Article today in the Wall Street Journal on the Holder hearings:
One of the most prominent conservatives on the Judiciary panel, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), has already said he plans to support the nominee.
OK, so Hatch is a yes vote. Not good. Specter still seems to be wary of supporting Holder.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary panel, said he is awaiting Mr. Holder’s responses at the hearing before deciding on his vote on confirmation. In a Senate speech last week on Mr. Holder’s nomination, he said, “Sometimes it is more important for the attorney general to have the stature and courage to say ‘no’ than to say ‘yes.’ “
So where has the Republican Party come to when it has to depend on Arlen Specter to be its conscience? By the way, you can contact Senator Specter here, and thank him for his questioning of the nomination, reminding him to vote no, and tell him gun rights are the reason. We’ve also lost Bob Barr on the Holder deal. Barr doesn’t have a vote on the Senate floor, but it doesn’t speak well for being able to defeat Holder.
I’d like to think that there might be some way to prevent Holder’s confirmation, but everyone seems to be stepping gingerly around this nominee.
Let’s face it, part of the problem is the race issue. The so-called “race card” is like Kryptonite to a conservative public figure or a right-of-center organization. For a conservative to oppose Holder is to court charges of “Racism!” and to suffer the inevitable mauling in the press. Indeed, the more conservative the congressperson, the more carefully they have to step around the Holder nomination.
Why Specter has chosen to oppose Holder publicly is anyone’s guess. Oh, he has given his reasons, but he is taking quite a chance (politically) in expressing his reservations so publicly. I think that Specter will play out his concerns for a bit, and cave once the race issue is raised in the MSM. At that point, it will be a smooth confirmation for Holder.
We’ll see.
Specter has two likely reasons for opposing Holder. For one, he’s up for election in 2010, and wants to appear to be tough on the Democratic Congress so Pennsylvania Republicans will go through the nose holding ritual for yet another term. Second, I think Specter probably personally dislikes him. Specter is that kind of politician, and he’s squirrely.
I’m not sure race is really an issue so much as the fact that the protocol in DC is to give the President his cabinet nominees short of a serious problem with qualifications, or really nasty things in their past. That’s not to say I agree with things running this way, but it’s how it’s typically been done. Most politicians aren’t willing to have a knock-down drag out fight over cabinet positions. If Republicans are going to grow a spine, I hope they do it in time for his Supreme Court nominees. That’s where we need to have the knock-down drag out fight. Gun owners need to make the Second Amendment the same kind of issue as Abortion rights in terms of court nominees.
“Lost” Bob Barr? It is to laugh.
I’m not sure race is really an issue so much as the fact that the protocol in DC is to give the President his cabinet nominees short of a serious problem with qualifications, or really nasty things in their past.
Certainly. The Government Party looks after its own. Electoral politics has become professional sport: one merely roots for laundry.