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Reid: We’ll defeat Olson
The Hill ^ | 8/13/07 | Elana Schor

Posted on 09/12/2007 4:47:59 PM PDT by Jean S

Senate Republicans on Wednesday fired a warning shot at Democrats on the White House’s still-unnamed attorney general pick as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared that front-runner Ted Olson would not be confirmed.

The early sparring over the successor to Alberto Gonzales, who cedes power at the Justice Department on Friday, foreshadows a brutal confirmation battle to come. Minutes after Reid declared former solicitor general Olson was too partisan for the job, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fired a salvo at Democrats who would delay Gonzales’s replacement.

“If they were serious when they cried out for new leadership at the Justice Department, they will follow Senate precedent,” McConnell said on the floor. “They will carefully weigh the qualifications of the nominee and vote in a timely fashion.”

Capitol Hill is watching the White House closely for signs of a nomination that remains uncertain nearly three weeks after Gonzales resigned, facing bipartisan pressure and multiple investigations. Democrats view the slowdown in choosing an attorney general, however, as strengthening their hand during the drawn-out Senate confirmation that both parties expect.
“Once they name this person, they’re going to have a harder time getting confirmation quickly,” one Senate Democratic aide said. Of GOP arguments that Gonzales’s critics should not block his replacement, the aide added: “That’s apples and oranges.”

Even Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) — still considered a dark-horse nominee — agreed that Democrats are unlikely to fast-track a confirmation because they had called for Gonzales’s quick ouster. The White House “doesn’t understand these people up here,” Hatch said.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) summed up his party’s sentiment on the floor, telling McConnell, “It’s a little difficult to accuse us of delaying a nomination that’s not yet been made … The way it works is, the president actually has to nominate somebody.”

Reid’s dismissal of Olson came amid signals from senior Democrats that the conservative favorite, who represented President Bush before the Supreme Court in the 2000 Florida recount case, would face broad opposition.

“He’s had a very political background at a time when you want [an attorney general] who puts the rule of law first,” Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), number three in the Democratic caucus, said.

Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) is the only sitting Democrat to have backed Olson in his razor-thin 2001 confirmation as solicitor general. Schumer pointed to the 47 Democrats then opposing Olson — 11 more than Gonzales received for his confirmation to lead Justice — as emblematic of the lack of consensus.

Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy pointed to the panel’s investigation of controversial testimony in which Olson denied knowledge of the Arkansas Project, a conservative effort to uncover possible misdeeds by then-President Clinton and his wife, now-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

“There was a feeling by many that some of the answers he gave in his last confirmation, answers under oath, were not accurate,” Leahy said.

In addition to the 2001 Judiciary probe, an independent counsel investigated Olson in 1986 after he spearheaded an executive privilege defense by the Reagan administration that has echoed in this year’s clash over multiple Democratic subpoenas being challenged by Bush.

Yet Olson has several well-placed Democratic defenders, as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) noted on Wednesday. Lanny Davis, former Clinton special counsel and a contributor to The Hill’s Pundits Blog , has thrown his support behind Olson.

“His reputation is as a principled lawyer,” Sessions said. While Judiciary is famous for partisan scuffling, he added, “If this is an honest nominee who can state his views in a principled way, they tend to confirm him. I mean, we got [Supreme Court Justice John] Roberts and others.”

Olson is not the only name on the shortlist, which includes federal judge Michael Mukasey and former deputy attorney generals George Terwilliger and Larry Thompson. But regardless of the nominee, Leahy has vowed not to hold a confirmation hearing until the White House ceases withholding information subpoenaed by Democrats on U.S. attorneys and warrantless surveillance.

“We can’t have a hearing until we get some of the information we subpoenaed,” Leahy reiterated on Wednesday.
Republicans are ready for a fight over those dueling investigations, betting that Democrats will use the attorney general nominee as leverage regardless of who gets the nod.

“They could nominate Pat Leahy and Democrats would fight it,” one Senate GOP aide said. “They said, we need to have a new attorney general right now, it’s too important to wait. We’ll find out if they meant that or were just using it as cover to bash Gonzales.”

Hatch gave his own advice to Democrats ready to press for White House cooperation by slowing the confirmation of a new attorney general.

“Democrats have to be very careful,” Hatch said. “Especially at this time, with a year and three months to go [in the administration].”

White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters on Wednesday that he could offer no timeframe for a nomination announcement.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 110th; attorneygeneral; bko; democrats; doj; obstructionistdems; olson; reid; reidboughtandsold; reidsawhore; reidsucksbigtime; tedolson
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Reid: "Because I can."
1 posted on 09/12/2007 4:48:00 PM PDT by Jean S
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To: JeanS

What is his objection to Olson? What is wrong with these people, they think they can do anything they want?

