May Madness

So I’m sitting at my desk the other day, watching the news on my laptop when my heart just sank. “A bipartisan group of senators announced Monday evening that they had reached an agreement after days of talks to avert a showdown Tuesday over President Bush's judicial nominees,” was the news everyone was talking about. In case you’re wondering what this is all about, you may want to read my previous article discussing the facts of this case. Anyway, at first I was curious, “Could all this be a good thing?” I didn’t really know, but then I heard the details and my mind was made up.

From CNN: “This group of 14 pledged that filibusters would be used against judicial nominees only ‘under extraordinary circumstances’ by the Democratic minority. In turn, the group avoided the "nuclear option," under which the Republican majority would have used a procedural vote to change Senate rules to eliminate filibusters on judicial nominees. Specifically, the group pledged to vote for cloture -- an end to debate -- for just three of the ten judicial nominees that had been filibustered.”

I couldn’t believe it. Are you kidding me? What kind of deal is this? We won’t filibuster unless it’s an extraordinary circumstance??? Just who decides that? Define that for me. This sounds like a deal a bunch of 10 year olds would make in their homemade clubhouse. “Pretty please, would you stop filibustering? Do you promise?? Cross your heart and hope to die?” Give me a break.

But the media and these “moderates” (so-called) hailed the decision. “We have reached an agreement to try to avert a crisis in the United States Senate and pull the institution back from a precipice that would have had -- in the view of all 14 of us -- lasting impact, damaging impact on the institution," said John McCain. A crisis?? A precipice?? Oh, please. Finally allowing and up or down vote on judicial nominees is a crisis?? Stopping an unprecedented filibuster is a precipice?? Give me a break, Mr. McCain. I know you’re still upset about getting beat by the President in 2000, but, come on.

I’m really not upset with the seven Democrats involved in this deal. After all, the definition of “democrat” contains something about standing in the way of anything President Bush wants to do, doesn’t it? That’s kinda “par for the course” for them. What I’m upset about is the Republicans, the nitwit seven as they are so affectionately called by Rush Limbaugh. How could they agree to a deal that basically handcuffs the majority party and then let the Democrats decide how the country is run? Last I checked, they were the minority and the reason that they were so was because America voted that way. They lost. When did anyone care about minority rights when the Senate was run by the Democrats? Letting the minority run the Senate is equally as idiotic as letting John Kerry be President because “we care about minority rights.” Talk about stupid.

This “so-called compromise” was supposed to “end the impasse” and “allow the Senate to get back to business.” Well, less that a week later the Senate was back to where it started. Democrats refused to end debate (that’s a filibuster, for you moderates out there) on the nomination of John Bolton to the UN ambassadorship. Wait a minute; I thought this thing was supposed to get the Senate moving again? I thought we were “ending the impasse” and “creating a new atmosphere of bipartisanship in the Senate.” Well, somebody forgot to tell the Democrats.

I hope you nitwit seven realize what an absolute failure you are. I hope you realize what you have accomplished. This isn’t a deal; this is a way for you guys to get your faces on TV. This is a way for you to be heralded by CNN and the New York Times. This is a way for you guys to get some love from the media. That is what this is all about. Well, I, as a conservative Republican, am fed up. I’m fed up with Senators that sell out the cause for their own personal gain; just so they can get some face time. I’m fed up with linguini-spined Republicans who won’t stand up for what is right. The Democrats have more guts than you. They have stood up with force and rigidity against everything President Bush has to offer. While I passionately think that they are dead wrong, at least they don’t back down. It was not the Republicans that were going to nuke the Senate, it was the Democrats who refused repeatedly to stop their child-like “I’m-taking-my-ball-and-going-home” filibuster policy.

Well, thanks to this “compromise”, we’re back to where we started, except this time the Republican hands are tied. As far as I’m concerned, the Democrats won. Thank you Mr. McCain, Mr. Chaffey, Mr. Graham, Mr. Snowe, Mr. Dewine, Miss Collins, and Mr. Warner. I hope you’re proud of yourselves, ‘cause we aren’t.