November 1, 2005
THEY SOLD THEIR SOULS TO THE FLYBOY:
Filibuster Option Is in the Democrats' Arsenal (Mary Curtius and Richard Simon, 11/01/05, LA Times)
Privately, senior Democratic staff members doubted that the seven moderate Democrats in the Gang of 14 would consider Alito's strongly conservative record — or the fact that his ascension to the court could tip its balance — as the sort of extraordinary circumstances that would allow them to support a filibuster."I don't think Democrats are going to say filibuster unless they are sure they want to filibuster and they have the votes," said a senior Senate Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the issue.
The Gang of 14, which includes seven Republicans, agreed that except in "extraordinary circumstances," they would neither support filibusters of judicial nominations nor back a Senate rules change to eliminate the filibuster.
Unless they can break the group's unity, Democrats would be unable to muster the 41 votes they would need for a filibuster, a parliamentary procedure that blocks a vote by preventing an end to debate. [...]
Among Republicans in the Gang of 14, most generally expressed support for Alito. At least two — Mike DeWine of Ohio and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — said they had seen no extraordinary circumstances in Alito's record that would allow them to support a filibuster.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who is not a member of the group, said the judge's record "hardly measures up to the standard the Gang of 14 had of extraordinary circumstances."
A Scalia by any other name (Michael Scherer, 11/01/05, Salon)
Several outlying Democratic senators, including Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Bill Nelson of Florida and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, are seen as potential defectors to the Alito camp. Of particular concern to Democrats is Sen. Ben Nelson, leader of the so-called Gang of 14, a bipartisan group of senators who agreed this summer to prevent filibusters of judicial nominees, except in extraordinary circumstances. David DiMartino, a spokesman for Nelson, said Monday there was nothing about Alito that would lead the senator to change his mind and support a filibuster of Alito's nomination. "I don't think the 'gang' agreement is applicable," DiMartino said.
None of the Gang members can afford to be seen siding with Ted Kennedy against John McCain. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 1, 2005 10:26 AM
Miers was W's "New Coke."
Posted by: David Cohen at November 1, 2005 10:44 AM"Sen. Ben Nelson, leader of the so-called Gang of 14"
What a strange notion. Is Scherer a political idiot or is he trying to pre-emptively belittle the actual leader?
Posted by: b at November 1, 2005 11:22 AMTo the moveon.org crowd, "Leader of the Gang of 14" is an epithet. Wonder who they'll run against Nelson in the primary next spring?
Posted by: Mike Morley at November 1, 2005 11:35 AMThe battle now will be between the "Gang" and the liberal special interest groups and the media to prove that Alito is an "extrodinary circumstance" justfying a filibuster. It will be interesting to see how the Nelsons hold out (in Byrd's case, I'm fully expecting an eruption of hot gasses on the floor of the Senate sometime soon declaring Alito to be out of the mainstream, but his oritations have long since become a source of parody that have no power to sway anyone but the already converted to his side).
Posted by: John at November 1, 2005 11:56 AMoj,
beginning yesterday I started receiving returnede-mail error messages when I post on the sight. It tried e-mailing you about the problem and it was returned undelivered. Have I been banished to the Brothers' Hood wasteland?
Patrick:
I got the same thing when I e-mail OJ. I blame the liberal media.
David Cohen:
Your "New Coke" comment made me chuckle! Boy, that stuff was bad. Thankfully its presence on the market was short lived.
"New Coke" was quite similar to Royal Crown (RC) Cola that had been on the shelf too long, and gone bad.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at November 2, 2005 1:53 AMNew Coke is Pepsi.
Posted by: oj at November 2, 2005 6:52 AM