July 06, 2005

Spot the problem: Supreme Edition

Read this MSNBC / Wash Postarticle and see if you can spot the problem with it. I’ll give you a hint.

The pact, signed by seven Democrats and seven Republicans, says a judicial nominee will be filibustered only under "extraordinary circumstances." Key members of the group said yesterday that a nominee's philosophical views cannot amount to "extraordinary circumstances" and that therefore a filibuster can be justified only on questions of personal ethics or character

When you read further along, you find out that ‘Key’ means ‘Republican’. Well, OF COURSE they think the Dems should not be able to filibuster. Which brings me back to what I said when the deal was done:

I know, the Dem compromisers were thinking that the Supreme Court nominees would be the real fight, and hoped that the compromise and threat of filibuster might make Bush think twice about who he nominates – but this WH has never ever compromised on anything (even with their own party), and it’s silly to think that they would on Supreme Court nominees (as the religious right would lose their collective minds and declare Jihad on the GOP – at least until the next election).

So, what has happened, essentially, is that the Dems have swapped looking bipartisan for a free pass on some ugly nominees, and the hope that they’ll look better when they filibuster the Supreme Court nominees everyone knows is coming.

The GOP has, essentially, lost nothing as they will renege as soon as the first filibuster is attempted

Which, of course, is what is going to happen. Ask yourself this – if an extreme right Supreme Court nominee is not ‘extraordinary’ enough to warrant a filibuster – what is? The GOP’s view of the deal is that they got to get rid of the filibuster, without actually having to get rid of it. And, when the filibuster comes (as it most surely will, if the nominee is what we fear), the GOP will complain the Dems reneged.

So, what did the deal get us? Pryor, and a little time.

Post Script: My prediction is that, if Bush does put for an extreme ideologue, the Dems will filibuster, the GOP will go nuclear, and the Dems will force a shut down. Of course, I’m an optimist, so it probably will be worse than that.

Comments:
Posted by Henry at 10:06 AM || Link to me || Track this post (0) || Category:: Politics, Just Left on