Exspecteration
Sen. Arlen Specter has not earned elevation to the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will stand at the commanding heights of the Republican Party agenda during President George W. Bush's second term. Three major tasks will confront the chairman: confirming Supreme Court nominees; ending unconstitutional filibusters that thwart judicial confirmations by simple majorities; and, passing legislation to strengthen the president's power to wage war against global terrorism. In all these respects, Mr. Specter is not the superior choice. The chairmanship should crown a senator whose loyalties to the Republican Party mainstream are unwavering and enthusiastic.
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In reaching out to the entire nation, the righties are hard at work ramming their agenda down the throats of all Americans. Just like the purges at the CIA, the Bush administration and its cronies are seeking to purge the party leadership of all but the most radically conservative un-representatives.
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| The filibuster is unconstitutional. "[Republicans in last session] commanded but 51 votes and were unable to close ranks behind a parliamentary ruling holding the filibuster rule unconstitutional and unenforceable to frustrate the will of a simple majority in favor of confirming a federal judge." (If you can work your way through the syntax thicket.) |
The filibuster has been
in use for
almost 200 years--as a matter of senate procedure it is supported
by the Constitution, Article
I, Section 5: "Each House may determine the rules of
its proceedings." "Advice
and consent" means more than strictly a "simple majority" |
| "Yet Mr. Specter has never either publicly assailed the constitutionality of the Democrat filibustering of federal judges or expressed an eagerness to assemble a Senate majority to attack its constitutional footing." |
It's not our job to defend a stooge like Specter, but really, Mr. Fein should try doing research outside the right-wing media. Specter did it for him, while on his knees in the Wall Street Journal: "I am committed, in word and deed, to prompt action by the Judiciary Committee. Last April, I introduced Senate Resolution 327, a protocol to establish prompt action on all judicial nominees... "I was also among the first to call for a marathon, round-the-clock debate to draw attention to the Democratic obstruction, which we held in November 2003. I made 17 floor statements to protest Democratic filibusters on nominees including Miguel Estrada and Charles Pickering." |
| The Democratic filibusters are unfair and unprecedented. |
In fact, Democrats have approved an unprecedented number of Bush judges, many or most far to the right. In the first three years only 3.4% of nominees were blocked--versus the 20% the Republicans blocked in Clinton's last five years. In fact, back in 1994 Sen. Orrin Hatch called the filibuster "one of the few tools that the minority has to protect itself and those the minority represent." Now Mr. Hatch thinks it might be "unconstitutional." |
In reaching out to the entire nation, the righties are hard at work ramming their agenda down the throats of all Americans. Just like the purges at the CIA, the Bush administration and its cronies are seeking to purge the party leadership of all but the most radically conservative un-representatives.
Case in point: Senator Arlen Specter, long-time turkey, first-time chicken. Despite repeated and humiliating attempts to demonstrate his loyalty to Presidentissimo Bush, Specter gets targetted by the far right--first by the tax-the-poor Club for Growth in the Republican primary, now by James Dobson, the kingmaker of the new "values" duplicity. Meanwhile, Bush campaigned with Specter in Pennsylvania, desperate for the state's moderate electoral votes.
