
 |
|
May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
April 22, 2013
US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer
April 19, 2013
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy
Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds
April 17, 2013
Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom
Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
April 15, 2013
Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral
Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators
April 12, 2013
Mark Clayton: New cybersecurity bill: Privacy threat or crucial band-aid?
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jackie Robinson's Friend, Hank Greenberg; CNN's Jake Tapper; Texas County in the News is named for 19thC. Jewish soldier and Congressman
The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: FRUITY QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS: A flavorful, colorful and edible vessel of delicately fluffy, mildly nutty filling combined with chewy apricots, tangy cherries, and crunchy pistachios
April 10, 2013
Peter Grier: North Korean missiles: Could US shoot them down?
Morgan Housel: Warning: Don't waste your capital being fooled by profit prophets
Donald Hensrud, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Take vitamin supplements with caution --- even approved, they may actually do damage
Eryn Brown: 74 DNA discoveries move cure closer for three cancers
April 8, 2013
Jonathan Tobin: What Part of No Preconditions Do American Jews Not Get?
Fred Weir: Is Putin finally trading his own party for a new power base?
|
| |
Jewish World Review
May 26, 2005
/ 17 Iyar, 5765
The Fizzle in Filibuster Fission
By
James Lileks
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
For sci-fi junkies, there's "Star Wars." For political fiends, there's the nuclear option over the filibustering of judicial nominees. Imagine how geeks would react to a 26-hour "Star Wars" movie that skipped the space battles and ended with Darth Vader and Obi-Wan shaking hands, and you have the mood of the Republican base today.
The GOP agreed to let some judges who would have been confirmed be confirmed, and agreed to dump some judges who had enough votes to get the job. In exchange for not enforcing the Constitution, they extracted a promise from the Dems not to filibuster unless "extraordinary circumstances" arise.
Very nice. "Kumbaya," etc. Unfortunately, "extraordinary circumstances" will probably be applied to any nominee to the right of Rob Reiner. Anyone conservative is extraordinary and circumstantial. Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, for example, recently told Tim Russert what it means to be a Democrat:
"Our moral values, in contradiction to the Republicans', is we don't think kids ought to go to bed hungry at night."
Bingo! Head shot! We all recall the rafter-shaking huzzahs when President Bush proposed the National Evening Snack Confiscation Act, which would use stealthy ninjas to steal milk and cookies from the nation's youth. Republicans hate abortion because it means fewer children gripping their tummies in pain at bedtime. Let such miscreants take over the courts, and they'll rule that the Interstate Commerce Clause doesn't cover the right of citizens to marry stem cells over the Internet.
In short, if the Republicans nominate someone who doesn't think the First Amendment says CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAWS ABRIDGING RIGHT TO PRIVACY!!!! THIS MEANS U!!!, it'll trigger the filibuster again.
Or maybe not; maybe Dems will filibuster because a judge is a leeeetle bit too religious. Or an ethnic type who wandered off the compound. Or some dangerous free-thinker who fails to see the Constitution as an origami project to be folded into new and interesting shapes.
If Bush nominates someone who once sent a birthday card to Robert Bork, he'll be painted as a reactionary who wants everyone to dress like Cotton Mather and use "thee" as a form of address. Then it's filibusterin' time again.
Why not? What would be the penalties? Who'd complain? The Republicans would carp, but they'd look like little baby whiners. The Democrats would go right back to the script, and blame Bush for appointing judges who want to bring back slavery and use children as coal-mine air quality testers.
The entire affair would have been over long ago if Senate Republicans had been less interested in cloakroom comity and more interested in ending this novel application of the venerable filibuster. But the Senate, as we are often told, is where the passions are sent to cool, congeal, dry out and crust over with a thick, furry coat of mold. Senators take pride in their role. And if you had that many servants, drivers, factotums and aides de camp scurrying after your Very Important Self, you'd be swollen with pride as well.
Hence, in the end, the GOP senators decided to represent some mythical idea of senatorial grandeur and collegiality as if the exercise of partisan advantage to do the right thing violated the founders' desire for sweetness and light and happy, chirpy bird song.
In any case, it's done; the nuclear option, which was threatened for a greater period of time than it took to actually invent the nuclear bomb, is off the table.
Filibuster for the Supreme Court? Poppycock. Why, listen to Sen. Harry Reid after the deal was struck: "We have sent President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the radical right of the Republican Party an undeniable message. ... The abuse of power will not be tolerated."
Gracious in victory, no? Sounds like someone who wants to build a bridge, all right so he can throw the next nominee over the railing. And the GOP will agree to jump ... in the spirit of compromise, of course.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor James Lileks is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Comment by clicking here.
ARCHIVES
© 2005, James Lileks
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|