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Jewish World Review May 19, 2005 / 10 Iyar, 5765 Filibuster or bust By Debra J. Saunders
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is right: President Bush's
federal appellate nominees deserve an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
Their careers should not be held hostage by a rump of disgruntled Democrats
who don't want every vote to count in the Senate.
And there should be no reward for the Dems' habit of demonizing
conservative judges. Take the nasty job they've done on California Supreme
Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown. Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Harry
Reid dismissed Brown as outside the mainstream. That's choice, considering
that the left's biggest beef with Brown involves her decision upholding
Proposition 209, which ended gender and racial preferences in state hiring,
contracting and admissions, after 54 percent of voters supported it, and the
California Supreme Court approved her decision unanimously.
That said, the Republicans should work to cut a deal with Senate
Democrats, rather than push for the so-called "nuclear option," which would
prohibit the minority's filibuster of federal appellate nominees.
The GOP shouldn't be greedy. When your party has the White
House, majorities in the House and Senate, and you are getting close to 80
percent of your appellate judge nominees approved, you don't gamble losing a
majority in the House or Senate to clean up the last 20 percent. It doesn't
matter if the GOP is right on principle. To voters who pay marginal
attention to politics, this controversy is a simple turf fight, with the
potential to make civilians wonder if the party in power has too much clout.
Besides, there is the larger issue of how the Senate should work
over the next decade. Will senators work to win every battle or work for the
best results?
The filibuster fiasco shows two parties under the thumb of their
ideological bases. To negotiate is to cave. None too bright, Frist now finds
himself in a position where, if he cuts a reasonable deal, he is a turncoat.
Reid is leading his party to the edge of the same steep cliff,
as Senate Dems have stonewalled the confirmation of reasonable conservative
judges to appease a minority of extreme leftists. When a minority pushes an
issue like this to the brink, you have to figure its leaders would rather be
martyrs than players.
Only moderates like Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska and
Republican John McCain of Arizona can end the madness by crafting a
compromise. Otherwise, the extremes in both parties prevail.
There is an exception: Both parties will compromise — for the
wrong cause. On Tuesday, for example, a Senate that couldn't cut a simple
deal to address the confirmation of judicial nominees readily voted to spend
more money than it should on a transportation bill. President Bush had
insisted that the Senate limit transportation spending to $284 billion over
six years, but the Senate voted, 89 to 11, to inflate deficit spending
further by passing a $295 billion measure.
See a pattern here? On anything remotely related to abortion,
like judicial appointments, there are no deals. But thanks to deficit
spending, there are deals galore when it comes to spending money Washington
doesn't have. Republicans can support a big spending bill with no big tax
increases, while Democrats vote yes because there are no big program cuts.
Each party pleases its base, while betraying the public at large.
Not that the public minds. Voters rarely complain when
Washington overspends. Meanwhile, senators from both parties are hearing
from partisans demanding that they hang tough, demanding that they stick to
principle, and demanding that they stick it to the other side.
Too bad there's no deficit spending in approving new judges.
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Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders's column by clicking here. © 2005, Creators Syndicate |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
