Why did McCain cut a deal ?? Why is he protecting extremists ??

[eek.]

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Seems strange to me.
Only 60 votes are required to break the tactic so the house can zap any
extremist eejits who try to invoke it.
Successful filibustering can only happen if there are fundamental differences.

Cheney declaring the filibuster unconstitutional would have been a complete
hoot.
Added to stuff like the Patriot Act, Guantanamo and the illegal invasion of Iraq
this Administration needsto go down in history as a warning to future
generations of Americans.


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US Senate deal prevents showdown




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The tradition of the filibuster is almost as old as the Senate itself







</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->A small group of US Senators has reached a last-minute deal to avoid a major political showdown in Congress.




Democrats and Republicans have been at odds over President George W Bush's judicial nominations.

The deal struck by 14 senators from both sides means at least one of the nominees - Texas judge Priscilla Owen - is likely to be approved on Tuesday.

It also averts a threat to change the filibuster, which lets a senator block debate by talking non-stop.

"Armageddon has been avoided," said New York state Democrat Senator Charles Schumer. "The Senate won and the country won," said John McCain, Republican Senator for Arizona and another of the 14.



Talking it out

Although dozens of President Bush's judicial nominees for the federal courts have been approved by the Senate, several are still awaiting confirmation votes.

The judges have the support of the Republicans but they have been criticised for being too right-wing by Democrats.

Republicans have 55 of the 100 seats in the Senate, so Democrats have been threatening to use the filibuster - which only a three-fifths majority can break - for the candidates they dislike the most

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</TD><TD class=sibtbg>Each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgement in determining whether extraordinary circumstances exist





'Memorandum of understanding'




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Republicans have been accusing Democrats of behaving in an unconstitutional manner by advocating the tactic, and threatened to abolish the rule for judicial nominations.

Democrats - and some critics on the Republican side - have pointed out that the same tactic was used against former President Bill Clinton's nominees. They also point out that there is little difference between the ratio of approvals to blocked nominations under President Bush and that of the Clinton administration. If the Republican side had gone ahead, in a plan which would have used the vote of Vice-President Dick Cheney to declare the filibuster unconstitutional, the upshot could have been to freeze Senate business altogether.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4574235.stm

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Filibuster_Cloture.htm





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[eek.]

And the Democrats in this pact with the devil will find what we already know in Europe.

Appeasement never works.

 

[PatPatriot]

McCain is not protecting the extremist.

He is in fact trying to make himself moderate and a "voice of reason."
So he can make a presidential run in 08.He is actually pissing the conservatives off.The dems are trying to say that the repubs are trying to change the constitution and of course the media is carrying the water ffor them, its bullshit.

the dems are trying to force Bush to be the only president in US history to have judges confirmed with 60 votes when all other presidents only had to have a simple majority of 51....Its the dems who are trying to change the rules but you never hear that.
If the senate was made up of 90 repubs the dems would fillibuster for a 91 for confirmation.
For a party thats always bitching about "counting the votes" (dems) they sure are doing everything in their power to prevent it.

 

[eek.]

Your present system is actually quite impressive.


If the Repubs want to declare it unconstitutional then let history record that fact.
The Dems should let the Repubs show their true colours, and allow them to remove a cornerstone of democratic compromise within your system.

In this case, McCain is nothing but a Trojan Horse for the extremists lurking within US politics.

....will be interesting to see which Dems really are modern day Neville Chamberlains and which ones are bluffing.

 

[JinnRikki]

the dems are trying to force Bush to be the only president in US history to have judges confirmed with 60 votes when all other presidents only had to have a simple majority of 51....Its the dems who are trying to change the rules but you never hear that.

That's just wrong, please provide a link to back that nonsense up.

 

[JinnRikki]

Your present system is actually quite impressive.


If the Repubs want to declare it unconstitutional then let history record that fact.
The Dems should let the Repubs show their true colours, and allow them to remove a cornerstone of democratic compromise within your system.

In this case, McCain is nothing but a Trojan Horse for the extremists lurking within US politics.

....will be interesting to see which Dems really are modern day Neville Chamberlains and which ones are bluffing.

The thing is all this does is kick the can down the road. The Repukes are bitchin' and moanin'... but they won, they got almost all of what they wanted. And now when the Dems threaten a filibuster the repukes will howl that they broke the bargain. And I promise you if Rehnquist retires bush and crew will send up a nominee so horrific to the Dems that a filibuster will be the only option.
I don't see how Dems won anything, their idea of what is extreme has just been redefined by the Repukes.

 

[nimue77]

The extremists are those who think its a good idea to get rid of the fillibuster - which has been part of congress much longer than any of the assh*les sitting in it.

 

[TheRightWing]

Would of been a sore black eye on the Repubs!The fillibuster should stay around forever, but JUST wait until later this fall and you'll really see how a fillibuster works in action when Bush tries to appoint new judges to the Supreme Court. That will be fun too watch let me tell ya!!!

