Posted on 01/17/2006 3:37:48 PM PST by Chuck54
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to serve as the 110th Justice of the United States Supreme Court now completed, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson issued the following statement:
“I have decided to vote in favor of Judge Samuel Alito to serve as the 110th Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I came to this decision after careful consideration of his impeccable judicial credentials, the American Bar Association's strong recommendation and his pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the Court.”
(Excerpt) Read more at bennelson.senate.gov ...
Nelson served as Nebraska’s Governor from 1991 to 1999. During his two terms, Nelson appointed the entire Nebraska Supreme Court, the entire Nebraska Court of Appeals, and more than half of the sitting judges in Nebraska. Since elected to the United States Senate in 2000, Nelson has supported more than 215 of President Bush’s nominations to the Federal Bench, including Chief Justice John Roberts.
Harry Reid may not like this.
Ben Nelson is one of my senators.....the other is Chuck(GAG)Hagel. In this case Nelson is way closer to the things I favor than Chuck(GAG) Hagel.
One of the few remaining sane Democrats.
I almost wish he would switch parties... but he'd be a RINO.. don't think Stenberg can beat him, but I'm not too sure about Ricketts, he sounds like a real conservative but may be seen as just another billionaire rich kid.
I would vote for Nelson over Hagel though
Reid knew this was coming.
Nelson doesn't want a challenger, so every now and then Reid lets him do the right thing, once Nelson gets re-elected, he'll be back in the democratic fold on all votes that count.
And you can bet your house, that if after the 2006 elections, another justice either passes away or steps down, Nelson will be one of the hardliners lining up with Kennedy.
what do you think of Ricketts???
It's fair to say that Nelson is up for re-election this year.....he wouldn't dare vote against.
He'll be confirmed but I think with something smaller than Chief Justice Roberts.... CJ Roberts got out of committee with a 13-5 vote in favor. I don't know if Judge Alito will hold the three democrat votes or not.
I think there is a real chance of Nelson switching and if he would he is better than Ricketts.
KosKidz still going nuts over wanting a filibuster.
Anybody got a handle on the odds? Do they have 41 possible votes? Any cracks in the gang of 14?
Must be a beach living in Nebraska...
OTOH, Campbell looks around, sees he's in the midst of an increasingly "Red" state, what's he going to do?
ACU Ratings
Nebraska State Delegation - 2004
Senate - Party 2004 2003 LifeTime YOS
Chuck HAGEL R 87 100 85 8
Ben Nelson D 52 42 52 4
He's no Zell Miller!
Oh I dont know about that.
re election time, once that's done he back in the group of rats
If there was any chance that the nomination would fail, would he still have voted this way? Or if it weren't an election year?
That and the fact that he hopes to get reelected in a RED state.
I thought Ricketts was a disease.
If it were up to me, he would have beaten Hagel.
That way, we'd have Stenberg and Nelson, both winners in my estimation.
It's interesting that Harry Reid just made a visit to our great State. I wonder what was up with that? His speech was the usual diatribe of Democratic politics which probably did not help Sen. Nelson in his reelection bid.
Well, appointing Johanns Ag Sec didn't do us any favors, Just screwed everything up. We could have Johanns, then get Hagel to quit. Get Stenberg. Hineman, or Dr Tom
An ACU rating of 52 is failing. IMO
Not a chance in h&ll.
this vote is meaningless.
let's not lose sight of the ball - 50 votes to support the nuclear option. if the Dems know we hold that, Alito cannot be stopped. If we don't hold 50 for the rules change in our back pocket, the Dems will hold 41 of theirs for filibuster - and Alito will not make it.
LOL
Nelson would be such a crack, and the first Dim one at that. This announcement brings to four the number of Gang of 14 members who have stated that they will vote for Alito and/or stated that they see no reason for a filibuster. The other three are Lindsey Graham, Mike DeWine and Olympia Snowe of all people (her defection is a huge blow to the Dims).
Having said all that, let's see if Nelson still supports Alito when the vote is taken on the 24th, assuming the Dims don't find a way to delay it even further, and that's a huge "if." He just painted a gigantic target on his back for all of the baby butchers, the kill Grandma so we can take her money groups, the race warlords and every other far left special interest group out there. They will hammer away at him and at every other Dim and RINO who they even think is considering voting for Alito, and they will hammer at him non-stop and without mercy.
That was the whole purpose of the vote delay, to give the left time to browbeat the Alito fence-sitters in submission and to try and scare the public into thinking that Alito will bring back slavery and order all women into chastity belts. I still believe they will at least try to filibuster; their nutty base and the media are demanding they do it.
to be honest, with respect to the floor vote on Alito - I would rather Nelson vote against him. if we've got the votes to push Alito through, why let any of the Dems get a pass by riding that vote.
Could be worse...
