BREAKING: Ignoring Deal, Frist to File for Cloture on Myers
BREAKING: Ignoring Deal, Frist to File for Cloture on Myers
In the deal struck yesterday evening, negotiators agreed that two judicial nominees — William G. Myers and Henry Saad — “will be filibustered or withdrawn.”
Last night, Frist indicated he would abide by the agreement:
Mr. President, a lot has been said about the uniqueness of this body. And, indeed, our Senate is unique. And we all, as individuals and collectively as a body, have a role to play in ensuring its cherished nature remains intact.
And, indeed, as demonstrated by tonight’s agreement and by the ultimate implementation of that agreement, we have done just that.
But Congress Daily PM reports that Frist has other ideas for later in the week:
Senate Majority Leader Frist will file for cloture on President Bush’s nomination of William Myers to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later this week, according to sources on and off Capitol Hill, wasting no time in testing the resolve of 14 Republican and Democratic senators who forced at least a temporary halt to the battle over Democratic filibusters of President Bush’s judicial picks.
That didn’t take long.
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5/24/2005
This is why the filibuster deal was stupid
If it’s true, of course. You can’t make deals with people who only respect power and winnin [...]
May 25th, 2005 at 3:44 amWELL, that didn’t take long.
May 24th, 2005 at 4:04 pmDid Frist “agree” to the agreement? It doesn’t seem like he did, not from the above blurb, or from the text of the whole speech. In fact, he says:
“So I will continue to work with everything in my power to see that these judicial nominees [Saad and Myers] also receive that fair, up or down vote that they deserve.”
May 24th, 2005 at 4:06 pmRe-pugs. Can’t trust ‘em, can’t drag ‘em behind your truck…..legally
May 24th, 2005 at 4:07 pmThe agreement last night was one involving the 14 senators only. The 7 Republicans agreed not to vote for the nuclear option, and the 7 Democrats agreed not to filibuster 3 of the nominees. Beyond that I don’t see that it was an agreement to do or not do anything else. If the GOP senators keep the agreement the Democrats can filibuster Saad and Myers. Thats how I see it anyway.
May 24th, 2005 at 4:48 pmI read a report last night that Frist said “I had nothing to do with that agreement”..
May 24th, 2005 at 5:11 pmNobody expected him to have anything to do with it as he is an EXTREMIST that will never bend.
He’s mad because McCain will be running in 08 and he comes off as one who has negotiating abilities.
Frist needs to understand that he’d never make it past the primaries and that he should forget about any further political aspirations.
Darth Vader has more charm than Frist.
But while Darth was eventually saved from it, Frist will occupy the Dark Side forever. Hope he likes it.
May 24th, 2005 at 5:24 pmFrist is clearly responding to the amerikan taliban’s criticism of the moderates’ actions. He must know how to count, right? 55 minus 7 = 48 votes are not enough for cloture(60) or for passage of the nominee(51). Thus it seems this is either grandstanding or it is a powerplay that is hoping to come down as an either/or moment.
May 24th, 2005 at 5:32 pmTony:
Of course Frist didn’t agree to the compromise. I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that last night Frist spoke supportively of the “ultimate implementation” of the agreement. Now he is trying to destroy it.
May 24th, 2005 at 5:37 pmJust substitute “Democrat� every time you see Turtle, and “Republican� as you see Scorpion!
“Would you help me cross the river?” The scorpion asks the turtle.
May 24th, 2005 at 5:46 pm“Hop on!” Says the turtle generously, “but you have to promise not to sting me?”
“I promise.” The scorpion declares.
He then jumps on. The turtle swims across the river. Just as they get to the other bank the scorpion stings the turtle.
“Why did you do that?” Asks the turtle painfully right before he takes his last breath and sinks under the water.
“It is in my nature to be a lying Son of a Bitch that will do anything to win. I have to please the snake handling wackos or they crucify me, just like they did the Lord.” The scorpion answers. (Apologies to Aesop’s Fables.)
If Frist does this, and the Democrats bend over again I will bust a gut. Obviously Frist doesn’t have the votes. Reid needs to stand firm on this “compromise” as written and not give up another inch.
