The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

br> Republicans claim they have the votes to shut down the Senate on Thursday, the one-year anniversary of George W. Bush's sending up of his first 11 judicial nominees. "It's time the Democrats got the message that some of these judicial nominations they are holding up have to go through," says a Senate aide on the Judiciary Committee. /p>

"Ohhh, big talk, " says a Democratic leadership staffer. "They said they had to the votes for Alaskan oil drilling. They said they had the votes for [Judge Charles] Pickering. But they've had nothing. That's part of the problem we have here now, their leadership bluffs so badly."

Much as one might hate to admit it, the Democrats are right. Even Republican staffers were laughing at Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott's comment last week that the "Republican agenda was winning" in the Senate. "He's living on a different planet, has to be," says a legislative aide to a rustbelt Republican Senator. "We see those kinds of quotes and just cringe. It must be bad flashbacks from Lott's cheerleading days in college."

topics:
Bill Clinton, Israel, NATO, Alaska, Oil