Lifetime ACU Ratings:
Ben Nelson (D-NE) 52
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) 51
Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT)48
Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) 41
Joe Lieberman (D-CT) 17
He'd make a good Republican. Rumor had it that Bush was planning to give him a cabinet post to free up his Senate seat, but it never panned out...
Unless Reid rolls the dice and assumes that Bill Frist is too lily-livered to pull the nuclear trigger. Unfortunately, Frist has shown all too many times that this is a very safe bet for Dingy.
This just happened, again. Frist made a big announcement that if the Dims reneged on their agreement and demanded a delay, that he would cancel the Senate recess scheduled for next week and refuse to consider any other legislaton until Alito is voted on. Well, the Dims reneged, and as far as I've heard, Frist has not cancelled the recess .
I saw a post here earlier to the effect that Frist had cancelled the recess, but I have not seen this corroborated anywhere else, and Reid, Schumer and Kennedy haven't called a press conference to rave about the Republicans "abusing their absolute power", which they surely would have if Frist had actually cancelled the recess.
Until I see that presser, or see other corroboration, I have to assume that the Senate will still go into recess next week. IOW, once again Frist huffed and puffed and then backed down at the last minute, coming across as weak, waffling and ineffectual.
Unfortunately that will save him, but we can still hope that the other one, the wooden Indian will be true to form and be dumb enough listen to reid instead of the people of Florida.
Ben Nelson is one of the gang of 14 so his vote gives me a bit warmer feeling than some others would.
Would be kind of hard of him to support a filibuster when he has announced he will vote to confirm.
I think this one's in the bag and we should plan for the next one. Might be my harsh nature, but I think the Dems pulled the week's delay deal in hopes Ariel Sharon may expire and then that would give them just "another" reason to delay the Senate debate.
Not harsh at all when considering those people (and I use the word "people" loosely). They have doubtless been going all out chanting and burning incense and praying to their death gods to take Sharon or maybe President Ford, anything to give them an excuse to delay the Alito votes and give the media more time to chip away at his public support.
Way to go Big Ben! He is now going to get Liebermaned by the DUmmies.
Senator Byrd of West Va., has also said that he sees no reason to filibuster the nomination.
I was watching H&C and Alan looked as if he wanted to strangle Nelson over the defection from the plantation.
That's right, the Dem. plantation where they will give you a hand out but never a job for fear that you will leave them when you learn about taxes and responsibility.
That tells me that they want to strengthen their hand before launching a filibuster, so they're laying low for the moment. I would expect them to try and pull all sorts of little parliamentary tricks and schemes to keep delaying the vote and delaying the vote, a "soft" filibuster, until Reid feels he has just enough strength to roll Frist and launch the real thing.
The longer and longer the Dims delay in actually using the filibuster, the more they sit on it and save it for the next nominee, the weaker that weapon becomes for them. The far left and the media understand this even if the Dim senators don't, and that's why they haven't backed off an inch from their demands for a filibuster of Alito. If anything, their calls for a filibuster have gotten louder and more strident.
And from their perspective, Bush will never be weaker than he is right now, thanks to the "spying scandal" and the Abrahamoff fiasco. If they can't or won't even try to filibuster now, when will they?
no way this is in the bag. the Dems will try something with this extra week, and the weak players are on our side of the aisle.
recess next week? I thought the Alito vote was the 24th?
when DeWine and Snowe say they "see no reason for a filibuster" - that's not the same as them pledging to vote for the rules change to thwart one.
Regarding your comments re DeWine and Snowe - how very true. This nomination is far from being a done deal, regardless of what others around here and in the conservative media are saying. I won't rest easy about Alito until he's sworn onto the Supreme Court. God only knows when that will be, thanks to the Dims. One thing is for sure - the longer they can delay the vote, the better their chances are of keeping him off the bench.
I agree.
which vote is scheduled for the 24th? the committee vote only? that vote is kind of meaningless, we know that's coming down straight party line. when is it going to the full floor?
and where are the 527 groups that were running ads for Roberts? this is the critical time period to run ads for Alito; as you say, too many people think this is in the bag.
After the committee vote (10-8 party line, of course), the nomination moves to the Senate floor. I expect the Dims can find some way to stall the start of the floor debate, and then play all other sorts of tricks to keep that moving along - a filibuster without calling it a filibuster. It could be well into February before Reid even has to decide if he'll be able to pull off the real filibuster, and for all that time the left wing groups and the media will be destroying Sam Alito's character and trying to turn the public against him.
Or all of the above could be wrong, and the Alito nomination will clear committee as scheduled and come up for a floor vote quickly, where Alito will be confirmed with about 55 to 60 votes, IMO. That depends on how much crap Bill Frist is willing to take from the Dims. The White House will push hard against the Dims despicable obstructionism, but there's only so much they can do. It's all up to Frist, and his record is not encouraging to say the least.
DUers are calling Nelson's office and giving him hell. Maybe we should call and thank him.
Hagel hasn't waffled on Alito, has he?
Bump
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