May 24th, 2005 at 5:47 pmWell, I must say, I’m shocked, shocked to see this.
May 24th, 2005 at 5:52 pmAs far as I’m concerned, the key to this whole negotiation is this:
Will the moderate Republicans stand up to Bush and the Religious right?
I hope this is true and Frist carries out his threat. Better now and with appellate judges than later with supreme court nominees. Let the 7 Republicans put their money where their mouth is. If they do…then there’s hope to contain the radical right. If they cave…..the dems have been played yet again.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:01 pmBetter sooner than later. Frist is absolutely right to test the agreement, and we should welcome seeing whether it holds water or not. If the 7 republicans knuckle under and/or some of the 7 dems stab us in the back and also vote of cloture, we’re better off finding it out now.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:08 pmI don’t know. We on the Democrat side still seem to have a lot of intraparty fights. It would sure be a happy moment if the Taliban wing of the republican party broke loose & formed their own party. They’d get, what, 20% of the vote?
May 24th, 2005 at 6:18 pmThe reason the American Taliban infested and now has overtaken the GOP is that they tried, unsuccessfully in the 70s to form their own party. They were unsuccessful in turn, because they have always been, are still and forever will be, a fringe group. Thus, despite their millions they had to settle for infiltrating and destroying the GOP from within … like a virus. Barry Goldwater warned the party about these locusts and now they’ve done it. Me? I’m buying a year’s supply of popcorn and gonna enjoy watching it all blow up.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:36 pmPuleeze, let’s be realistic! Sitting at the same table with a bully it won’t protect you from being beaten up.
I knew this deal would blow up in the face of those Dems who signed it.
The Dems made a mistake in accepting the compromise. If nothing else, there is no guarantee that the other side will be reasonable in the future. The Republican leadership is far to the right, not interested in compromising, not interested in checks & balances, not interested in a general consensus. It wants to implement an extreme agenda as dictated by the theocrats and their buddies of the fat corporations. It wants to built a totalitarian society according to their apocalyptic, rapturist views. They are not interested in a “working together” as they have no respect for anyone who disagrees with them. Haven’t the Dems realized this?
But, it was also hypocritical of the Dems to say that Owen, Brown, Pryor, were extremists…. then how can they allow them in? They cried “wolf” but let the beasts in…. Are the Dems going to be believed next time?
[more @ http://www.liberalcitizen.blogspot.com ]
May 24th, 2005 at 6:42 pmWho says the deal has blown up?
So if Frist files for cloture -
Cloture doesn’t get the 60 because the Dems didn’t agree to it on Myers.
That part is easy.
Frist is looking at a signed agreement that 7 Repubs agreed to that they won’t “go nuclear” – certainly not for Myers. I believe them. They would have more to lose going back on their word so soon from the Repub centrists who are THEIR base, than by standing firm and taking the flack they’ll take anyway from the wingnuts. So why would Frist dare try pulling out the nuclear option in the face of almost certain defeat? I don’t think he would – he just wants the no cloture vote for a talking point against Democratic obstructionism. But not a very good one in the face of this agreement.
Comity Prevails
You do have a point about having once said the 3 were extremists and now agreeing to cloture and ceding in some measure that they are not, but that’s part of what makes political compromise. They can still maintain that they are fairly extreme and vote against them. We can still call our Senators with OUR certainty and evidence that they are, urging a no vote.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:51 pmI don’t understand the fuss. Frist insists on bringing this up – 45 Dems unite behind the filibuster so no cloture can happen under the Senate rules. Yada, yada, yada goes on – so what’s Frist’s next move? Move for the nuclear option? Uh, “go ahead and make my day” as Eastwood would say. This way, we can see if the GOP 7 honor their words. If they do, Frist looks like the horses behind he really is.
May 24th, 2005 at 7:08 pmFrist to File for Cloture
May 24th, 2005 at 7:11 pmFlip Flop Frist
I agree with alan s
May 24th, 2005 at 7:23 pmI don’t understand what all the doom-sayers here are talking about. First off, this is a test of the 7 Republicans who compromised, not of the Democrats. Frist is trying to get them to back down, while also appearing to still be in charge.
