This is a duplicate of
this diary earlier today, but such craven hypocrisy cannot stand, and needs wider exposure.
Frist, today:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday he is prepared to strip Democrats of their to ability to filibuster if they try to stall Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court.
"The answer is yes," Frist said when asked if he would act to change Senate procedures to restrict a Democratic filibuster. "Supreme Court justice nominees deserve an up-or-down vote, and it would be absolutely wrong to deny him that."
Frist, October 28th:
But a Senate source close to Frist said that the senator was much blunter and more negative, and that he suggested Miers withdraw because her chances of being confirmed were not good. In phone calls to White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, Frist "gave it to them straight," said the source, who spoke on background because of the private nature of White House conversations.
Bill Frist justified a filibuster back in October when he "gave it straight" to the White House that Miers would not be confirmed. He is handcuffed. He simply cannot be allowed to get away with arguing that denying Alito an "upperdown" vote is somehow a perversion of democracy.
The WaPo, along with many others, predicted this problem for Frist back in October:
Some conservatives agree. Commentator Hugh Hewitt, in a New York Times op-ed column Friday, noted that several Senate Republicans campaigned in 2002 and 2004 on the "up-or-down vote" issue for judicial nominees. "Now, with the withdrawal of Harriet Miers under an instant, fierce and sometimes false assault from conservative pundits and activists, it will be difficult for Republican candidates to continue to make this winning argument: that Democrats have deeply damaged the integrity of the advice and consent process," wrote Hewitt, a law professor at Chapman University in California.
To Harry Reid and all Senate Democrats: don't let Frist or any GOP senators get away with this. List every Republican who suggested on- or off-the-record that Miers should withdraw before even a hearing, and any Republican who called for a filibuster of Miers (there were a few, if I recall).
With his rank hypocrisy, Frist just strengthened the Democratic hand for a filibuster if that is the route that needs to be taken.