First, here's the
LINK, just for the sake of reference.
Also, certain words have been bolded by me for emphasis - you'll see. Just read!
How a Minority,
Reaching Majority,
Seizing Authority,
Hates a Minority.
Is attributed by the Library of Congress to a Leonard Robinson, 1968.
So, I guess there is historical precedent for the attitudes of the Majority in the Senate today.
The Minority is treated with contempt and disdain.
- Presiding officers read their mail or sign photos while our Members speak.
- Democratic Conferees are excluded from the Committee meetings.
- Our Democratic Leader is - again - vilified, smeared, targeted as an obstructionist for leading the Minority Party's lawful and proper dissent to the polices and practices of the Majority.
As though the expression of dissent on the floor of the United States Senate were improper - un-American -
or, now we're being told - unchristian.
When, in fact, it is the intolerance of dissent that is improper - undemocratic - and the charges that political or policy disagreements here are actions "against people of faith" are the slurs of charlatans.
Note first the crack at the religio-fascists - i.e., Frist. (And when I say Frist, I mean Dobson, of course.)
The initial quote, too ("How a minority, reaching majority, seizing authority, hates a minority") was also an excellent find. I'll be adding that to my sig soon. :)
We are at this brink - because during President Bush's first term, our Democratic Caucus blocked approval of 10 of President Bush's judicial nominees, while 20 of his nominees were confirmed.
That's a 95 percent approval rate. 95 percent of President Bush's judicial nominees were confirmed by the Senate.
But that's not good enough for this Majority and this President.
Nothing less than 100 percent is acceptable. Their way, all the time.
Duly noted, here and elsewhere. So now it's in the record, too.
A President who said he was going to change
- The tone in Washington
- Promote bipartisanship
- Encourage democracy.
Does just the opposite.
- Demands Congressional submission
- Insists on his way, always
- Denounces and tries to destroy whoever disagrees with him.
I am astonished that the Senate Republican Leadership can perform a 180 degree turnabout, just because the President is a Republican instead of a Democrat.
<sarcasm> Now of course, we all know that Senator Frist is acting in a totally independent manner, with no supposed "marching orders" handed down by President Bush. </sarcasm>
Republicans were the Majority in the Senate for the last six years of President Bill Clinton's two terms, and
they certainly did not champion their now-precious Constitutional principle of an up-or-down vote by the full Senate for each of his judicial nominees.
To the contrary, they themselves prevented or condoned others' preventing 69 of President Clinton's judicial nominees for a vote by the full Senate.
Many were denied confirmation hearings. Sometimes one Senator [Hatch] singlehandedly blocked nominations. They received no votes by the Senate. Not by part of the Senate. Not by all of the Senate. Not once. Not ever.
First, Dayton was too kind to mention which senator blocked nominations. Senator Schumer, however, was not so shy and proudly let everyone know just who was behind the controls of that maneuver.
Second, note that fun party-flip irony we've been talking about - like good little soldiers, the Dems have let the theo-greedy-cons run the show up until now. That includes the fact that most of their more-than-qualified counter-nominations (as Senator Durbin would discuss later in this session) were flat-out refused by Senator Hatch, never mind voted on in that supposed "up or down" manner we've all become accustomed to hearing about lately.
Note the use of the word "lately" in that last sentence. Only now that it's come down to the wire is something like an "up or down vote" being required by the majority. Didn't matter before - kinda ironic that it does now.
Republican Leaders not only defended their actions to deny confirmation votes to Clinton nominees, they bragged about it.
The following are quotes from Republican Senators regarding blocking judges nominated during and the Clinton Administration.
"... the confirmation process is not a numbers game, and I will not compromise the Senate's advice and consent function simply because the White House has sent us nominees that are either not qualified or controversial." [Sen. Orrin Hatch, 10/21/1998]
"So we are not abusing our advise and consent power. As a matter of fact, I don't think we have been aggressive enough in utilizing it to ensure that the nominees to the Federal bench are mainstream nominees."
"Do I have any apologies? Only one: I probably moved too many judicial nominations already." [Sen. Trent Lott]
"When I go to my state or around the country, the last thing I hear people clamoring for is more lifetime-tenured federal judges." [Sen. Trent Lott, 12/13/1998]
Enough said. (And if anyone can pick out whom these quotes are from, please let everyone know.)
But there's more, of course...
