TODAY'S CONTINUATION OF THE FILIBUSTER debate is just that...a continuation of the same nonsense we heard from the Democratic Party yesterday. Whether it is Lautenberg and Kerry calling the end of the filibuster dangerous, contrary to their vote ten years ago to do away with it altogether, or the kindergartner from Delaware still pushing approval of district court nominees as somehow germaine to this argument.
The most humorous of all arguments is that the minority party represents the majority of citizens. Did we change to a proportional system of government when I wasn't looking?
Bottom line? The Dem's are getting hammered. The "outside the mainstream" argument is dead, and the "end of the senate as we know it" argument flies in the face of previous votes and statements. Personally, I've lost interest since it has become woefully apparent that the left has nothing more to offer on the subject today than they have for years.
Just for fun though, I link this list of previous quotes from Democrats on the subject, which I found at Bench Memos. Here are just a few samples:
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) March 19, 1997: “But I also respectfully suggest that everyone who is nominated is entitled to have a shot, to have a hearing and to have a shot to be heard on the floor and have a vote on the floor.”
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois)September 28, 1998: “We should meet our responsibility. I think that responsibility requires us to act in a timely fashion on nominees sent before us. ... Vote the person up or down.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) September 11, 1997: “Let’s bring their nominations up, debate them if necessary, and vote them up or down.”
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)February 3, 1998: “We owe it to Americans across the country to give these nominees a vote. If our Republican colleagues don’t like them, vote against them. But give them a vote.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) May 10, 2000: “The Founding Fathers certainly intended that the Senate advise as to judicial nominations, i.e., consider, debate, and vote up or down. They surely did not intend that the Senate, for partisan or factional reasons, would remain silent and simply refuse to give any advice or consider and vote at all.”
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) 5/14/97 : “It is not the role of the Senate to obstruct the process and prevent numbers of highly qualified nominees from even being given the opportunity for a vote on the Senate floor.”
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV): “[W]e should have up-or-down votes in the committee and on the floor.” (CNN’s “Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields,” 6/9/01)
Carl Levin (D-MI) "If a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate is prepared to vote to confirm the President's appointment, that vote should occur." (Cong. Rec., 6/21/95, S8806)
I say enough of this waste of taxpayer dollars. If the left insists on continuing this blatant abuse of the filibuster with no jusitification, than it has no place in the senate.
It's time to vote. End the filibuster.
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