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I B Squidly
Vice Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 879
Location: Cactus Patch
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 Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:26 pm Post subject: Sen. Kerry calls for filibuster of Alito |
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sKerry is in Davos Switzerland on a ski junket...er...to audit the World Economic Forum, a requirement for his advanced degree in Dubiety. Between ski runs he was marshaling support in phone calls during the day. Some senior Democrats said they are worried that the move could backfire....How would they know? Does it ever matter? The Dems are becoming a vaudeville act replete with exploding cigars, pompous fall guys and inane repartee.
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"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"
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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:11 pm Post subject: Re: Sen. Kerry calls for filibuster of Alito |
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| I B Squidly wrote: | | sKerry is in Davos Switzerland on a ski junket...er...to audit the World Economic Forum |
Today, our fish wrapper carried a large front page photo with the following caption:
| Quote: | Cant Hide Behind Those Sunglasses!
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were the center of attention at London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday. The couple were boarding a flight to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos. |
I'm sure glad all this brainpower is gathering to straighten out the world's problems. I wonder if Terezzza is being left behind to mind the mansion while the beautiful people dedicate themselves to this thankless toil. 
Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:13 am Post subject: Re: Sen. Kerry calls for filibuster of Alito |
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| I B Squidly wrote: | | Some senior Democrats said they are worried that the move [filibuster] could backfire.... |
I really shouldn't watch C-Span. After all the Republicans had delivered their speeches this afternoon, Specter took the floor and said that Frist had asked him to announce that since there were no speakers left, they should vote. We either speak or we vote.
Dingy Harry rushed in, objecting that some senators were overseas, besides he wanted to be sure that Snowe, Collins and Chaffee were comfortable with their positions (!), and blah, blah, blah. Couldn't possibly vote.
Reid obviously wants to filibuster or at least deny Bush the confirmation until after the SOTU address.
Frist had asked Specter to beg Dingy to go on with business?? Frist has seemingly totally, once and for all, abdicated the Leadership. It is time that this nice, but ineffectual, man be replaced. There has to be some Republican senator who can make Dingy realize he's the Minority for a change. I just don't understand it.
Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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GM Strong
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 18 Sep 2004
Posts: 1579
Location: Penna
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:36 am Post subject: |
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Frist gets rolled by McCain, Specter and Reid. Hell's Bell's, lead or get out of the way and let somebody who can lead lead. Keep this up a we'll have Trent Lott the wimp all over again. We got him out to get some backbone in there, obviously it didn't happen.
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8th Army Korea 68-69 |
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sixdogteam
Seaman
Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 183
Location: Upper Wabash River Valley
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:25 pm Post subject: |
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What a circus act!
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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Kerry, the Senator In Name Only (does this slacker ever spend time in the Senate doing the work that he was elected to do?) was apparently rebuffed in his call for filibuster.
It's really so laughable that he thought his last minute call from Swiss alps was going to be heeded. Nobody listens to him, and he is reduced to posting his ramblings at Daily Kos.
However, he suddenly quit Switzerland deciding his presence in the Senate is necessary to save the day!!
New York Times
| Quote: | January 27, 2006
Kerry Gets Cool Response to Call to Filibuster Alito
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 — Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts could not attend the Senate debate on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Thursday. He was in Davos, Switzerland, mingling with international business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum.
But late Thursday afternoon, Mr. Kerry began calling fellow Democratic senators in a quixotic, last-minute effort for a filibuster to stop the nomination.
Democrats cringed and Republicans jeered at the awkwardness of his gesture, which almost no one in the Senate expects to succeed.
"God bless John Kerry," said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "He just cinched this whole nomination. With Senator Kerry, it is Christmas every day."
Steve Schmidt, a White House spokesman working on the nomination, said Mr. Kerry's move "says a lot less about Alito than it does about the Iowa primary in 2008," suggesting that Mr. Kerry, who lost the presidential race in 2004, was playing to his party's liberal base in a bid to recapture its nomination.
Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, sounded almost apologetic about Mr. Kerry's statements.
"No one can complain on this matter that there hasn't been sufficient time to talk about Judge Alito, pro and con," Mr. Reid said on the Senate floor. "I hope that this matter will be resolved without too much more talking."
And on Friday, Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat and member of the Judiciary Committee who voted against Mr. Alito there, said he would not support a filibuster and doubted one would happen.
Speaking in a televised interview on CNN, Mr. Biden said that he thought the Republicans would inevitably force a decision, so Democrats should use their votes to "make a statement" without seeking a delay.
Mr. Kerry's call for a filibuster, an effort to stop confirmation by refusing to close debate and hold a vote, was joined by his fellow Democratic senator from Massachusetts, Edward M. Kennedy.
Under Senate procedures, their objections blocked the Senate Democratic and Republican leaders from setting Tuesday as the date for a vote on confirmation.
