Gary Bauer Calls Senate Judicial Deal a 'Sell Out'

US Newswire ^ | 5/23/05 | Kristi Hamrick

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Former Presidential Candidate Gary Bauer issued the following statement late Monday as news of the "travesty" to justice deal on stalled judicial nominees was released.

The President of American Values said: "This is a sad day for our nation. The desire of millions of Americans to restore balance to our federal courts has been thwarted behind closed doors by 14 senators. Only three of President Bush's appointees are guaranteed an up or down vote under this sell out.

"Under this agreement it is now more likely that radical social change will continue to be forced on the American people by liberal courts committed to same sex marriage, abortion on demand and hostility to religious expression. The Republicans who lent their names to this travesty have undercut their President as well as millions of their most loyal voters. Shame on them all."

[Keyes2000mt]

More to the point regarding Frist, doesn't this show how totally ineffectual he is as a leader?

[the Real fifi]

He should take a breath and reread it--Here's what a DU poster said (and except for the remarks about the Reps) he hit the nail on the head:

[quote]
We gave them essentially 5 judges for free.

Some people think this compromise is a setback for the Repugs.

That's bullshit. Using the nuclear option carried risks.

1. Risk that the public would rightly see it as a fascist abuse of power and rightly condemn the repubs at the ballot box.

2. that the dems would shut down the senate in protest

3. that the option would be tried, but FAIL (the objection to Cheney's unilateral rewrite of the rules would be upheld by majority vote), subjecting the repugs to the political risk of trying it, without the reward.


With the deal, they got 5 of their judges, without needing to use the nuclear option. they only needed to THREATEN to use it. With the deal, they retained the right to invoke it if the Democrats filibustered again (except for extraordinary circumstances, which will never be acknowledged by the republicans).

Its not like the nuclear option is gone for good, only delayed until the next time Democrats want to filibuster.

the repugs will claim democrats are breaking the agreement, and will have POLITICAL COVER to bring back the nuclear option.[/quote]


Take a Deeeeeeep breath.

[Bogey78O]

"Tonight the Senate has worked its will on behalf of reason, and behalf of responsibility. We have sent President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and the radical arm of the Republican base an undeniable message: abuse of power will not be tolerated--will not be tolerated by Democrats or Republicans. And your attempt, I say to the Vice President and to the President, to trample the Constitution and grab absolute control is over."

--Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV

[Soul Seeker]

"Under this agreement it is now more likely that radical social change will continue to be forced on the American people by liberal courts committed to same sex marriage, abortion on demand and hostility to religious expression. The Republicans who lent their names to this travesty have undercut their President as well as millions of their most loyal voters. Shame on them all."

With every American value and right stripped away remember these unprincipled power mongering fools made it possible.

[hispanichoosier]

More to the point regarding Frist, doesn't this show how totally ineffectual he is as a leader?

Not really. The Senate is a totally different creature than is the House. Senate leadership is a lot less powerful.

[Bogey78O]

They're screwed.

A few Republicans rather than try and give a vote to them, even though they may not have made it, decided to just turn them over in exchange for good press reviews.

[lawnguy]

All of the 14 senators have done something that Gary Bauer has never done: They got elected to something.

Let's all just settle down a little and allow the electorate to continue to sort this all out.

Surley there must be a good conservative in South Carolina that can send Graham a message next primary season.

I also think the aggreement is subject to vote by the Senate, and I look for some powerful debate and a wave of public pressure on the RINOS like they have never seen before.

I think the next week or so could be fun to watch.

[TeatimeTim]

Evil is always delt with by God, and Frist is all that.

[Defiant]

It's not an incremental victory to get a vote on SOME judicial nominees. It's a loss of presidential power. The president needs to react.

[Racehorse]

What did the Republicans get out of this deal that they couldn't have gotten by cutting off the filibuster?

Explanations so far fall well short of being . . . explanations.  Democrats seem to be the only real winners in this.

Who were these 14 so called "centrists" that gave away the bride before the wedding? McCain had to be one of them.

We should start a list.  Check it twice.  We'll know whose been naughty and whose been nice.

Just published online from the New York Times.  Seems like Boxer et al are the only real winners.  Repubs just postponed the fight.

Some conservative activists who had pushed for the Senate to ban the filibuster entirely said they had been betrayed by Republican moderates.