But if the 7 Repubs backdown, then the compromise is gone and we’re back to where we were to begin with; a Senate about to go nuclear. And that’s exactly where the Fristies and the non-compromising Dems on this board want to be. So what’s the problem?
And personally, I think the 7 Repubs won’t backdown, Frist will go down in flames, and the moderate & rogue Republicans in Congress will finally have the balls to do their job; instead of carrying water for Bush’s dangerous agenda. And that’s what we want. So I say, bring it on, Frist.
May 24th, 2005 at 7:28 pmFrist should put this to the test asap. One can imagine a scenario where the repub 7 are ostracized by their own party and one or more go independent and caucus with the dems. THAT would be delicious!
May 24th, 2005 at 7:36 pmWhat Walker Willingham said, more or less. Isn’t this just Frist doing a Glorious Defeat move to try to recoup some of the losses with the Dobson Dingbats? Making a Brave Stand, alas too late to actually achieve the goal.
Anyway, the conversation has moved on. Now it’s all about how the grand compromise paves the way for SS “reform.” Oh goody.
May 24th, 2005 at 7:48 pmNext think you know they are going to put me in charge of all the oil in Iraq.
Oh wait.
-
May 24th, 2005 at 7:49 pmDr. Frist will once again be shown to the country for the a-hole toady that he is.
May 24th, 2005 at 7:52 pmThe reason some of us weren’t happy with the deal is that we really thought, we truley hoped that there were going to be 6 Republican Senators who would rise to the occasion. I think they would have made us proud.
It’s almost like a movie trailer. We get to see it a half dozen times before the actual show comes on.
on another note – for a physician, Frist sure looks constipated all the time. Maybe we can all chip in and send him a prune basket or something…
May 24th, 2005 at 7:58 pmThis is fantastic! The best news I’ve heard in weeks!
Frist moves for cloture on Myers. It fails because of the seven from the agreement. He moves to go nuclear, which one way or another envolves a regular 50 vote up-or-down vote (specifically, the vote on Republican motion to table Dems’ objection to whichever rule Cheney is trying to decalre unconstitutional), AND IT FAILS, because the seven tell Frist to get screwed, we’re not playing that game.
Frist is done, nuclear option is done, and Bush is as lame as a duck can be.
This is the last desperate grasp of a drowning man. Fabulous!
May 24th, 2005 at 7:59 pmThe moderates will hold up their end by not voting with Frist to kill filibusters over that nominee – it’s part of their deal, after all – and I don’t see them breaking it this quickly.
May 24th, 2005 at 8:02 pmI don’t see what is the problem with Frist’s actions here. He didn’t agree to the agreement, he only said that it had “a role to play in ensuring its cherished nature remains intact.” He specifically says that, “I will not hesitate to call all members to their duty (giving nominees an up or down vote) if necessary.”
This is an agreement made by others that alters Frist’s position with respect to the number of votes that he can get for his agenda.
Bringing up cloture on Myers, even it the vote fails, and the vote to rescind the rules fails, will box in the moderate Republicans and all Democrats in a way that could be advantageous to his agenda on the next vote, or in the primaries, or the next general election, or when he runs for President.
This is politics. This is the way the game is played. He doesn’t have to make nice over an agreement that he wasn’t a party to.
For what it is worth, I think Frist is a scumbag. This move, however, isn’t an example. It is good tough politics. I wish we could get some progressive politicians to understand this.
May 24th, 2005 at 8:09 pmI spent two years overseas, bullets whizzing around my head, my friends laying face down dead in the muck…for the American Taliban to take over the Republican party?
I don’t think so!
Frist should have his hair curled and highlighted to present a looser image (he already has a “loser” image…), before he is swallowed up whole, by that tight ass of his…
May 24th, 2005 at 8:21 pmSo basically the Dems roll over three apointments, pat themselves on the back for preventing the nuclear option, then will end up with the nuclear option anyway. crying: “No fair!”