 

[SamOdom]

The Repukes are bitchin' and moanin'... but they won, they got almost all of what they wanted. And now when the Dems threaten a filibuster the repukes will howl that they broke the bargain.

Correct, I dont get it?! One rep who signed this 'agreement' has already said if the dems try to use the fillibuster on any other nominee then all bets were off and the nuke option is back on the table.

 

[cutacrossshorty]

The Dems were 2 votes short if it came down to the a vote on the Nuclear option. They had to make a deal. Only the right wing extremists, led by Frist, were upset. Frist had an assignment from James Dobson, etal. to get the Nuclear option passed and he was left out of the deal. Frist has/had no intention to compromise and that is why he and his crew are unhappy.

 

[SamOdom]

The Dems were 2 votes short if it came down to the a vote on the Nuclear option. They had to make a deal. Only the right wing extremists, led by Frist, were upset. Frist had an assignment from James Dobson, etal. to get the Nuclear option passed and he was left out of the deal. Frist has/had no intention to compromise and that is why he and his crew are unhappy.

But why are so many national dems on TV so happy over this deal? Dems got ZERO out of this agreement except to delay the showdown while 3 judges they did not want will get confirmed.

 

[SamOdom]

John McCain is no friend to any party! All he wants is 'face time' and he will do or say anything to get more air time.

 

[cutacrossshorty]

But why are so many national dems on TV so happy over this deal? Dems got ZERO out of this agreement except to delay the showdown while 3 judges they did not want will get confirmed.

I really haven't watched much TV today (except for Pistons/Heat). Most of them are smart enough to know the score. Basically, they get to live to fight another day. Frist seems weakened somewhat. I heard some radio interviews today (Barbara Boxer and Barak Obama) and they were pretty level headed about it and what it all means.

 

[TheRightWing]

that damn McCain he's just a right wing extremist and he should be in jail with Bush and Delay!

 

[PatPatriot]

For a party thats always bitching about "counting the votes" (dems) they sure are doing everything in their power to prevent it.<!-- / message -->

 

[PatPatriot]

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 11:52 a.m. EDT



Gallup Shock: 69 Percent Oppose Dem Filibusters

An overwhelming majority of Americans agree with Republicans who say President Bush's judicial nominees deserve an up-or-down vote, according to a Gallup survey released yesterday.

The bombshell survey found that 35 percent "want to see the filibuster rules changed so that those judicial nominees are subject to an up-or-down vote," Gallup said.

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Thirty-four percent "want to see the filibuster rule preserved" but "would like to see the Senate have an up-or-down vote on those nominees."



Only 19 percent told Gallup that Democrats were right to filibuster judicial appointments, with 12 percent voicing no opinion.

Twenty-four hours after the bombshell poll's release, news that 69 percent of Americans want Democrats to stop filibustering Bush's judicial nominees has yet to be reported by a single major U.S. media outlet.

In another stunning development, a plurality of those surveyed by Gallup - 38 percent - said that Christian influence on the courts was "not enough," while only 27 percent disagreed. Twenty-eight percent said Christian influence on the courts was "about right."

The Gallup survey also found that 29 percent of Americans "think Federal court judges are too liberal" - with just 19 percent saying the judiciary is "too conservative."

Editor's note:
(Newsmax)

 

[eek.]

hehe.
fuxxing excellent.


Did they also poll to see how many of these people want to rename the Senate as the Reichstag?

 

[eek.]

Are all these Republican recent rule changes true.....?

omg you guys are fooked....

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But when the Republicans took over the White House in 2001 and the Senate in 2003, things sped up. In 2003, Hatch announced that he would abandon the "blue-slip system" he had insisted on since 1995, whereby a senator could block action on a nominee from his or her home state; North Carolina's Jesse Helms had used this power to block every one of three black candidates to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Anonymous floor holds were abolished, as was the rule requiring that at least one minority-party senator on the Judiciary Committee must agree to a vote on a nominee if any committee member objects. These rules changes left the Democrats with only the filibuster.
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America America uber alles

 

[t3a]

"Nominees deserve to be treated with dignity and dispatch--not delayed for two and three years. We are seeing outstanding nominees nitpicked and delayed to the point that good women and men are being deterred from seeking to serve as federal judges. Nominees practicing law see their work put on hold while they await the outcome of their nominations. "

- Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), during the Clinton administration

 

[t3a]

I don't think we should have litmus tests for members of the sub-Cabinet, the Cabinet or the judges. . . . We're not going to do that. We're going to have hearings. We're going to have the process vetted as soon as possible. And I think we should have up-or-down votes in the committee and on the floor. So the answer is, no, there is not litmus test and there will not be.

- Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), during the Clinton administration