Monday, July 04, 2005

The ball’s in our Court

The Coalition of the Chillin’ wins again. From the WashPost: “Filibuster deal puts Democrats in a bindPact may hinder efforts to block high court nominee

The pact, signed by seven Democrats and seven Republicans, says a judicial nominee will be filibustered only under "extraordinary circumstances." Key members of the group said yesterday that a nominee's philosophical views cannot amount to "extraordinary circumstances" and that therefore a filibuster can be justified only on questions of personal ethics or character.

The distinction is crucial because Democrats want to force Bush to pick a centrist, not a staunch conservative as many activist groups on the political right desire. Holding only 44 of the Senate's 100 seats, Democrats have no way to block a Republican-backed nominee without employing a filibuster, which takes 60 votes to stop.
Not that their word means anything: “Senators won’t rule out filibuster” The peril here is that if the Democrats back out on the agreement, it will provide cover for the moderate Republicans (some call them RINOs) to support the nuclear option. Sweet.

Let’s chill!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frist & Co. didn't have the balls/polls/votes to pull the nuclear trigger before, for middling political stakes. They'll never, never, never, never, never, never, never consider making the move for the Supreme Court. P.S. Never, never, never.

The "RINOs" are ready to charge? The moderate Republicans are the ones who need and receive Democratic support, and thus have the most to lose. If you even imagine otherwise, you've been inhaling too many 4th of July fireworks fumes.

Mark said...

Isn't it neat when people slag you, yet remain anonymous? In any event, you're the one smoking, pal, if you think for a minute we wouldn't go nuclear if the Dems renege on the deal...the filibuster deal has been an unmitigated disaster for the Democrats...name me even one benefit they have received (I can name you a half-dozen on our side already).

Oh, and Happy 4th...

Anonymous said...

Who ever thought the compromise wasn't a net loss for the Dems? The Democrats are down 6 seats, they lose things. The only ones I remember crying about the GOP taking a hit by only getting most of what they wanted were the conservative bloggers, who were wailing about Frist "caving."

The benefit the Dems received (besides the 2 nominees who got shelved) is pushing the issue forward to the imminent Supreme Court pick(s). And here we are.

If the GOP couldn't handle the potential electoral fallout over ramming through their circuit court picks, and if they couldn't keep their troops unified, they will never, never, NEVER use the tactic for a Supreme Court choice. Regardless of the bluster that war room insiders like yourself propound, Mr. "We."