May 24th, 2005 at 8:37 pmPerhaps the Dems need to take a lesson from the Democrat’s symbol, dig their hooves in, and refuse to budge. If the GOP is going to get its nominees anyway, where exactly is the compromise?
Come 2006 disgruntled voters are going to be looking someone who will stand up to these thugs, not shine their shoes.
I still have some doubts about the short-term wisdom of the compromise, at least as I understand it. It’s all well and good to let some of these judges through in the name of a “compromise”, but they will still be sitting on benchs as judicial activists for satan establishing case law for years to come. As for the overal political strategy unfolding, I have a hard time getting my head around the fact that we’ve come to a point in our political dialogue where McCain, Nelson and Lieberman are considered political moderates. I think Frist is not harmed at all by this in his base; he still gets to claim he fought the good one against the godless heathens… as for the moderates being put at risk by this vote, they mostly come from states that don’t tend to send hard lefrt/right wingnuts to the senate anyway, or if they do, its only for a short time. Chaffee just bought himself a Senate seat with this vote, which will make up for his moronic choice to vote Bolton.
May 24th, 2005 at 8:37 pmLet’s hope he breaks the deal before Pryor and Rogers Brown, then we have a prayer of stopping this baloney.
The basic problem with this deal is that ALL of these judges represented extraordinary circumstances. In agreeing to the deal we open the door for all 3 to be elevated to the supreme court. How can they be extraordinary 3 or 6 months from now if they are not extraordinary now?
NO TO THE DEAL AND NO TO THE JUDGES. GET OFF YOUR BLOG ASND CALL YOUR SENATOR!!!!!!
May 24th, 2005 at 8:44 pmWRITE TO YOUR SENATOR!!!!!!! NO TO THER DEAL AND NO TO THE JUDGES!
This post (and Congress Daily’s snip) seem to be based on misconceptions, as Vaughn, Comity and Ray have pointed out:
a. Myers is not one of the three nominations on which the fourteen agreed to vote for cloture.
b. If it did regard one of the three and Dems are filibustering, Frist calling to invoke cloture wouldn’t go against anything Frist has said. In fact, you have the option of a cloture motion failing and the nominee being talked to death and withdrawn.
What Frist is saying is he intends to go through the motions regardless of what the agreement says. Which is fine and dandy – it’s the 14 sticking to their agreement not to vote for cloture on the three. I explain cloture in this context here if the cloture rule is unclear.
May 24th, 2005 at 8:58 pmThe math above is a bit off. 55 – 7 is indeed 48, but Frist only needs 51 for the “nuclear option”. And we all know what can happen when the GOP has a close vote going the way they don’t want… there will be many hours of hard-core arm-twisting (and bribes and extortion) to flip 3 of that 7.
May 24th, 2005 at 8:59 pmKalee -
Rogers Brown, Pryor, and Owen don’t set any kind of standard in the agreement – I’ve read a right-winger on National Review say they do, but thgat’s just something he made up. It’s not in the agreement.
In exchange for letting those three come to a vote, seven Republicans have pledged not to vote for the “nuclear option” this Congress, which in itself seems to me a good deal, particularly as another conservative judge on the 5th Circuit is not going to change the nature of that court. And there is also no guarantee any of the three will actually be confirmed.
Add the ruckus the deal brought up between the hard right and the rest of the Republican party and I do believe it’s a clear political victory for Democrats.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:05 pmJesse Helms refused to allow many of Clinton’s appointments – no matter how non-controversial – out of committee. Up or down votes never meant anything to them before they became power mad. Obstructionism for pure spite was okay, but blocking nominees who distinguished themselves as radical conservatives on the Texas bench is un-American. I long for the days when republicans were just hypocrits and bigots, before they got the feel of their fingers on the button.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:06 pmtravc – actually, Frist would only need 50 – Cheney votes to break a tie.
But Hagel (and some say Lugar) have cold feet about pressing the red button.
I think it would be impossible for Frist to do it in a transparent way – including arm-twisting or promises.
A possibility that came to mind is a vote at 3 in the morning when a lot less than 50 would be a majority.