Regarding use of the filibuster, Republican Leaders were equally emphatic:
"It's very important that one faction or one party not be able to ride roughshod over the minority and impose its will. The Senate is not the House."
[The filibuster is] "one of the few tools that the minority has to protect itself and those the minority represents." [Sen. Orrin Hatch]
"Clearly the thing that distinguishes the Senate as a legislative body is unlimited debate ... a traditional aspect that most Senators have felt very important for 200 years."
"The only way to protect minority views in the Senate is through extended debate." [Sen. Howard Baker, 1993]
Oh, the brutal irony! Isn't that filibuster a terrible thing? (Again, attribution of these quotes would be nice.)
Now, here's the nut:
So their judicial blocking tactics are right - ours are wrong.
Their uses of the filibuster are good - ours are bad.
How convenient. How self-serving. How wrong.
Perfect.
Now, it's bad enough that the Senate Republican Leadership wants to change Senate Rules to suit their purposes and disregard 214 years of bipartisan institutional wisdom. Which understood and cared about - the proper role of the Senate in our carefully designed system of checks and balances.
And James Madison, one of our Constitution's principal architects, said during the Constitutional Convention in 1787:
"In order to judge the form to be given to the Senate ... take a view of the ends to be served by it. First, to protect the people against their rulers; secondly, to protect the people against the transient impressions into which they themselves might be led."
Good, solid history lesson, which leads straight to...
It's bad enough that the Republican Leadership wants to weaken the Senate's historic role and present responsibility.
What is even worse - much worse - is that they evidently intend to violate the procedures and disregard the rules by which the Senate can properly change one of its existing Rules.
They are going to use their own new and unprecedented procedure and disregard a ruling of the professional Parliamentarian - that their procedure violates Senate Rules.
A senior Republican aide was quoted in today's Washington Post that Senator Frist does not plan to consult the Senate Parliamentarian at the time the nuclear option is deployed. The Parliamentarian "has nothing to do with this. He's a staffer, and we don't have to ask his opinion."
Of course, they don't - they are going to throw out the existing Senate Rules they don't like - and make up new rules they do like.
Then have their own presiding officer rule in their favor - and then all vote to ratify what they have just done. Even though it's wrong. And they know it's wrong.
First, when have the rules ever mattered to these swine? See the 2000 Election for confirmation.
Second, that whole "he's just a staffer" bit. Want more proof of the all-out arrogance of the religio-cons? There you go. (Better quoted, of course, as "I'm an elected official, so FUCK YOU, peon.")
Third, they know it's wrong. But they'll do it anyway because, as noted above, the rules don't matter.
Well, they can't vote a wrong into a right.
They can't disguise a shameful abuse of power by calling it a Constitutional option.
There's nothing Constitutional about violating Senate Rules. There's nothing American about violating Senate Rules. There's nothing Senatorial about violating Senate Rules.
That last sentence refers to career professionalism, which has been a sore point for almost all politicians - but most especially Republicans - for quite some time.
In my career, I have learned that to be effective in politics, you have to become a realist. But to remain effective, you have to remain an idealist.
When I came to the Senate 4 ½ years ago - I was both realistic and idealistic. I know that the legislative process brings out the best and the worst in people. But I thought the United States Senate would inspire more of the best. That the 1863 men and women who had preceded me into this institution - many of them the best, the brightest, and the wisest of their generations.
I thought their collective wisdom, embodied in the Senate's Rules and procedures - would elevate our individual conduct and our collective actions.
And protect us - and more importantly, protect the American people - from the missteps or misguided attempts - of one Senator, or a Minority, or even of a Majority.
My faith in the uplifting effect of the Senate was wrong. It was right, until now. Now, we are at the brink of disgracing and desecrating this great institution.
Ah, the sad tale of a freshman senator. All ready to do his civic duty for his country, with strong ideals and the will to set things right. Until reality sets in, and you see just how destructive and baseless a legislative body can be.
Very telling. And very depressing.
It will be a disgrace, if the Republican Leaders of the Senate disregard long-standing Senate Rules and substitute their own, new rules and if a majority of Senators vote to approve this wrongdoing.
Everyone here should know whatever their honest differences of opinion about Justice Owen - that unilaterally breaking rules - because you don't like them - or because you won't get your way by following them - is extremely unusual, unprecedented, and wrong. Terribly wrong.
