Frankly I'm sick of hearing Republicans and Democrats bicker about blocking judicial nominees. My understanding is that the vast majority have been confirmed anyway. And how hard can it be to find ten more nominees that everyone can agree on? On the other hand, I think the filibuster is pretty ridiculous as well--if you don't think a nominee is fit, than vote no, but let everyone vote. Sadly, the Republicans have a pretty hefty majority (at least in congressional terms), but they did earn it and their votes should count. That being said, I really like what George Will had to say in his Dec 6 Newsweek column (sorry, no link).

The president should renominate all 10 appellate-court nominees who have been filibustered, and he should vow, like General Grant, to "fight it out on this line,if it takes all summer." Norman Ornstein, a student of these things, says Senate Republicans could force Democrats to conduct the kind of filibuster Southern Democrats conducted against civil-rights legislation in the 1950s--talking around the clock, the obstructionists and their opponents sleeping on cots in the Capitol, the Senate paralyzed. There has never been such a spectacle in the era of C-Span and saturation journalism on cable 24 hours a day.

Now that's something I'd like to see. C-Span's rating would--well, I'm not sure what they do, do they even have a rating?

Posted by Hey Paul   |   Thursday, December 16, 2004