John Roberts, Sam Alito, JANICE ROGERS BROWN!, Priscilla Owen, William Pryor.... All confirmed with barely a fight. Getting the picture?
Here ya go; I copied and pasted from an old thread (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1494718/posts?page=33#33) so you can hopefully get a clue:
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A Democrat filibuster is a dead issue - - won’t happen.
When Graham and DeWine walked into the scheme (the “Gang of Fourteen” deal) to trick the rats, they knew full well that they were going to take a hit from conservatives who were slow to figure it all out. And they did take a beating.
(Curiously, there are still some conservatives who apparently don’t get it yet, even after Owens, Brown, Pryor and others have been confirmed, and even after it has been explained that Frist STILL has his finger hovering over “the nuclear button” and he can push it any time he needs to.)
At this point, thanks to the “extraordinary circumstances” language of “the deal”, the rats are completely boxed in and our nervous “blue state” GOP Senators have the cover they need to vote nuclear if and when the time comes.
(It still boggles my mind that the Democrats walked right into the trap. I can hardly stop smiling!)
The Republicans needed to get a couple of ringers into the “Gang of Fourteen” in order for the scheme to work, and Graham and DeWine stepped up - - they are heroes.
The scheme was needed in the first place either because Frist was not certain that he had the fifty votes needed to “go nuclear” OR he figured that doing the “deal” was simply a superior strategy, especially from a PR point of view - - with “the deal”, the liberal press couldn’t accuse the Republicans of “running roughshod over the Constitution”, being “bullies”, doing “incalculable damage to Constitution”, “destroying Senate tradition”, etc., etc. This was the kind of press that some “blue state” Republican Senators were nervous about. But not anymore - - because NOW they got some COVER! See, if the rats filibuster virtually ANYBODY, especially a Supreme Court nominee, then the Republicans can throw up their hands and claim that the Democrats went back on their word. “We are left no choice, in the face of broken promises by the Democrats, but to change the filibuster rules at this time.”
I happen to believe that “the deal” was a masterpiece of political ingenuity that could only have been dreamed up by the ghost of Lee Atwater over breakfast with Karl Rove. And it could not have happened without the willing participation of Graham and DeWine.
SUMMARY:
As a result of “the deal”, the rats cannot sustain a filibuster because seven of them have promised not to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee except under “extrordinary circumstances”. (Simply being a conservative does not meet the criteria of “extrordinary circumstances”.) IF five of the seven Democrats in the “Gang of Fourteen” are forced by leadership to break their promise and support a filibuster, then the GOP can unabashedly (thanks to the cover provided by “the deal”) exercise their “nuclear” option.
And so any talk of a filibuster is indeed “bluster”.
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Here’s more:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1409143/posts
By the way, welcome to Free Republic.
Greetings Lancey:
Interesting spin on the situation. I strongly disagree that RINO DeWine fell on the sword for the GOP. IMHO the “Gang of 14” is responsible for the ‘Rat majority in the 2006 elections.
Ohio voters are very fickle. A wolf in sheep’s clothing is more dangerous than a wolf. After the “Gang of 14,” blew the wool off of the GOP victory, there was no way Ohio Conservatives would canvas neighborhoods for RINO wolves like DeWine; even over the prospect of Clown ‘Rat Brown.
And BTW, McInsane will never get me, nor the hundreds of other volunteers who canvassed Michigan for him in 2000 this time around. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Cheers,
OLA
Thanks for posting the info about the “Gang of Fourteen”. I hope Freepers will come to understand what a victory for Republicans it really was. We’re lucky those guys intervened which prevented the fillibuster by democrats & thus Republicans having to use the “Nuclear Option”. It was sort of like us negotiating w/ the Russians (or whomever) to prevent them deploying their forces which would prompt us to deploy a nuke (ala “Nuclear Option”). Diplomacy is better than force when both can accomplish the same goal. (Don’t read into that that I support negotiating w/ terrorists or anything like that!).
Okay, so we have McCain who is certainly the more Social Conservative than Romney or Giuliani; and he’s certainly the most Fiscally Conservative candidate in the race, period. Hunter & Thompson just aren’t showing the numbers to be viable candidates - So who you gonna vote for??
And when was that poll posted above taken? Wonder if the numbers have changed at all since then...
Gang of 14 was actually a great political accomplishment; McCain-Feingold was probably initialted w/ good intentions but turned out to have unforseen negatives, and the Immigration Bill was probably a rush to take action (tried to accomplish something too quickly). I don’t think his inclusion in the “Keating 5” is really a reflection of his actions - he was a newbie that got incriminated by association - and remember, he was found NOT to have done anything wrong. That incident is what has shaped McCain into the conscientious senator he has become. He’s more careful than the average legislator NOT to do anything questionable!
NEVER voted for earmarks, loves the line-item veto, NEVER voted for a tax increase, targets over-spending & misuse of power by Congress - Put this guy in charge! (He knows the system and will fix it!).
Good on Domestic Issues, Good on Foreign Policy...
A vote for anyone else is one up for the democrats!