That, I think would be too brazen even for Republicans … but I often underestimate what they get away with.
Donno, let them push the envelope … Republican approval has been sliding pretty steadily.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:13 pmThis is from the text of the agreement:
“Status of Other Nominees. Signatories make no commitment to vote for or against cloture on the following judicial nominees: William Myers (Ninth Circuit) and Henry Saad (Sixth Circuit).”
No one made any commitments regarding Saad and Myers.
This is another example of the decline of public education in our country.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:31 pmWell, what’s Vegas say on the odds of Frist beating the moderates on this one?
May 24th, 2005 at 9:36 pmNot good I think.
Some of them got a taste of what losing power in the senate was like and also saw that others will be courageous that they can support but hide behind.
So what’s the Vegas line.
I think that
I think that blowing up the agreement is not a good move for Frist. It guarantees he’ll get a job with a think tank or radical religious lobbying group. It doesn’t guarantee he’ll ever ever be a nominated candidate for the presidency.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:41 pmWow.
As Senator Jeff Smith said “Either I’m dead right or I’m crazy!”
If we were talking about some yet-to-be-named SCOTUS nominee, I’d be worrying, like Erik and TravC, about whether the seven would hold up to the pressure when the nuclear vote came.
But this is like getting a call from your bookie, offering to let you bet on a game that has already been played!
The seven have already told us that Myers is not worth going to the matresses over. (There’s even some hinting that Myers wouldn’t have passed on an up-or-down before the agreement.)
No way does Myers pass cloture, and VERY unlikely that the seven crack over somebody they’ve already given “permission” to filibuster. For the seven to go nuclear over a nominee that is EXPLICITLY part of the agreement would be political suicide.
This is just so good, I’m having trouble believing Frist would even do it. It is just that bad for him, and I just don’t think he’s this stupid.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:46 pmLet him try. He’ll lose by at least 5 votes, and he tries to nuke the Senate he’ll lose again.
May 24th, 2005 at 10:18 pmIMO, this is about the republican primaries. It allows Frist to go to the base and contrast himself wtih McCain and other moderates. It forces moderates to vote on the issue and that vote, Frist feels, can be used later for political advantage in the primaries. That’s my take.
May 24th, 2005 at 10:29 pmJoelK,
May 24th, 2005 at 10:46 pmThe thing is…the religious right is not the business right. Frist, in going this way, will only guarantee the 15 to 20% (at most) religious right vote. He will also be guaranteeing most of the business side that he’s a nut who will put someone elses values in control of his voice and actions someone else other than business needs. If this were something economical then he could get greater support but as it is he’s essentially eliminating himself as a serious candidate for the presidency.
No populist or business focus and you soon find yourself on the sidelines.
I say let him, that is the point of the agreement. That is why 6 was the magic number. If Frist calls for a vote on the Nuke option, they will vote no.
I do not think Frist will pull the trigger, and will lose, flat out. McCain said that Myers will be allowed to be fb.
I think this is Frist tring to save face with his wing nut handlers, and I say let him.
May 24th, 2005 at 11:57 pmThis is about more than just a few judges. This is about the future of the United States as a republic. If Frist is defeated, then we still have a small measure of hope in the continued ability to have a say in our government. If Frist wins this battle, then we can kiss our country good-bye. A republic no more, replaced by a dictatorship that will ravage the world.
Pray to whatever god you believe in on this one folks.
May 25th, 2005 at 12:37 amJeebus, people, frist is an effing loser trying to burnish his rep with the irreligious right after losing control last night.
I would suspect that McCain and Snowe and company will just slap the fool down when he does invoke cloture, or not, but in any event he’s not going to go nuclear, they just put their names publically on a document that says they won’t support it, so that ain’t happening.
All frist accomplishes is further emasculation of himself on the tip of dobson’s tiny little dick, if you will, then what, lott back as majority leader, little ricky hitler as majority leader? Snowe as majority leader maybe.
C’mon people, give the Dems some credit, quit kicking em before they even go down. They;re the only team we got. And spare me the third party talk, that is not happening. The American people, if they’ve demonstrated anything these last five long years, is that they are hard to engage, slow to move, and loathe to admit they’re wrong about something.
