Posted on 09/04/2003 8:49:58 AM PDT by CometBaby
The Democrats have slapped hispanics all across the United States across the face, with their treatment of Miguel Estrada.
They inferred he was dishonest and "not forthcoming" because he refused to humiliate himself by answering the horrible, petty questions they were demanding answers to. He was the first hispanic ever nominated for the SC .. and they wouldn't even allow it to come to a vote. The Democrats shamefully filabustered him for 28 months!! They insulted him with cooked up accusations .. until he finally withdrew his application in total frustration.
After he withdrew, Ted Kennedy quickly went before the cameras and called this honorable man, who was endorsed by Democrats, an "extreme idealog". This just adds insult to injury!
Democrats simply did everything they could to destroy an Hispanic applicant who was appointed by GW Bush. It was strictly polical. What a disgrace for the Democratic party. Shame, shame, shame!
Hispanics have a very strong sense of right and wrong. They know that the Democratic party has used them and taken them for granted. I'm proud that the GOP continues to reach out to Hispanics, and I am confident they will continue to move to the Republican party.
This is a systemic breakdown of the entire Republican party of which Bush is the titular head and Rove is the chief mechanic.
What could they have done? They could have done what Slick and Dick Morris did before the '96 election. They could have gone on spanish radio stations and severed the Hispanic majority from the Democrat party for generations. Before the Republicans smelled the coffee, Clinton had his second term pre - won.
The failure to confirm Estrada is only symptomatic of the larger loss of the most important swing group in American politics.
Bush's sole strategy to win this group is to look the other way when somebody flings open the back door and yells "immigration."
Those who believe that the Republicans will gain from this episode are deluded. The Republicans surrendered because they could not win the propaganda war when the issue was live with a viable nominee. The party is over.
This is nothing less than a shattering political defeat.
Rats rear. Everytime a few leave one of the handful of rats asks a quorum call. Breaking a fillibuster works when only a few are pulling it.
You may have a point there, but it still does not answer my question.
What could the Republicans have done in the Senate to get Estrada confirmed that they did not or would not do?
I am looking for specifics here, not rhetoric.
Either I'm not getting through to you are you don't understand math. It takes 50 Senators for a quorum anything less and you have to shut down. We have 55. The dims only need the guy who is talking to be on the floor plus perhaps one other to ask questions and keep him awake. If we fall below 50 they question a quorum which means a call must be done.
This means 40 of theirs can be home in bed with two showing up every few hours to replace the ones talking. We have to keep 50 or there is no quorum and it shuts down. I do not know how to explain it better. Unless there is no dim to speak we will never get a vote with 55 Senators.
As I said this is systemic breakdown in the Republican party. If the Republicans in the senate had brought on a real fillibuster, cloture would have failed. But it might have suceeded if Rove came off some money and went to the radio stations and coordinated an attack.
The failure was not just one thing or another, it was systemic. It wasn't the fog, the Panzers, the single lane road, or the bridge too far - it was a lack of will, a lack of leadership, a stingyness and lack of coordination. All of this is ultimately the President's job as head of the party.
or stupid, OR
Be sure to use your math, not sound bites.
The republicans in the senate let the democrats "filibuster" without having to filibuster. Apparently they didn't want to miss martini-call down at the local bar.
A real filibuster requires that the senator remain on the floor of the senate and actually speak. I believe Strom Thurmond has the record - over 24 hours.
But the republicans wanted the RATS to love them, so they tried to be magnanamous and let the rats hold up the nomination without doing anything as annoying as a real filibuster. So they agreed to a FINO: Filibuster In Name Only.
Tom Daschle is probably laughing his head off right now at how dumb the republicans are to let them get away with this.
If I understand correctly, this is the first time that a filibuster has been used to hold up a judicial nomination. The got away with it.
Frist could have won this if he wanted to. But he chose to let Estrada be a martyr in a futile attempt to garner more hispanic votes in the 2004 elections.
It won't work. Hispanics and blacks always vote democrat regardless. Both groups like it on the plantation, apparently.
I do not like it, nor do I agree with it, and am not defending the stupid rules. I do however understand them and know that bitching about it is useless. If you have solution let me know but yelling at the sky is a waste of time.
Thanks. That's what I wanted to know.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/976173/posts <-- good article, long. The last paragraph discusses the "politicization of the judical branch." A bit frightening, but we already saw that with the SCOFLA in the 2000 election, etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.