Reid should worry about the sorry spectacle the Congress made of itself yesterday.


2 posted on 09/12/2007 4:49:23 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Our first responsibility is to keep the power of the Presidency out of the hands of the Clintons.)
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To: popdonnelly

Can we defund the senate judiciary committee?


3 posted on 09/12/2007 4:51:29 PM PDT by Thebaddog (My dogs are asleep paws up)
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To: JeanS

Just wait til Congress adjourns and make the appointment.


4 posted on 09/12/2007 4:52:14 PM PDT by Perdogg (Cheney for President 2008)
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To: JeanS

I find it offensive that Reid can attack a fine man and attorney like Olson on the grounds that he’s “too partisan”. Judging from their actions, what are the Democratic members of Congress, besides “too partisan”. Reid’s comment is laughable.


5 posted on 09/12/2007 4:52:16 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Our first responsibility is to keep the power of the Presidency out of the hands of the Clintons.)
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To: JeanS
By the time blowing in the wind Ried wakes up, he'll think he's dealing with Olsen twins.
6 posted on 09/12/2007 4:53:04 PM PDT by DoughtyOne ((Victory will never be achieved while defining Conservatism downward, and forsaking its heritage.))
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To: JeanS

Dingy Harry is incapable of doing anything positive, he’s a worthless little worm.


7 posted on 09/12/2007 4:54:15 PM PDT by jazusamo (DefendOurMarines.com)
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To: JeanS

I wonder if Reid has ever uttered the words “We’ll defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq”?


8 posted on 09/12/2007 4:54:39 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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To: JeanS

Recess appoint him. Tell Reid to go pound sand.


9 posted on 09/12/2007 4:54:59 PM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm (John Cox 2008: Because Duncan Hunter just isn't obscure enough for me!)
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To: JeanS

Will Harry Reid succeed at anything this year? Only time will tell.


10 posted on 09/12/2007 4:55:38 PM PDT by sappy
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To: JeanS

I’d hate to see Ted Olson lower himself so far as to even have to listen to these frauds accuse him of all sorts of crap during their “advise and consent” charade. President Bush should just recess appoint John Bolton to be AG. Watch ‘em howl then.


11 posted on 09/12/2007 4:56:19 PM PDT by Argus
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To: JeanS

Children act that way. Doesn’t say much for our Congress.


12 posted on 09/12/2007 4:56:58 PM PDT by wastedyears (George Orwell was a clairvoyant.)
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To: All

screw the dems...leave the office vacant....that would be funny as hell


13 posted on 09/12/2007 4:57:24 PM PDT by Alright_on_the_LeftCoast
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To: JeanS
They will not be happy until they have destroyed this country, as long as they have kept their power. It is evident by their child-like “We will win the argument at all costs” behavior that their power is more important to them than the people they serve. Behavior like this was never imagined by our founding fathers. Just as with MoveOn.org, they have become “the enemy within”.
14 posted on 09/12/2007 4:58:38 PM PDT by Melinda
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To: JeanS

Recess Appointment?????


15 posted on 09/12/2007 4:59:03 PM PDT by stocksthatgoup (Number 1 FredHead)
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To: JeanS
The White House “doesn’t understand these people up here,” Hatch said.

Nor does the rest of the country. ...and vice versa

16 posted on 09/12/2007 5:04:16 PM PDT by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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To: JeanS

“He’s had a very political background at a time when you want [an attorney general] who puts the rule of law first,” Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), number three in the Democratic caucus, said.

The laughable quote of the day from good old Chucky.


17 posted on 09/12/2007 5:05:17 PM PDT by keepitreal
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To: JeanS

Play the 9-11 card. Hell, the dems would.


18 posted on 09/12/2007 5:06:51 PM PDT by toddlintown (Five bullets and Lennon goes down. Yet not one hit Yoko. Discuss.)
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To: JeanS
The left has caused a dangerous divide. It wasn’t so many years ago that a decent man like Olson would have no problem being confirmed by Republicans and Democrats alike.
19 posted on 09/12/2007 5:07:02 PM PDT by Jaysun (It's outlandishly inappropriate to suggest that I'm wrong.)
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To: JeanS

Reid, go to the back of the room. Sit on the stool, put on dunce cap and shut up.


20 posted on 09/12/2007 5:09:11 PM PDT by freekitty (May the eagles long fly over our beautiful and free American sky.)
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