Roberts Approved 13-5
Forget about it, Dems. Rage against the machine, lefties. Even a symbolic floor opposition to John Roberts' confirmation as the next Chief Justice of the United States isn't going anywhere.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination 13-5, with all ten 'Pubbies plus Senators Feingold, Kohl, and Leahy voting in favor. If that proportion holds, JR will clear seventy "yea" votes.
And it isn't (hopefully) going to get any easier next time, filibuster or no filibuster.
It's just dawning on them that they lost the last three elections. It'll be interesting to see if that realization can be discarded before it starts sinking in.
If so, it'll just become a boomerang that drives the reality home like a hammer hitting a nail.
UPDATE: Per Brother Meringoff, Senator McCain and his mutineers are confirming this optimistic outlook:
I'd love to be as optimistic. And perhaps I could be, if the source of these reassurances wasn't the same man who torpedoed his own party and his own president on the eve of their banning confirmation filibusters once and for all four months ago. Once bitten, twice shy.
Nevertheless, I think - I hope - that the President understands what he has to do. And that means not just no squishes, but no more stealth nominees as well. The GOP base - whose support for the President has reportedly dropped fourteen percent (due largely to his post-Katrina spending binge) - will not settle for anything less than an overt, awowed conservative to replace Justice O'Connor.
If Dubya doesn't "go for it," the pronouncements of his "irrelevance" will become a great deal less premature.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination 13-5, with all ten 'Pubbies plus Senators Feingold, Kohl, and Leahy voting in favor. If that proportion holds, JR will clear seventy "yea" votes.
And it isn't (hopefully) going to get any easier next time, filibuster or no filibuster.
It's just dawning on them that they lost the last three elections. It'll be interesting to see if that realization can be discarded before it starts sinking in.
If so, it'll just become a boomerang that drives the reality home like a hammer hitting a nail.
UPDATE: Per Brother Meringoff, Senator McCain and his mutineers are confirming this optimistic outlook:
As Senator McCain said last night, the seven Democrats in the "gang of 14" are loath to filibuster the next nominee. Nor are more than five of the 55 Republican members likely to break ranks. Thus, I believe that there is no one of the lists of potential nominees we are seeing who likely would not be confirmed, and only two or three who barring, a poor performance before the Judiciary Committee, would not be a clear favorite in the confirmation battle. It follows that, if we fail to replace Justice O'Connor with a strong conservative, it will almost surely be because President Bush didn't nominate one, and not because of the Senate.
I'd love to be as optimistic. And perhaps I could be, if the source of these reassurances wasn't the same man who torpedoed his own party and his own president on the eve of their banning confirmation filibusters once and for all four months ago. Once bitten, twice shy.
Nevertheless, I think - I hope - that the President understands what he has to do. And that means not just no squishes, but no more stealth nominees as well. The GOP base - whose support for the President has reportedly dropped fourteen percent (due largely to his post-Katrina spending binge) - will not settle for anything less than an overt, awowed conservative to replace Justice O'Connor.
If Dubya doesn't "go for it," the pronouncements of his "irrelevance" will become a great deal less premature.
posted by JASmius at 11:07 AM
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