South Carolina Ping
Posted on 06/20/2005 8:27:07 PM PDT by nypokerface
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and his aides have denied Rep. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) assertion to home-state conservative leaders that he and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) acted as emissaries for Frist in negotiations among 14 Republican and Democratic centrists that resulted in a compromise last month on judicial filibusters.
Dr. Oran Smith, president of the Palmetto Family Council based in Columbia, S.C., said, “Graham has been meeting with groups of conservative opinion leaders to explain his actions and to comfort conservative leaders by assuring them he was sent by the Republican leadership to broker a deal.”
As a result of Graham’s assurances, conservatives’ anger over Graham’s role in the controversial deal has slackened, Smith said.
“There’s a mixture of residual anger and ‘let’s wait and see’ because he said he was sent as an envoy and dispatched by the leadership, he and DeWine,” Smith added.
Joe Mack, the director of public policy for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, who met with Graham and discussed his role in the brokering the deal, confirmed that Graham told him “words to that effect that he was assisting the leadership.”
But when asked whether he had dispatched Graham and DeWine as emissaries, Frist replied firmly “No. No.”
Amid a conservative backlash to the deal, particularly against DeWine in Ohio and Graham in South Carolina, Frist aides have told conservative leaders that they did not encourage the two lawmakers to forge a deal to avoid a floor vote on shielding judicial nominees from filibuster.
Jeff Mazzella, executive director of the Center for Individual Freedom, said, “Frist’s staff and other have assured us that they were not behind that deal and we are satisfied that they are committed to moving forward with up-or-down votes on all of the president’s nominees.”
Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice, said, “I’ve heard it from one of Frist’s liaison people that it’s not true.”
Graham did not answer yes or no when asked by The Hill if he was an emissary for Frist during the negotiations. Instead, he described a nuanced role.
“Both leadership teams were very well aware of what was going on,” he said, referring to the Republican and Democratic leaders.
He added that “everyone knew what was going on” and that some lawmakers liked it and some didn’t.
Both Graham and DeWine have been the targets of intense conservative anger since they appeared alongside five other Republican senators and seven Democrats last month to announce a deal they struck on judicial nominees who Democrats had blocked.
The deal was announced the evening before Frist had planned to trigger the so-called “nuclear option” to strip senators of the power to filibuster judicial nominees. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the majority whip, had announced a few weeks before that Frist had enough Republican votes to execute the tactic.
“I talked to McConnell and Frist during the negotiations,” Graham said. “I think Senator Frist’s primary goal was to change the rules and, barring that, felt it was better to live and fight another day.”
Conservative leaders in South Carolina responded angrily. Mack, with the Southern Baptist Convention, said “a number of our have been concerned about that role and were looking for a vote to break a filibuster.”
Thomas Ravenel, a wealthy developer who self-financed much of his race against Sen. Jim DeMint (R) in a GOP Senate primary last year, announced shortly afterward that he would consider challenging Graham in 2008.
In Ohio, conservatives responded with similar ire, saying that DeWine’s role in the filibuster negotiations was the latest in a series of actions and positions he has taken at odds with them.
Conservatives said they would retaliate by working against Pat DeWine, the senator’s son, who ran earlier this month for the seat vacated by retiring Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Despite having the highest name recognition in the race and having outraised his opponents significantly, the young DeWine finished a distant fourth in the race.
“His showing was extremely poor,” said Dr. John Wilke, head of the Life Issues Institute, an anti-abortion group based in Cincinnati. “A showing that bad after that good a start has reasons. Some people are saying that Mike’s business of being in the ‘Gang of 14’ hurt Pat.”
The ongoing battle between Republicans and Democrats over the makeup of the federal judiciary has been one of the highest concerns of social conservatives.
After the judges deal was struck, Ohio conservatives led by Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, another Cincinnati-based group, stepped up its efforts to find a candidate to challenge DeWine in the 2006 Republican primary.
As conservatives in Ohio and South Carolina responded angrily to news of the Senate centrists’ deal on judges, Major Garrett, a Fox News correspondent, citing “senior Republican sources,” reported that “Frist and the Bush White House were worried enough about possibly losing the vote to end the judicial filibusters that they dispatched two conservatives, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Ohio’s Mike DeWine, to cut the best possible deal.”
Burress said he suspects that DeWine is the source of that report.
“He will do anything he can to cover his tracks,” Burress said. “I call upon him to prove that, or he will be exposed as a flat out liar. I use that word very carefully. My sources tell me. I have people close to what’s going on up there that that’s not what happened.”
When asked about the Fox report, DeWine said, “If you look at the transcript, I never said that. What I said was that we had — people inside the meeting were talking to leaders — both sides were talking to leaders. But I never said that I was an emissary at all.”
“Lindsey and I got involved at the same time,” he added. “We looked at a early proposal and had the same reaction, that we couldn’t have an agreement where we would agree that under any circumstances we would not use the constitutional option,” the Republicans’ term for the nuclear option.
good post, Thanks. :)
He's a good guy.
IMO, he's still in process of vetting sources that would a) be solid sources of reliable info b) use him to desiminate PR. It'll shake out in time, those that used him no longer will be used in reports.