May 25th, 2005 at 1:11 amThe 7 Republicans who signed the “deal” are just the tip of the iceberg. There are lots of other Republicans that really, really don’t want to be part of the nuclear strategy. They are just afraid to say so out loud. They really don’t want this to come to a vote. The Republicans eat their own for dinner. So now, John McCain (Iron John) is standing up for his buddies who don’t have the guts to stand up themselves. Yeah, I know, he’s still a Republican, and I disagree with him on almost every issue, but you have to admit, he’s got some grit. So anyway, the Republicans are infighting, and seem determined to bully their own into making stupid mistakes. What’s not to like? Remember the polls at CNN said that more than 80% of the people said that the Senators are behaving like “spoiled children”. Let Dr. Frist, (the cat carver)and Karl, (oops I messed up again, and everyone says I’m a friggin genius) have their little hissy fits. Sit back and watch. Make popcorn.
May 25th, 2005 at 2:26 amYou all need to look at this from Frist’s point of view. Going forward with the cloture vote is a total win-win for him.
If the vote fails, it proves to Dobson and his religious backers that Frist has the balls to go all the way. If he gets the vote, then he wins *real* big with the base for showing ‘leadership.’ This isn’t about what we think. It’s about what his ‘base’ thinks on the way to his ‘08 Presidential run.
Either way, he wins.
May 25th, 2005 at 3:04 amFrist isn’t ignoring the deal at all. The deal was that 7 Republicans wouldn’t vote for the nuclear option. Frist can call for cloture all he wants. He can even try the nuclear option, but if those 7 Republicans hold up their end of the deal, they won’t vote for it. Frist will lose.
May 25th, 2005 at 10:02 amOf course that did’nt take long. Did anyone really think that ass would play by the “rules”. He hasen’t yet, don’t expect anything different now.
May 25th, 2005 at 11:29 amWhile I agree with Matthew E reguarding the slight shift among the rank & file “middle” republicans, what concerns us all is that the party apparatus is still closely held by the ideological “Taliban” Republicans. They also seem to hold the pursestrings to campaign funding.
Sure, I’d like to see more moderates come out a la John McCain, but having seen the fundies during the last 5 years, I’ll believe the middle will rule WHEN I see it happening. It ain’t happening yet.
But I will wait and see.
May 25th, 2005 at 11:37 amFrist gives doctors A bad name, He likes to change the dianosis, in his favor during the operation. If 14 doctors of the senate agree on the ailment and treatment . Why is frist fighting it? What About the peoples business?
May 25th, 2005 at 11:57 amThis is not a “win-win” for Frist. He has already made himself look like the fringe-freak that he is… Dobson is beating the hell out of him, forcing Fristy to throw himself repeatedly off the political cliff. He’s trapped like a rat.
The vast majority of the public supports keeping the filibuster in tact, and Frist has now been completely isolated on the wrong side of the issue.
It’s a lose-lose. Guys like Dobson don’t give points for trying. They give points for ramming their agenda through. Frist has failed Dobson by not achieving the destruction of the filibuster, and he’s failed the majority of Republicans by isolating himself as an extremist who was not part of the solution.
Put a fork in him. He’s done.
May 25th, 2005 at 11:57 amYou’re right, Frist is stuck. But the real problem is that we now will have a stacked Supreme Court full of people who want to do away with labor laws, wage laws, democracy and a few other things to boot. I’m not really so sure that I’m happy that this compromise was reached.
May 25th, 2005 at 12:05 pmSo, basically what has happened is that Dems have let the worst 3 through. Now they’ll filibuster Myers, and Frist will file for cloture. Then some or all of the 7 Rethugs in the “compromise” (read – con game) will then declare that Myers isn’t “extraordinary circumstances” if Rogers-Brown wasn’t, and vote for the nuclear option.
Best case: We defeat the nuclear option with a handful of reasonable Republicans preserving their own power and/or stabbing Frist in the back for Presidential ambition, but we do it only after allowinng the three worst of the lot through. Note that the same vote pre-compromise would have blocked all 7.
