| Prior to a Rose Garden sales pitch meeting by George W. Bush,
trying to set up his prime pick candidates for the supreme court, Bill
Frist, Senate Majority leader proposed changes in senate rules that would
wipe out the power of the filibuster, drastically changing senate rules
which allow for balance in influence on issues where the balance of power
is skewed.
The motion would initially allow a fillibuster to require 60 votes to
pass, but with each re-submission of the nominee, the number required
would drop by three, until, eventually, only 51 would be required.
The entire process would take about 13 days.
Changes to senate rules require a two thirds majority to be approved.
So far, Zell Miller, Georgia Democrat who often votes with Republicans,
is on board the Republican plan to whittle away at democracy.
Bush, in his Rose gathering speech, complained that he has had his
judicial appointments held up longer than any other president. He
complained that justice was being harmed by the Democrat's delays. TOm
Daschle, senate minority leader, says that 124 judges have been approved.
Bush failed to mention this. He also failed to mention that during the
Clinton years, republicans blocked many judges Clinton proposed.
Orrin Hatch is a key figure behind the machinations in the
senate. It's been said that this attempt to circumvent the
Filibuster process is "going nuclear," since it is such a
drastic move that will force Democrats to take extreme action. There is
more talk of "revolution" on the progressive, left of center
talk radio than ever. If the republicans in the senate, in some way erase,
without this two thirds vote, the power of filibuster, what options will
the democrats, will the majority of Americans who voted for Al Gore have
to put a leash on the out of control rabid right wing?
The fact is, there is next to no chance that this bill will pass. The
Dems who are filibustering the judges can filibuster the bill. This
is bluster, a coordinated effort by the Senate and the WhiteHouse,
whining, trying to make the public think this is a constitutional crisis.
This is an opportunity for the Dems to turn it around and show what lying
manipulators the republicans are. All of the regular US media-- the
"new American Pravda" that act like state-run propaganda arms of
the white house are reporting the story as though what Bush and his
cronies state are the facts.
Smirking Chimp has done this spin on a headline today
"Sore losers: Angry GOP wants to change Senate filibuster rules"
reprinting a NEWSDAY article
originally titled "Angry GOP Wants to Change the
Rules; Would make it harder to block
nominations."
This is pure propaganda on the Bush White
House's part. These judges being filibustered are the worst out of over
125 that Bush has proposed. They are the worst whores for procorporate,
anti-abortion sectors of the Bush monkey-mind voter base. With
expectations that the Supreme court will open up for nominations this
summer, Bush is stoking the fires of what will be a much bigger battle
with much nastier accusations. Surely, the Democrats will use the same
strategies to protect the Supreme court from the kinds of ultra-partisans
that Bush has proven he will repetitively pummel the congress with in his
efforts to politicize the judiciary. Hell, it worked to get him his stolen
presidency.....
The
Reality of the Judicial 'Crisis' NY Times President
Bush got it wrong last week when he blamed Senate Democrats for the
impasse over his judicial nominees.
Comments from
the Washington Post :
"During
the Clinton administration, Republicans refused even to hold hearings for
more than 50 judicial nominees, including Elena Kagan, who is about to
become dean of the Harvard Law School. Now that Bush is nominating judges,
Democrats have taken the rare step of filibustering -- or blocking -- two
appeals court nominees and are considering using similar tactics to stop
others."
more......
and
more+++
Other
writings of Rob Kall |