He did have a breaking piece of news a few weeks ago that the 14 planned to meet again to discuss SCOTUS.
Why..Thanks, from Ky...we still have that, slime Chandler in the 6th District.
I think you are right about Bolton. From everything I have heard from the Senators here, they will only use the Constitutional Option for judges (for right now). I am convinced that everything is on a time table for all judicial nominations and Frist and company know what they are doing to draw out the RATs. In the end McCain and his group will get egg on their face when the RATs start filibustering judicial nominations again.
I sure hope that Blackwell gets elected -- about time for the country club Republicans in Ohio to get sent packing!
Hear any mutterings about Trent Lott wanting his job back as Majority Leader? (Fat chance).
Trust me -- you have it made in Kentucky compared to what Ohio conservatives have to live with. We have one RAT Rep in Oklahoma -- but our Republicans act like Republicans and same with your Republicans in Congress. The two Ohio Senators are jerks to be kind and I really like the two Kentucky Senators. I also like your Governor -- Ohio's is another jerk. And the list goes on . . . One bad apple in your State is nothing compared to the bad apples infesting Ohio right now that need tossed out.
The worst local papers I have read in a long time. Might as well be the body count of Iraq in the headlines of the Troy paper.
My two Senators would fight to the end to keep Lott totally away from Majority Leader. They support Frist as do the majority of other Senators. Looks like Lott was helping broker the deal but didn't sign on -- usual wimpy Lott!
I think they are taking sarcasm for what he is saying. There is no way he has indicated that the Constitutional Option is off the table. You would hear my two Senators sqawking if it was.
Behind the scences sneaky. Typical and we all know he has an axe to grinde. I wish he'd get a modern haircut too. I'd love to see y;all Inhofe ML.
OF COURSE Graham and DeWine were in on the scheme to trap the rats - - they were in on it from the beginning. But WHY would Graham open his big mouth now? There's plenty of time to rub the rats' noses in their own stupidity later. First, there's a lot more judges to get confirmed, and probably a Supe, too.
Hey, Lindsey - - nice job working the rats over the way you did, but all you had to do was suck it up for a little while longer and keep your stinking mouth shut. Owens, Brown, Pryor, and a couple of the others - - the scheme is working just as planned, but we ain't done yet. And you have plenty of time to clear your name before your next campaign season. Sheesh.
Sorry, YOU are wrong. I stated exactly how to artificially continue that filibuster--the rules change didn't require anything more than 41 votes against cloture, and certainly, enough conservatives could have defected to manipulate that vote total to 'continue' the filibuster and get the rules change voted upon. That Frist failed to do so to force the moderates' hands is evidence he had no intention of calling their deal off in the first place. Which, combined with his failure to damn them for making the deal, and his continued postponement of the vote in the first place, seems pretty damn suspicious.
But if you're enjoying the smoke, keep on spreadin' your cheeks, and pretending it's JUST smoke you're taking up the chute.
Lindsey Graham and Mike DeWine are heroes, in my opinion.
Why?
It's unfortunate that I had so many good conservative columnists' words to draw from. Would that they'd had nothing to write about.
The Ohio GOP will probably do whatever they can to protect DeWine. I get the sense they know he may be in for a primary. I don't see anyone strong (like a Kasich) challenging him. Someone will run, but it will be someone weak. DeWine already has $2.4 million in the bank, and in a state like Ohio, that is tough to beat. DeWine's son lost big because of the judicial compromise compounded on his own problems in his personal life.
I think you are lucky you escaped, I mean, left Ohio. It is amazing how much the old print media controls things here and how much people have their heads in the sand.
I gotta admit, I wish we could have senators like McConnell, Bunning, Inhofe, and Coburn. There is no leadership in this state (there hasn't been since Jim Rhodes) and except for Ken Blackwell, there is no sign of any in sight.
I thought this was about the principle, and not about the judges? If that's the case, he should be calling for the rules change and getting it over with for ALL the appointees. 56 votes up, and Frist still rolls over on the Constitution. I'm sure it's because he's such a strong leader and these circumstances are so EXTRAORDINARY. /sarc
That or John Bolton doesn't have what Janice Brown or Priscilla Owens had, immunity from Rat charges of sexism, racism, homophobia, etc., by minority status. Not that ANY of the other nominees have that PR going for them now. We know that PR wasn't at all on RINO and Rat minds when they made this great 'deal.' /sarc
But at least we got Owens and Brown, two judges we were guaranteed to get through already, appointed. At least we got Pryor, a judge we were guaranteed to get through already if the rules were changed, appointed. Never mind the future SCOTUS appointment we threw away in the process, and never mind the future appointments the Rats will continue to filibuster successfully--the Rats and RINOs got to draw blood and make it look good with the help of their apologists here. We don't need to appoint white male conservatives anyway, the GOP is all about making sure that affirmative action is alive and well in the judiciary and the RNC. /bitter sarcasm
It's refreshing to see Frist show that he didn't take kindly the effort of a pack of RINO's and flaming liberals who set out to undermine his leadership position in the Senate.
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