Giving in to blackmail (this is exactly how i feel about the

[rodeodance]

deal ALSO!)




http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion//index.php?ntid=41363&ntpid=10

Editorial: Giving in to blackmail

An editorial
May 26, 2005

Thanks to the compromise agreement made possible by seven Democrats who collaborated with Republicans to end the Senate impasse over judicial nominations, Priscilla Owen will now join the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.


Four years of successful efforts by civil rights, women's rights, religious and consumer groups to prevent confirmation of the right-wing extremist were undone Wednesday, as the Senate voted 56-43 to confirm a nominee whose judicial activism on the Texas Supreme Court was so reckless that another member of that court, Alberto Gonzales, who now serves as the nation's attorney general, referred to her actions as "unconscionable."

The final vote broke along partisan lines. Fifty-three Republicans and two Democrats, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu and West Virginia's Robert Byrd, voted to confirm Owen. Forty-two Democrats and one Independent, Vermont's Jim Jeffords, voted against confirmation.

Those numbers are significant because they show that Democrats had the 40 votes that were needed to sustain a filibuster against Owen......

[progressoid]

1. Hear Hear!!

I don't see how pissing off James Dobsen is considered a victory. This compromise did nothing but hurt our nation.

[merh]

2. If they hadn't made the deal, imho,

they never would have had the backbone and support to have been successful in their Bolton vote today.

The filibuster was like the guy that got stuck in the boulders when he fell while out hiking. He couldn't get loose after his fall and he had two options, cut off his hand or die. He chose to live and cut off his own hand. Now with his hand cut off he may be perceived as less effective, but he is alive and will adapt his life and his needs to having one hand. And he is stronger for the fight, the sacrifice and the survival.

Any way, that is how I see that.

[dandrhesse]

3. Senator Russ Feingold, my Senator, had the same thing to say:

Check it out (from his webpage)
Statement of Senator Russ Feingold on Tonight's Decision Regarding Judicial Nominees and the Filibuster


May 23, 2005
This is not a good deal for the U.S. Senate or for the American people. Democrats should have stood together firmly against the bullying tactics of the Republican leadership abusing their power as they control both houses of Congress and the White House. Confirming unacceptable judicial nominations is simply a green light for the Bush administration to send more nominees who lack the judicial temperament or record to serve in these lifetime positions. I value the many traditions of the Senate, including the tradition of bipartisanship to forge consensus. I do not, however, value threatening to disregard an important Senate tradition, like occasional unlimited debate, when necessary. I respect all my colleagues very much who thought to end this playground squabble over judges, but I am disappointed in this deal.

[rodeodance]

4. my Senator also--but thanks (editorial is from Madison)

[dandrhesse]

5. when I went to a listening session Russ said that if the Dems stood

together they could accomplish a lot more. And he is right. I saw that as a real sell-out, but like I said I do respect Harry Reid a lot and he obviously knows a lot more about how each senator would vote in a given situation and sad as it is to face, there may not have been enough Dems that would vote to keep the filibuster much less any Republicans that would join them.

It is hard to accept that so few senators are like Russ in that they vote for what is right and for the greater good. I regularly check his vote on a given issue because the side on which he votes invariably is the "right" side even when it is not obvious at the time.

He has reason to be very proud of his record