The "Magnificent" Seven And The Nuclear Option That Never Was
By Bonnie Chernin Rogoff (05/27/05)
I have to give Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist credit for trying. It’s not easy to stand before the American people and admit that after years of winning elections, you’re still the party of losers.
When Dr. Frist addressed the Head of the Senate and announced his acceptance of a compromise on filibusters, he tried really hard to point out the pluses and minuses of the compromise. In a pitiful gesture, Frist even managed a smile, but he looked weak and dejected. By contrast, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid appeared energetic and relieved, as if he’d just returned from a spa. Standing alongside was Senator Chuck Schumer displaying his usual obnoxious smirk. This was a move of resignation and defeat by the GOP leaders.
The Dems won big last night.
I find myself almost agreeing with Lanny Davis. He appeared on Hannity/Colmes last night to declare this deal as a victory for the “centrists.” There are no centrists, only social radicals who love abortion and abhor freedom of choice unless it’s theirs to make. The 1994 Republican landslide ushered in the RINO Revolution. Seven rebels from our party held the conservatives leaders at bay, putting to rest any notion that the 2004 pro-life vote made a difference.
Does the compromise offer any benefits to the GOP? For starters, we get a guaranteed straight up-and-down vote on three nominees who have been denied a floor vote: Judges Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen, and William Pryor. That’s how it ends, too. The Democrats made no promises or commitments to allow a full floor vote on the remaining four judges. During President Bush’s first term the Democrats blocked ten of his judicial nominees. Three approved minus seven denied = less than zero.
What’s more, Democrats can utilize the filibuster against future U.S. Supreme Court nominees under “extraordinary circumstances.” What does that mean? It’s a vague term similar to “health exception” in Roe v. Wade that has been used to allow abortions for all nine months of pregnancy. The Democrats get to decide which nominees are too “extraordinary” to confirm, and what the circumstances are! If they’re pro-life, you can bet they will fall under the extraordinary exclusion, and their nominations will fail. All future nominees will be filibustered. For Roe v. Wade to be overturned a strict constructionist approach to the Constitution is a must. If just one appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court goes wrong, there’d be no chance to reverse Roe for years, maybe decades.
Judge William Pryor, Jr. cannot be trusted to defend traditional values. As Alabama’s Attorney General, he vigorously prosecuted Judge Roy Moore resulting in the Ten Commandments monument and Judge Moore being removed. Although Judge Pryor has called Roe v. Wade an “abomination,” as Attorney General in Alabama he said would uphold Roe, and he did! As a judge on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, he ruled to kill Terri Schiavo. Is there any doubt that Judge William H. Pryor, Jr. is a conservative in transition, on his way to becoming an activist judge and a sellout on conservative principles?
I’m perplexed; why did Majority Leader Bill Frist promise a nuclear showdown if he knew the votes to ban filibusters weren’t there? The compromise has been in the works for two weeks. Why mislead conservatives by promising everything and not delivering?
The Democrats agreed to vote against the filibuster as a bloc. You needed 51 votes to change the Senate rules. Had seven Democrats walked away, it would have made no difference so long as all 55 Republicans voted together.
There is strength in unity. The Democrats have it, the Republicans don’t. The Democrat leaders punish defectors. Republican leaders can’t because there are too many traitors entrenched in the Big Tent.
Seven troublesome RINOs have sold out the GOP conservative majority to the Democrats in a raw deal that leaves the filibuster intact and gives pro-lifers nothing. Those Magnificent Seven are: John McCain, Lindsay Graham, John Warner, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Mike DeWine and Lincoln Chafee.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America said, “We are confident that a Supreme Court nominee who won’t even state a position on Roe v. Wade is the kind of extraordinary circumstance this deal envisions.”
There you have it, America! This is a sad day for the Republican Party and an even sadder one for pro-lifers.
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