If there was any hope that the executive branch would stop the madness of Fristie, let it be dispelled. Not a shock, but still
not good:
Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday he is prepared to cast the tie-breaking vote, if necessary, to change Senate rules and bar Democrats from using filibusters to block President Bush's judicial nominees.
"I would support an effort to restore the constitutional practices that existed before the Democrats started using the filibuster for judicial appointments," Cheney said aboard Air Force Two as the Senate stands on the brink of a partisan showdown on the issue.
One more revealing quote below the fold...
"If the decision is made" to change the rules, Cheney said,
"I would certainly work with Senator Frist to achieve our objective."
The vice president brushed aside the concerns of some, including a handful of Republicans, that changing the rules would trample on minority rights and could backfire for the party in a future Congress controlled by Democrats.
"Democrats are the ones who altered the traditional practice," he said. "It's important that that precedent not be allowed to stand."
Shorter Cheney: Democrats are evil.
Thankfully, the AP writer provides some perspective:
Still, Republicans have used those and other Senate tactics to hold up Democratic nominees for other posts in the past and have tried to use filibusters against Democrats' judicial picks. GOP leadership never provided a floor vote for 24 of former President Clinton's appellate-court nominees; only two received a committee hearing.
That's nice, but a case of too little, too late. Darth Cheney and Fristie are leading the country to fascism by slowly eroding the connections between the people and what was once their government (don't invoke Godwin's law on me, but this process is known as the Fuhrer's Principle).