September
21, 2005
The Democratic
Shuffle
It’s been quite an interesting week here in Washington.
First, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid comes out against
the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts. So does
Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
But Senator Patrick Leahy will vote for Roberts. That’s
interesting. It looks to be a good move by Leahy for a
couple of reasons. By voting for Roberts, he can say “Hey,
I voted for a Bush nominee but if you send up a Priscilla
Owen or a Janice Rogers Brown, then forget about it.”
It makes Leahy look more reasoned and not so much an obstructionist
or caving to the special interest groups. And believe
me, Ralph Neas and the folks at People for the American
Way now have some decisions to make. They’ve got
to be pretty upset at Leahy and any other democrat that
votes for Roberts. So do they withhold campaign contributions
the next time around?
As for Reid, this was no doubt a tough decision for him.
You got the sense that he wasn’t sure what to do
but his no vote really seems to be a no vote against President
Bush than Roberts. He didn’t like that the White
House wouldn’t release certain documents on Roberts
and it seemed the White House wasn’t really consulting
with democrats at all when he named Roberts.
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