Why would the Senate's Republican Leadership so desecrate the U.S. Senate? To prove what, to whom?
Oh, guess who? We're about to find out.
Here's the best line in the entire speech, and it's the best because it's true.
According to Congressional Quarterly,
the Senate Majority Leader told a group of conservative activists pressing him on this matter, "Remember, before I came here, I used to cut people's hearts out." Well, the Republican Leader will cut the Senate's heart out with this hatchet job. Why? To show the social conservatives he's heartless enough to be President?
From everything I read, that's what is behind this spectacle. I respect the Majority Leader's right to run for President. I just wish he wouldn't use the institution of the Senate to do so.
Bill Frist is a dangerous, destructive, and deluded excuse for a rational human being. Or, should I say that James Dobson is all of those things?
I want that quote, the proof of Bill Frist's unrelenting service to the forces of evil, in newspapers and all over the web tomorrow.
But wait! Here's some words from the puppetmasters! (Long block, I know, but read through it all - it's very instructive.)
According to the Executive Director of the American Conservative Union,
"If he aspires to the nomination [the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination], it's a test he has to pass. This is pass-fail. He doesn't get a grade here. He can't get a C for effort. He needs to deliver on this."
This isn't a Constitutional option - it's a campaign opportunity. Except Senate Leaders are supposed to deliver the Senate from this. From the President - any President - demanding that every one of his nominees be approved by a submissive Senate. By political zealots and ideological fanatics demanding that we give up our role and our responsibilities, so that they can fulfill their delusional rantings about how federal judges cause everything they can't tolerate.
Because getting 218 judges instead of 208 judges is just their beginning. Then, by God, those judges had better decide every case just right. Just right for them. Or it's - to quote them - impeach, impale, or eliminate them.
Self-anointed evangelist James Dobson - who recently appeared on a nationally televised rally which the Senate Republican Leader - has called Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, "The most dangerous man in America," and has demanded that he be impeached, along with Justices O'Connor , Ginsburg, Souter, Breyer, and Stevens. That is six of the nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court he wants impeached. A court he has compared to Nazism and the Ku Klux Klan. Not to be outdone - and this is a contest of extreme, incendiary, vitriolic hysterics, the Director of Operation Rescue has alleged that, "The courts of this land have become a tool, in the hands of the devil, by which the culture of death has found access."
Pat Robertson has written that the out of control judiciary is the most serious threat America has faced in nearly 400 years of history, more serious than Al Qaida, more serious than Nazi Germany and Japan, more serious than the Civil War.
Don Feder of Vision of America has claimed that "liberal judges have declared unholy war on us, and unless Christians fight back, their faith, family, and freedom will be lost." He also promised that whatever prominent Republican was willing to take the lead on the issue of judicial reform and impeachment will probably have the Republican presidential nomination. Not one to miss such an opportunity, House Majority leader Tom Delay declared that the judiciary has "run amuck." He threatens that Congress must take action to rein in the judiciary, and such actions must be more than rhetoric. And, remember, before he came here, he used to exterminate things. So, the threat of the congressional leader running amuck to take action against federal judges must be taken as ominously as he undoubtedly intended it to be. God's will and Jesus' word are hijacked by false prophets, by James Dobson or Pat Robertson.
The independence of federal judges is threatened by Tom Delay, and now the integrity of the Senate rules which may be violated is threatened, too.
POW! RIGHT IN THE KISSER!
More Senators like Mr. Dayton, please!
But more seriously, look deeply into the minds of the radical clerics we're dealing with here. Robertson says this is more important than Al-Qaida? Then what the holy FUCK are we still doing in Iraq, for GOD'S SAKE? Gotta get those "activist judges" out of our system! (And, his comparison to Nazi Germany is more than a little ironic these days.)
And, "culture of death"? Holy crap...I thought we'd been saying that about YOU guys all along, what with your fixation on the death penalty and such.
But I'll Mr. Dayton have the floor again.
These are men who want to run our country. They want to dictate who is elected, decide who will be appointed, and even determine who is on God's side and who is not. If ever there were a need for 51 Profiles in Courage [his words as spoken on TV; the transcript differs] in the United States Senate, it is now. The world will long remember what we do here. As Lincoln said, the government for the people, by the people shall not perish here on the floor of the United States Senate. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. Dayton, anytime you've got the floor, I'll be listening.
Permalink | 23 comments