The Specter of Deception
By on May 29th, 2005 at 11:13 am
The Specter of Deception
Sen. Arlen Specter this morning on ABC’s This Week:
SPECTER: Well, there’s never been a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee.
An excerpt from the history section of the official Senate website:
October 1, 1968
Filibuster Derails Supreme Court AppointmentIn June 1968, Chief Justice Earl Warren informed President Lyndon Johnson that he planned to retire from the Supreme Court. Concern that Richard Nixon might win the presidency later that year and get to choose his successor dictated Warren’s timing.
[Snip]
Although the committee recommended confirmation, floor consideration sparked the first filibuster in Senate history on a Supreme Court nomination.
Why is so hard for Senators to get the basic facts about the judicial filibuster right?
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Well, lawyers who become politicians aren’t historians, but they may be “broad-gauge gossips”.
HISTORY, n.
An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.
The Devil’s Dictionary
May 29th, 2005 at 11:26 amIf memory serves, weren’t there other filibusters of Supreme Court nominees even before Fortas?
May 29th, 2005 at 1:35 pmWhen people say things like this in public, it’s because they believe it to be true. It’s called “mis-speaking”. Both sides do it all the time. One of the more notable examples of “mis-speaking” was when Gerald Ford said the Soviet Union had no domination over eastern Europe. That was a real thigh-slapper.
Here are the top ten GWB gaffes.
1) George Bush
We need an energy bill that encourages consumption.
2) George Bush
When Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried, and persecuted as a war criminal.
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3) George Bush
Sometimes, Washington is one of these towns where the person – people who think they’ve got the sharp elbow is the most effective person.
4) George Bush
I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn’t here.
5) George Bush
I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe – I believe what I believe is right.
6) George Bush
For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It’s just unacceptable. And we’re going to do something about it.
7) George Bush
It’s very important for folks to understand that when there’s more trade, there’s more commerce.
8) George Bush
You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.
9) George Bush
Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment.
10) George Bush
Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods.
Now you’ve got to admit that’s some funny stuff. Kerry had a similar list, of course.
Which reminds me, a few years back my uncle was dying of Diabetes. Had his leg amputated; was a real mess. Well, ol’ Hank had been an FDR democrat his whole life, was absolutely fanatical about his political opinions. (and not surprisingly, rode the unemployment wagon every winter and drank millions of beers)
Anyway, Hank was a good guy and I had heard a hilarious political joke, but I knew he would bet bent out of shape, as the butt of the joke was the Democrats. So I told it anyway, in the presence of my aging mother, who gave me the evil eye right up to the punch line, (which I changed to place a Republican as the shmuck), and Hank laughed uproariously!!!!!
Hahahahahahahahaaaa!!!
“Yeah!” Hank absolutely loved it!
I saw something similar on this blog that reminded me of that instance. Max Baucus, a democrat from Montana, said something that torqued the blog dawg. Max was called to task for his statement.
Some brilliant progressive gal chimed in – “Yeah, typical REPUBLICAN”!! (As if that is the answer to everything) Having lived in MT when Max was a junior state representative, I knew he was a Democrat & always had been.
So I mentioned this fact to the nice progressive lady. Did she say “Gee, thanks for letting me know?”
Ha. She cursed me and changed the subject.
I’m not seeing much original thinking by participants on this blog.
May 29th, 2005 at 2:14 pmThe whole Republican pitch for the nuclear option was based on the filibuster of a court nominee being a new occurrance. Those of us with either a memory or an ability to do research knew all along that this was a mistake, and probably a blatant lie. The press, of course, being neither possessed of a memory, nor interested in doing any research, was unaware of that. So, it is up to blogs such as this one to fill the void, and this one does it extremely well.
May 29th, 2005 at 2:33 pmWe have Republican Congressional leadership chastising Supreme Court judges for using the internet for research, so why would we think that they would read their own website. When the Senate website first went online a number of years ago, i had to email the webmaster to inform him that several words had been mispelled on the site including the word Leadership in the header section of that window. Spector couldn’t possibly know what it says on the Senate website.
May 29th, 2005 at 3:26 pmWhen politicians misspeak, is it laziness, or a lie? We always seem to have both routes.
One route is the easy one nowadays, and the other, easier.
May 29th, 2005 at 4:06 pmArlen is not well, he can be excused for his mis-statement of the facts. Comparing Bush, possibly dyslexic, to a once sharp lawyer like Specter is not the same thing. Bush mis-states because he seldom has any original thoughts of his own. If he was more of a bird brain than he is, he could parrot other’s thoughts more precisely. Those Bushisms occur on those occasions when something resembling an original thought does slip through his mind as he is simultaneously trying to regurgitate what he has been told to say.
May 29th, 2005 at 4:08 pm“I’m not seeing much original thinking by participants on this blog.”
You know where the door is. Don’t let us keep you from helping those more deserving than us. And really, BS… Zell Miller thinks like a Democrat? I know plenty of Democrats that like Republicans. Far too many. A Democrat in Montana thinks like a Republican. Those two labels are absolutely meaningless without context. Your anecdotes are “cute” but as meaningless as the labels and the stats and figures your splat around without links to source and attribution, for the context, man.
May 29th, 2005 at 4:43 pmWhat is the Republican talking point for explaining away this inconvenient little bit of history?
May 29th, 2005 at 10:49 pmbuckshot sez
“Now you’ve got to admit that’s some funny stuff. Kerry had a similar list, of course.”
Kewl! Let’s see it.