Worst case – We lose the vote and they get everything. This is not significantly different from before, except that we’ve now given them political cover with this crap about “extraordinary circumstances”.
Either way, the Republicans win this round. Of course. Because when spineless Democrats lie down with ruthless Republicans, we all wake up with fleas.
May 25th, 2005 at 12:45 pmClem is right in post 49, of course – which is exactly why the Dems (and Leiberman, I don’t know what he is) shoud never have agreed to this malarky.
If the Repub lockstep would be broken on this issue, the nuke option would have been defeated on the floor, and Brown, Owens and Pryor would be blocked. If the lockstep can’t be broken, there is no reason for Frist to abide by an agreement he was not party to, and all he has to do is pick off the 2 weakest in a herd of 7 elephants and twist their trunks until they surrender. But if Owens was appointed only by virtue of going nuclear, it would be much more of a hit for R’s than having her appointed through compomise with spineless Dems. OK, maybe Byrd isn’t spineless but i can’t believe how naive he appears to be on this particular issue.
May 25th, 2005 at 2:45 pmAnd Frist is far from the only one.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/25/news/senate.php
Check out Hatch in this article. I also heard him say that “we will be right back [with the nuke option] in 6 months” – right about as a Supreme comes up, maybe?
May 25th, 2005 at 2:51 pmThe Bushies vocalized their agreement with Frist, yet didn’t strongarm the seven renegade Repugs. They stood by and let Frist take a fall, looking weak and emasculated. Why? To knock out the competition for Jeb in 2008. I think (I hope) we’re starting to see the undermining of Frist. My guess is his tantrums will become increasingly less effective.
May 25th, 2005 at 4:41 pmWe lost! But there is good news. Bill Frist lost the Republican nomination for President for “08.
May 25th, 2005 at 6:03 pmHe is now trying to rocoup by looking to force a vote on the unConstitutional Nuclear Option.
Thankfully he is leaving the Senate, worse than before.
Bring Harold on!
Frist is not bound by any agreement to which he was not a party. The 14 Senators who signed did not even bind themselves, from a legal standpoint. Even if the 14 are morally bound, the agreement’s studied ambiguities render it virtually meaningless. Democrates can pressure their 7 Senators to filibuster anyone other than the three judges specifically identified who will have floor votes.
May 25th, 2005 at 11:11 pmI agree with Kalee Roberts’ point that the deal essentially opens the door to the Supreme Court for Owen, Pryor and Rogers Brown. The agreement necessarily concedes that the three are not “extraordinary circumstances” justifying a filibuster. Indeed, I would not be surprised if Bush were to nominate one of the three to fill the next vacancy in a few months. Bush knows speedy Senate approval is now assured for any of the three without further expenditure of his political capital.
May 25th, 2005 at 11:26 pm“Frist needs to understand that he’d never make it past the primaries and that he should forget about any further political aspirations.
Comment by Susan  May 24th, 2005 @ 5:11 pm”
—
Oh no! Please please run in the primary Frist! We need to get rid of his lousy mug!
He’ll run. He’ll lose. Then he will wonder for the rest of his miserable little life why Dobson won’t return his phone calls.
May 26th, 2005 at 12:38 amI’d really like to say Frist is exactly what this nation needs. Like my Daddy always used to say,” The sooner the shit hits the fan, the sooner we can all hose off”.
May 26th, 2005 at 2:09 amIt’s nice to see someone else embarrassed to be represented by Frist (post #53). But I hope he does run for Repug nomination in 2008. And I hope he wins it. Did anyone see his speech at the RNC last year? (My attempt to be fair and balanced) Everything about his delivery suggested country bumpkin. Bill the Cat could beat him in a general election. Not in Tennessee, of course (again, I blush with embarassment). Kind of an extention of Apostophe d’s quote from #67.
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June 11th, 2005 at 2:08 amFrist not dead yet.
This morning, we at the DSCC thought we had beaten him: Bill Frist lost today. He lost his hold on his right wing base and he lost his hold on Senate Republicans. That sounds like a pretty good deal to…
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