"Once again, moderate Republicans have taken the victory and thrown it overboard," said Paul Weyrich, a veteran conservative organizer, who predicted that conservatives voters would punish the party.

Mr. McCain said he expected that interest groups on both the left and right would be furious at the compromise.

"Think of all the money they are going to lose," he said, ducking into a car to head to the premiere of a film about his life, referring to the fund-raising operations that had sprung up around the judicial battle.

After thanking Mr. McCain on the Capitol steps for the "wonderful" deal, Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, acknowledged that Democrats had cleared the way for possible confirmation of three judges many in the party opposed. But Ms. Boxer said others had been held off, and she described the agreement as a "big victory" for Democrats.

Democratic officials said an unwritten aspect of the pact is that two nominees not named in the deal - Brett Kavanaugh and William J. Haynes - would not be confirmed and would be turned aside either at the committee level or on the floor.

[Billthedrill]

The liberals are quite content with incremental victories; I don't think we should be so quick to discount them.

Well said. Nothing really has changed beyond the fact that the Dems have avoided being clobbered for stonewalling three superbly qualified candidates - a victory for them - and the Pubbies have managed to get them past the stonewall, a victory for them. The rest is still very much in play under essentially the same rules. Anyone who thinks this settles anything isn't paying attention.

[Ethyl]

John McCain to the rescue...what a RINO. This was a sellout pure and simple. I am so fed up with these so called moderates of the Republican party!

john mccain, you are a traitor to this Nation, we hate the likes of you, you need to grow up, you are either for us or against us!

[hispanichoosier]

It's not an incremental victory to get a vote on SOME judicial nominees.

Sure it is. Of the 5 nominees that we really care about, 0 got approved before the deal. Now, 3 nominees will get their up/down votes. Last I checked, 3 out of 5 is not a bad batting average, especially in politics.

[kpp_kpp]

frist could show himself as a leader by ignoring the "compromise" and pushing the three agreed upon nominees through first... and then bringing the other two up for vote anyways.

i know, in my dreams

[TeatimeTim]

Matthew 7

1
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote
out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy
brother's eye.

[Petronski]

[the Real fifi]

Oh, please---The Reps got their candidates a vote; the Dems set a standard for "exceptional cirsumstances" which wipes out their litmus test; the Reps have the nuclear option and a good justification for using it if the Dems renege.

Frist is not the boss of the compromising Reps, the voters who elected them are.

[Defiant]

Take a Deeeeeeep breath.

OK, I just got that breath. Now, let me think. Who supports this deal? McCain, Chafee, the usual suspects. Did conservatives cook up this deal? I don't think so. So, what does that tell you?

The Rats are drinking beer and laughing tonight.

[Postman]

No. There should be no party money because there WILL be no party money. I will NEVER AGAIN give a cent to the RNC, only to see that these seven dwarfs are defeated. If the money from the base starts drying up, there's a better chance that some retaliation will be taken against those that led to defection of the base.

[JLS]

I will be very curious to see what we got in this deal. My take on this deal after thinking about it is:

1.If we got 3 out of 10 judges, it is a bad deal. If we end up with 6 or 7 of the 10 it will could be an ok deal. The six or seven would be Owens, Johnson, Prior, McKeague, Griffen, Estada and maybe another. Five is the minimum that had better get through. If I were Bush, I would reappoint all of them since the Dims have promised not to filibuster any new appointments.

2. If there is no filibuster of Bush Supreme Court nominees or any other appeals court nominees for the rest of the 109th Congress it is potentially a decent deal.

3. If the GOP filibusters the next Ruth Ginsburg type nominee of a Dim president and AS THEY HAVE NOW IMPLICITLY PROMISE TO DO McCain, Snowe, Dewine, Collins, Warner, L. Graham etc IF THEY ARE AROUND STILL SUPPORT SUCH A FILIBUSTER, then this is potentially a good deal. I hope McCain, etal understand that they have IMPLICITLY PROMISED to back a filibuster of any radical Dim nominess by signing on to this compromise.

If we get these three things, then the deal is not such a bad deal. But the GOP is now required to filibuster the next radical Dim appointee whether that is in 2009 or 2013 or whenever and the signatories of this agreement NEED TO BE MADE TO UNDERSTAND THEY HAVE PROMISED US TO SUPPORT SUCH A FILIBUSTER.