May 29th, 2005 at 11:14 pmSpin,
Here’s a couple of good ones….
1) I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.
John Kerry
On funding for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan
2) I think there has been an exaggeration.
John Kerry
On the terrorist threat
3) I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force– if necessary– to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.
John Kerry
4) I will never conduct a war or start a war because we want to; the United States of America should only go to war because we have to. And if you live by that guidance, you’ll never have veterans throwing away their medals or standing up in protest.
John Kerry
5) I’m an internationalist. I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.
John Kerry
6) I’m fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think there’s a lot of poetry in it. There’s a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you’d better listen to it pretty carefully, ’cause it’s important.
John Kerry
7) President Clinton was often known as the first black President. I wouldn’t be upset if I could earn the right to be the second.
John Kerry
8) There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down.
John Kerry
On Vietnam, April 18, 1971
There’s just a taste. Every president has uttered some real doozies, I’m sure. BTW, Jay, don’t assume that the GWB quotes are all “gospel” and the Kerry quotes are all made up by the GOP – they all came from the same place. And no, I cannot vouch for any of them.
May 30th, 2005 at 12:43 amFirst of all, Jay has never commented on this thread, he may not even have read it. You address it to Spincycle, but seem to have Jay on your brain. I may have been a bit hasty granting BS semi-legitimate status as a rightwingnut libertarian. Peroutka’s Constitution Party probably … they really don’t get any wingnuttier than that.
May 30th, 2005 at 11:37 amI don’t pay too much attention to what he says. It’s prejudicial perhaps, but coming from NYC my BS detector is a finely tuned, precision instrument with a hair trigger and i like it that way. Why waste time? I think BS has said he didn’t support Bush, or vote for him, either one not sure. By a simple process of elimination, we know who it’s not, (Cobb, Brown, or Nader). That leaves either of the two Michaels, Peroutka or Badnarik, both slightly to the right of Bush on the economic axis. Badnarik is the less authoritarian libertarian. Peroutka is more of a fascist (authoritarian) than Bush.
May 30th, 2005 at 11:46 amgetting bored, buckshot? Must be a terrible burden to be so much smarter than everyone else.
Kerry’s quotes weren’t very funny. Not flub-quality you get when Bush accidentally reverses words. And your list of Kerry’s quotes are only funny if you think Vietnam was a good war, if you think free-fire zones are prefecly acceptable, if you don’t know how may times Senators vote on a a typical bill, etc. I honestly don’t see what’s funny about “I’ll never start a war because I want to.” Seriously, how does that translate in Republicanese?
It’s been asked: What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?
Quite a lot, if you’re part of the ruling 51% in this country.
May 30th, 2005 at 1:03 pmSJS, impressive deductive reasoning, but there’s one more possibility: Maybe BS didn’t vote at all. How do you know he’s not 14 years old munching on his after-school snack?
May 30th, 2005 at 1:05 pmTom,
So you didn’t enjoy the quotes. Oh well. I thought Kerry was quite amusing. Boy did he have the “plans”. The only think Kerry had going for him was that he was an alternative to Bush. He simply had nothing else to offer. You could not get a person to even say they supported him because they thought he really would make a good president.
Let’s hope the Dems can make a better showing next time. I predict the GOP’s will manipulate the mtv crowd into saying stupid things on Oprah, the gays will get a national forum to spew their love of gayness and gay marriage, the news will show hysterical liberals screaming for tax increases, and the Dems will go down like the Titanic – again.
May 30th, 2005 at 1:49 pmI think I can let Specter slide on this one. I think he is on Chemo. It is rare that I see such a mistake made by Specter. Usually they are made by Santorum.
May 30th, 2005 at 1:50 pmHe’s older than that. I saw a funny cartoon today though…
http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/idog.html
so maybe it’s just dog years.
May 30th, 2005 at 4:36 pmJeebus! What a dumb remark!
“The only think Kerry had going for him was that he was an alternative to Bush.”
Remember Ford’s marketing of the Model T?
You may have it in any color you like, as long as it’s black.
May 30th, 2005 at 4:39 pmOnly days after the Senate reached a tenuous compromise to preserve the judicial filibuster, it appears the first Supreme Court vacancy of the Bush era may be imminent. AP reports that Chief Justice Rehnquist is preparing to step down and that the White House is already preparing to nominate his successor.
There is an emerging consensus regarding the leading contenders for Bush’s first Supreme. (Jeffrey Rosen in The New Republic provided a thorough run down last fall.) More important than the horse race, though, are the signals the Bush selection makes about the direction of the Court, especially when it comes to abortion and states’ rights cases, among others.
While all eyes are focused on reproductive rights issues, Rosen argues that the critical battlefield will be over the scope of federal regulatory power. Digging into the potential “strict constructionists” who might be on the administration’s short list, Rosen emphasizes the importance of the doctrine of the “Constitution in Exile“…
For the full story, see:
“Sharpening Their Clause: The Coming Bush Judges.”
May 30th, 2005 at 10:43 pmSharpening Their Clause?
Whoever wrote that headline deserves to be thrown to the Testy Copy Editors and eaten for lunch.
May 31st, 2005 at 4:31 pmNonsense! It’s wonderful, and probably the result of witzelsucht. it’s a medical condition
http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/89q2/disease.350.html
June 1st, 2005 at 7:41 amYes. sibel kekili ( http://www.x24×7.com/sibel-kekili.html )
October 11th, 2005 at 5:16 pmorange!feminine crouched matrimonial enchanting,deserting acetone airer?
October 15th, 2006 at 12:21 pm