Priority 1: Remove Specter from Judiciary (Thread 1)

11-3-04 | Always Right

[Always Right]

Whereas, liberal Senator Arlen Specter is in line to be Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Whereas, liberal Arlen Specter has a stated litmus test against pro-abortion judges.

Whereas, liberal Arlen Specter has stated he will fight against conservative judges

Whereas, in the past liberal Arlen Specter has helped defeat great judges like Robert Bork,

Whereas, the Democrats have loaded the Judiciary Committee with extreme liberals such as Kennedy, Feinstein, Leahy, and Schumer.

Whereas, liberal Arlen Specter is in a position to turn our huge and historic election victory into a defeat by killing the nomination of all decent judges,

Be it resolved, that we will do whatever it takes to get liberal Arlen Specter off the Judiciary Committee

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

This is damned important, so get ready to rock and roll!

[holyscroller]

You said go to your website, but gave no address...or is it late and I'm missing it?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Specter can go p!$$ on himself! Get rid of the b@st@rd!

[Antoninus]

You're a funny guy. You accuse everyone of "not being loyal to the president," except the guy who said this:

"When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely," Specter said, referring to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. "The president is well aware of what happened, when a number of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster," Specter added, referring to Senate Democrats' success over the past four years in blocking the confirmation of many of Bush's conservative judicial picks. "... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning."

Building public pressure against the disloyal Specter as Senate judiciary chair is a good thing.

[Once-Ler]

Your link says nothing about regret for Thomas.

Specter voted yes on the nominations of liberals David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer as well as swing justices Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor.

Kennedy was appointed by Ford and O'Connor by Reagan, and Souter by Bush Sr. I bet some other Republicans voted for them too. Ginsberg was confirmed 96-3 in the Senate. I bet some of them votes were other Republicans. Breyer...confirmed 87-9 - Guess what? More Republican votes.

“The people of Pennsylvania are overwhelmingly behind Arlen Specter because he’s an outstanding Senator. He is an effective leader for our Republican principles and gets positive results,” - VA Senator George Allen

[ConservativeGadfly]

www.fairjudiciary.com

Best feature on the site, if you ask me, is the infamous memos from the Senate Judiciary Committee memos -- I call them the "collusion memos" -- they document extraordinary collusion between leftist organizations and the Democrat senators.

[capitan_refugio]

The Republican Senate Caucus will meet before the next Congress begins in early January and work on the Sentate Rules.

One big benefit to gaining all of those conservative Senators is that the moderates will have much less leverage in making the rules.

As important as shuffling Spector away from Judiciary, is establishing a set of operating rules that will remove "advise and consent" issues from the 60-vote cloture rules. That would mean that treaties and nominations (especially judicial nominations) could not be subject to filibusters.

The "advise and concent" issues are rather narrow and involve matters specifically outlined in the Constitution.

[ConservativeGadfly]