Instead, the Senate will vote Monday on whether to close debate. Sixty votes are required for a full Senate vote on Judge Alito. More than 60 senators have already pledged to support him, and the leaders of both parties said they expected to hold the full vote on Tuesday.
Mr. Kerry offered an explanation for his position in a post on a liberal blog, the Daily Kos.
"People can say all they want that 'elections have consequences,' " he wrote. "Trust me, more than anyone I understand that. But that seems like an awfully convoluted rationale for me to stay silent about Judge Alito's nomination."
Mr. Kerry was celebrated by leaders of the coalition of liberal groups opposing Judge Alito's nomination.
"Senator John Kerry has called for a filibuster of the Alito nomination, heeding your calls to do everything possible to defeat it," People for the American Way cheered in an e-mail message to its supporters.
Mr. Kennedy said a filibuster might help focus attention on the nomination and give its opponents a last chance to sway the public and the Senate.
He acknowledged some "divisions in the caucus" over the advisability of a filibuster, but he said the effort had the support of a few others, including Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip.
A spokesman for Mr. Durbin confirmed that he would vote against closing debate.
"It is an uphill climb at this point," Mr. Kennedy said of a filibuster. "But it is achievable."
Asked if Mr. Kerry's absence from the Senate would hinder their efforts, Mr. Kennedy said, "We'll do the best we can and make a good fight of it."
Mr. Kerry has been rallying his supporters against the nomination for weeks in mass e-mail messages and on his Web site.
And when the Democratic caucus met Wednesday to discuss the nomination, he gave an impassioned plea that the party should try to stage a filibuster even if it failed, people present said, speaking only if granted anonymity because the meeting was private. Some senators at the meeting said an unsuccessful filibuster would leave the party weakened for future battles.
Some said a messy and unsuccessful filibuster fight would distract from the Democratic focus on other issues like corruption in government and wiretapping by the Bush administration.
In the end the party leaders were not persuaded by Mr. Kerry's appeal.
Judge Alito's confirmation was looking increasingly certain Thursday. Two more Democrats, Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, said they would break party ranks to vote for confirmation.
Mr. Byrd said his constituents had told him they were "appalled" by the harsh questioning Judge Alito received from the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearings, calling them "an outrage and a disgrace."
With Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Byrd bring the number of Democrats pledging support for Judge Alito to three. The vote on confirmation is expected to hew closely to party lines. No Republicans have said they will vote against him.
Two Republican supporters of abortion rights, Senators Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, have not declared how they will vote.
Shortly after 7 p.m., Mr. Kerry issued a statement saying, "Judge Alito's confirmation would be an ideological coup on the Supreme Court."
"The president has every right to nominate Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court," Mr. Kerry said. "It's our right and our responsibility to oppose him vigorously."
A few moments later, April Boyd, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kerry, sent a postscript saying that "as things played out over the course of the day today" he had decided to fly home. "Kerry will be back in Washington tomorrow," Ms. Boyd said. |
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| shawa wrote: | | .....he [Lurch] suddenly quit Switzerland deciding his presence in the Senate is necessary to save the day!! |
Good Lord! That leaves Brad and Angelina, alone, to solve the world's problems at the World Economic Forum. We're doomed! 
Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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Deuce
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 589
Location: FL
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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for those of you who have access, sKerry was pushing filibustering live right now (1:55pm EST) on the Senate Floor, on C-Span2
those who don't have CS2, try the Cspan website later, for transcripts/video links.
CSpan shows vote @ 56 for 33 against
Closure vote will be 4:30pm Monday
Deuce |
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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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Kerry and Kennedy seem to be betting the farm on this one. ABC News put this out this morning: (Snips; emphasis mine)
| Quote: | WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito enjoys sufficient bipartisan support to surmount any Senate filibuster attempt by minority Democrats, members of both parties indicated Friday.
A final vote making the New Jersey jurist the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice is scheduled for Tuesday, hours before President Bush gives his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation.
***
In addition, Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Ken Salazar of Colorado and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota as well as GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine made it clear after a second day of floor debate on Alito that they would not support a filibuster, even though Akaka and Salazar oppose Alito and the others are undecided.
***
"We're going to have a vote Tuesday morning," Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. "Everyone knows there are not enough votes to support a filibuster, but it's an opportunity to people to express their opinion on what a bad choice it was to replace Sandra Day O'Connor."
As the floor debate ensued Thursday, the leaders of the filibuster attempt Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry were trying to drum up support in their caucus for blocking Alito.
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"There's some division in our caucus," Kennedy conceded. "It's an uphill climb at the current time, but it's achievable."
***
"The president has every right to nominate Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court," Kerry said. "It's our right and our responsibility to oppose him vigorously and to fight against this radical upending of the Supreme Court."
***
If the pattern continues, Alito may be on his way to the most partisan Senate victory for a Supreme Court nominee in years. The closest vote in modern history is Clarence Thomas' 52-48 victory in 1991, when 11 Democrats broke with their party and voted for President George H.W. Bush's nominee. |
Full ABC Story
Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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