The American Spectator

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(Page 5 of 13)

As for recommending that conservatives should "hope the deal sticks," yeah, right. And we should hope to win the lottery, too. The odds are similar.

Mr. Healy then goes on with, "Too often in recent years, the GOP has behaved as if it can't imagine itself out of power." On the contrary, the evidence shows that the GOP still does not comprehend that it is IN power. Consider the anti-conservative blunders that Republicans have perpetrated since President Reagan left office: The Family and Medical Leave Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, McCain-Feingold, the dwindling military, the expansion of Medicare, and exploding federal expenditures. These are desperate panders to liberals, not the limited-government policies of a confident GOP representing its constituency.

p>The filibuster defeat was another surrender by delusional Republicans who don't understand that joining the Democrats is NOT what they were elected to do. Mr. Healy's defense of such capitulation indicates he doesn't get it either. br> -- Jim Bono br> Midlothian, Virginia /p>

Ah, I spy... someone... I spy someone who... I spy someone who thinks... I spy someone who thinks way too hard... is what I see...

Mr. Gene Healy's CATO Institute affiliation reminds me of something that someone said to me about politics in years past... "To be a Libertarian is to never actually be required to deal with victory." Sorry, sir, but you are seriously mistaken. There is no benefit to the Conservative cause by this craven surrender by the Seven Dwarves. (The McCain Bootlicks, perhaps.) They subverted their elected leader. Actually, they performed back surgery on Dr. Frist, with a dull chef's knife... Not only have these seven (Wow, McCain did 2 better than the Keating 5 on this one) betrayed their leadership at a critical time, they betrayed the President who could do nothing but sit on the sidelines and squeeze his stress ball. Of course the Spirit of McCain 2000 does not escape me, and cold revenge is not beyond John McCain by any stretch of the imagination.

John Warner is merely pathetic. His loyalty level is already bouncing on E. This move has sealed his fate. He will be known as the tragic mistake of 1978 that the Virginia GOP could never erase, no matter how hard it tried. He sure has the hair and suits of a great Senator... too bad nothing else about his person goes with the job description, however.

I suspect that South Carolina will deal with Senator Graham, who seems to have consistently drifted left, as time and memories of Clintoon Impeachment fights fade. I would hope that my Conservative brethren in South Carolina make sure that they unhorse him in the run-up to his re-election bid. There are many solid statewide Conservatives in South Carolina that would be more than happy to take the trip up I-95 to Washington. I hope that Mr. Graham's first term is his last.

Ultimately, however, this fight must be about whether or not the Republican Party is going to act like a majority party. Will it accept the mantle of power, and use the opportunity to correct the course of an out of control judiciary. Will it clean house in the Senate? Will it help set the ship of state back on the original course plotted by the founders? Will it do what we hired it to do?

We will see if Dr. Frist has the courage to move all judicial (and see what caving in gets you, the Dems have started a filibuster on the Bolton nomination -- and bald faced lie about it) to the floor for a vote. I do think that it is time for him to pull the Republican caucus into the back room, read it the riot act, firm up his majority support. He then needs to go to at least two of the Dwarves, and remind them that their committee "responsibilities" are up to the majority of the Republican caucus, and no Senator is actually "due" any assignments at all... I suspect that separating John Warner from his cherished Chairmanship might move him to reconsider his Neville Chamberlain act.

It is time to end the non-legislative filibuster, now and forever. It is an unconstitutional action, and deserves to be buried.

Oh, Mr. Healy... one more thing... the strategy of keeping non-judicial filibusters because you might need to use them in the future, against a Dem President, and Dem Senate... is the strategy of losers. Which ties neatly together with my opening statement about Libertarians.

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