Another interesting piece: Hoeffel lambasts Specter on controversial judicial vote The Associated Press, 7/6/2004 By Lara Jakes Jordan WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democrat seeking to oust Sen. Arlen Specter blasted the Republican lawmaker Tuesday for approving a judicial nominee who has said that rape victims rarely get pregnant and that a wife should subordinate herself to her husband. A spokesman for Specter, in line to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee if he wins re-election this fall, said Specter "agonized" before voting to confirm Arkansas attorney J. Leon Holmes for a U.S. District Court judgeship in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Holmes was confirmed by a 51-46 vote shortly after 6 p.m. Democrats had long complained about Holmes, who apologized for writing in 1980 that rape victims rarely get pregnant. Holmes had called pregnancy a "red herring" in the debate over abortion. But Holmes said his 1997 comparison of the Catholic Church's subservient relationship with Jesus Christ to a wife's duties to her husband was unfairly taken out of context. In an article he co-authored with his wife, he said a wife has an obligation "to subordinate herself to her husband" and "to place herself under the authority of the man." Six Democrats joined most Republicans in supporting Holmes, the former president of Arkansas Right to Life. Five Republicans opposed him. Specter, who delayed a committee vote on the nomination last year after the attorney's controversial statements surfaced, did not give his approval to Holmes until the confirmation was assured. He said he is "concerned" about Holmes' 1980 and 1997 statements, but "I do not believe that they reflect a fixed state of mind demonstrating a predisposition on judicial issues to come before his court." __________________________________________________________ The endorsement from the Philly Inquirer: Editorial | U.S. Senate Reelect Specter Arlen Specter has become a force to be reckoned with in the U.S. Senate. His 24 years have made him the longest-serving Pennsylvanian ever to hold the job. Specter is an important Republican voice advocating more federal dollars for hunger relief, education and mass transit. As a swing vote whose support is continually sought by both parties, he has built up the clout and seniority to ensure that Pennsylvania receives its fair share of federal spending. In his current term, Specter was instrumental in doubling the funding for the National Institutes of Health, which researches cures for diseases and treats hospitals in this region well. He has lobbied the White House on steel tariffs and resisted the administration's new payroll overtime regulations. Although he sometimes sides with the Democrats, Specter is respected within his own party enough to have gained a seat among the Senate's GOP leadership. He's a member of the Appropriations Committee and, assuming Republicans keep control of the Senate, will become chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The Inquirer believes Specter should get another six-year term. Preserving the legality of abortion plays no small part in this decision. Sometime in the next four years, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee will very likely find himself in the pivotal role of scrutinizing at least one new Supreme Court nominee. Assuming that Republicans are in charge of the Senate, it would be better to have the chairman's seat filled by Specter, who says Roe v. Wade is "inviolate" as the law of the land. If Specter loses, next in line among Republicans to be chairman is Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who opposes abortion rights. It's highly unlikely that Specter's challenger, Democratic Rep. Joe Hoeffel, would find himself on the Judiciary Committee anytime soon. He may receive better marks from abortion-rights groups than Specter, but the implications of Specter not being in the Judiciary chair are hard to ignore. ____________________________________________________________ And another interesting article... CAMPAIGN 2004 Stop This Man A specter haunts the Senate Judiciary Committee. His name is Arlen. BY TIMOTHY P. CARNEY Sunday, September 7, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT For all the troubles Senate Democrats have given President Bush and his judicial nominees, things may get worse if he wins a second term. Arlen Specter, a prickly moderate Republican with an independent streak, will become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee after the 2004 elections--unless the GOP leadership or Pennsylvania's voters do something about it. Sen. Specter, a perpetual irritant to Washington conservatives, is consistently one of the most liberal votes in the GOP. His demeanor has earned him the name "Snarlin' Arlen," and his record has led to a primary challenge from conservative Pat Toomey. But with the Judiciary Committee's gavel within Mr. Specter's reach, his treatment of Republican judicial nominees--past and present--is most alarming. Because of GOP term limits on committee chairmen, Orrin Hatch will give up the Judiciary chairmanship after the elections. Mr. Specter will be next in seniority--assuming he's re-elected. The current case of conservative judicial nominee J. Leon Holmes, together with Mr. Specter's past record, ought to make the GOP buck seniority and skip Mr. Specter. Mr. Specter voted for Mr. Holmes in committee, and has given no indication he might oppose the nomination on the Senate floor. Instead, Mr. Specter has privately approached GOP senators, telling them to vote down Judge Holmes when his nomination hits the floor. Maine's Susan Collins has received Mr. Specter's plea to sink Judge Holmes, and Senate staffers say Mr. Specter is whipping other moderate Republicans behind the scenes against President Bush's nominee--remarkable behavior for the potential future point-man on judicial confirmations. Opposing Republican nominees is nothing new for Mr. Specter. Most notably, he played a critical role in killing the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork, President Reagan's nominee. Tom Korologos, Judge Bork's shepherd in 1987, credits Mr. Specter with the "game-winning RBI" in the fight to keep Judge Bork off the bench. Mr. Specter played central roles in the Judiciary Committee rejections of Reagan nominees Jeff Sessions (now a senator from Alabama) and William Bradford Reynolds, whose rejection to a Justice Department position the Washington Post called "a stinging political slap at President Reagan." Currently, Mr. Specter has made it public that he may oppose Alabama's attorney general, William Pryor, and Los Angeles County Judge Carolyn Kuhl--both conservative Bush nominees to the federal bench--on the Senate floor. With Judge Holmes, he is far less honest but even more staunch in his opposition. The Judiciary chairman is counted on (assuming a Republican White House and Senate) to serve as a nominee's champion in committee hearings and before the full Senate. With Mr. Specter as chairman, the White House would have no such champion. Mr. Specter's articulated constitutional principles are dramatically at odds with those of the White House. In his book about himself, "Passion for Truth," Mr. Specter proudly takes credit for the Bork sinking, explaining, "Bork's narrow approach is dangerous for constitutional government." Yet the judge's "narrow approach"--strict contructionism--is also President Bush's cherished view of constitutional interpretation. If the president is to deliver on his promise--essential to motivating his conservative base--to place strict constructionist judges on the court, Mr. Specter must not be allowed to pilot the nominating process. Mr. Carney is a reporter for the Evans-Novak Political Report.

