Thursday, May 05, 2005

'Nuclear option' vote as soon as next Tuesday?

Daily Kos has the comprehensive wrap-up.

At this point I think I'll just post the inflamed rhetoric coming out of the mouths of the far right radical extremists and let you judge for yourself:

"I believe it's concrete," (Manuel) Miranda (chairman of the National Coalition to End the Judicial Filibuster) said. "It must happen next week. It would be considered intolerable to delay any further than next week." He added, "Were it to be delayed beyond the next week, the Senate GOP should expect tens of thousands of angry phone calls and faxes to tie up their lines." (PD's note: Formerly a senior aide to Frist, one of Miranda's responsibilities in that capacity was to screen judicial nominees.)

“We’ve made it clear that patience is running out,” said Richard Lessner, executive director of the American Conservative Union.



This from the Right Hook:

"The art of politics today is not to compromise, but to demonize," Brian Fahling of the American Family Association aptly noted on Wednesday. He was in fact referring to a recent speech by Al Gore denouncing the Republican effort to dismantle the filibuster as "an American heresy." Fahling went on to say that "Democrats like Mr. Gore wish to continue populating the federal courts with judges who fancy themselves masters of good and evil," and that "holding President Bush's nominees hostage is their only hope, as they see it, of continuing to impose their radical social agenda on a reluctant nation."

James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who previously offered glowing remarks likening Supreme Court justices to members of the Ku Klux Klan, revisited the Terri Schiavo saga in his April newsletter to constituents. "This cooperative effort between the judiciary and the media to kill an innocent woman," he said, "is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American history."

"Judicial hostility to faith, and especially Christianity has never been greater than today," Dobson went on. He urged supporters to pressure the seven "squishy" Republicans who haven't committed to nuking the filibuster. And he personally warned the legislators not to squander their party's rare grip on power:

"You have been made the majority in the House, in the Senate, and a Republican occupies the White House. Together they represent the coveted 'Triple Crown' of American politics. If you fritter away the responsibility to reform the courts, and if you ignore the 'values' that motivated those who supported you at the polls, you do not deserve the trust given to you."


It's only Thursday, but that last one is probably the Moneyshot Quote of the Week.

If you haven't telephoned your Senators -- no matter who they happen to be -- now would be a good time.

Update (5/11/05): Well, yesterday came and went without a vote on the 'nuclear option'. Now Dr. Kitten Killer says it will be on for next week. He's been saying 'next week' for several weeks now. The fact of the matter is that Bill Frist would call the question if he had the votes. Harry Reid called Frist's bluff yesterday; did you see his statement? I think it's incredible that Frist can't hold his caucus together with a six-vote majority (including Dick Cheney as tie breaker) and he wants to be president ...

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