slide. It's all about keeping their pals in office, donchaknow.
"Who cares about what constituents want? We need Lindsay for a fourth at next week's Senatorial golf outing."
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