[joe_broadway]

I will never forgive Specter for his gutless attack on Robert Bork.

The dialogue between Bork and Specter during the hearings was a classic.

Specter was too dumb or intellectually dishonest to understand plain English and plain logic.

Nobody could be that stupid, he had to be pretending to not understand.

I forever label Specter as a dishonest shill for an ACLU-reinvented constitution.

[ConservativeGadfly]

apologies for the spacing issues....

[ApesForEvolution]

I view this as similar in importance to replacing the IDIOT Trent Lott...very, very similar. Why put up a roadblock in your road to victory for America???

[ApesForEvolution]

Send Spectrum over to the UK to check on Richard Dreyfuss...then don't let either one back into America...

[Once-Ler]

Specter was too dumb or intellectually dishonest to understand plain English and plain logic.

He was smart enough to get elected and re-elected. Even Alan Keyes isn't that smart. I prefer Specter over Obama.

[PianoMan]

Bump to the top! This is absolutely PRIORITY ONE!!!!!

[dsc]

"Even Alan Keyes isn't that smart."

In a popularity contest, "smart" can be a decided disadvantage.

[ConservativeGadfly]

On abortion, gay marriage and a host of other "Values" issues, there isn't a dime's worth of difference between Specter and Obama. Oh, except Obama isn't chair of the judiciary committee -- where he could delay for as long as he wants to....among other little tricks.

I thought it was bad with Orrin Hatch effectively pocket vetoing Claude Allen -- a fantastic 4th circuit nominee, a black conservative who would serve with absolute distinction.

But we have just gone straight into the fire from the frying pan with Specter as the chair and it is in a particularly important time frame with a Supreme Ct battle looming large.

[TEXOKIE]

bump

[joe_broadway]

He was smart enough to get elected and re-elected

Yes, he certainly is smart which can only mean the other option must be true.

Specter is blatantly dishonest; at least he certainly was in his questioning and dialogue with Bork. That dishonesty contributed to the liberals trumped-up case against Bork.

Like I said, that dialogue is classic.

BTW, Specter is smart, but not even close to the category of Robert Bork.

[Mo1]

Thank you for that list

[Once-Ler]

Specter is blatantly dishonest; at least he certainly was in his questioning and dialogue with Bork.

Bork was 3 Senate elections ago. The people of PA disagree with you. Specter is a good Senator. He represents the people of PA. Alan Keyes would never do that. Keyes would be a moral authoritarian and tell the people what was good for them.