Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist is reportedly ready to trigger the “nuclear option” to ban fillibusters in judicial nominations — a Washington Post report suggests is due to him boxing himself into a decision that could nuke his own political career.
Here’s the part of the Post article that’ll be quoted by most folks today, since it deals with the political polarization angle. GOPers say it’s vital to axe the fillbuster since Democrats are, they argue, abusing it and holding up many of President Bush’s judicial nominees. Democrats say this is changing the long-respected rules of the game and means Tyranny of the Majority that they will be forced to retailiate against in other legislative areas…bigtime. The lead of the Post piece:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is all but certain to press for a rule change that would ban filibusters of judicial nominations in the next few weeks, despite misgivings by some of his fellow Republicans and a possible Democratic backlash that could paralyze the chamber, close associates said yesterday.
The strategy carries significant risks for the Tennessee Republican, who is weighing a 2008 presidential bid. It could embroil the Senate in a bitter stalemate that would complicate passage of President Bush’s agenda and raise questions about Frist’s leadership capabilities. Should he fail to make the move or to get the necessary votes, however, Frist risks the ire of key conservative groups that will play big roles in the 2008 GOP primaries.
Frist feels he has no acceptable options to seeking the rule change unless there is a last-minute compromise, which neither party considers plausible, according to senators and aides close to the situation. “I think it’s going to happen,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said this week, although he would prefer that Frist wait to allow more legislation to pass before the Senate explodes in partisan recriminations. Aides privy to senior Republicans’ thinking concur with Thune.
But the most DAMNING part of the Post piece are the parts that say Frist boxed himself into a political corner now by taking firm stances that didn’t allow himself any options to change course without taking a huge political hit. This is NOT a reassuring quality (or lack of it) in a politician — certainly not in a President. A good politician leaves himself/herself lots of leeway to quickly move in another directoin and still look competent. Read THIS:
Some independent analysts say that Frist — a comparative newcomer to politics who unexpectedly gained the majority leader’s post in early 2003 — has created his own dilemma, and his handling of it will be an sign of whether he has the skills to seriously vie for the White House.
“I think Senator Frist has backed himself into a corner where I don’t see how he can avoid pulling the nuclear trigger,” said Charlie Cook, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. In terms of a presidential race, Cook said, “it hurts if he doesn’t come up with the votes. But it also hurts him if the Senate comes to a grinding halt and can’t get anything done. I think the guy’s in a real jam.”
Conservative activists are giving Frist little wiggle room. “If Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist hopes to capture the Republican nomination for president in 2008, then he has to see to it that the Bush judicial nominees are confirmed,” Richard Lessner, executive director of the American Conservative Union, wrote in a recent article. “If he fails, then he is dead as a presidential wannabe.”
It’s clear that if Frist gets the votes to this it won’t because he has pieced together any coalition or nurtured and cultivated a consensus in the United States on this. It’ll because the GOP was able to pressure X number of citizens in line to do something Senator Bob Dole recently cautioned them against doing.
Look at some other stories on this subject:
–The Senate Parliamentarian is against changing the rules. Reports the Hill:
Such objections by the appointed keeper of the Senate’s rules would have little practical effect — since any Republican sitting in the chair would be free to reject or ignore the parliamentarian’s advice. But opposition from an ostensibly neutral staff member could have a political impact, making the GOP tactic appear to be out of bounds.
–The GOP has had special meetings because it fears it is not winning on this issue. Again, from the Hill — and again it points up the lack of consensus and coalition building. So if this WINS it will have the most NARROW public support possible and could boomerange on the GOP. The Hill:
Senate Republican leaders were due to meet last night amid rising concern that they are being beaten on the “nuclear option� by Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) public-relations war room.The GOP’s talks follow a meeting last week in which aides warned Bob Stevenson, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) communications director, that something needs to be done to win back lost ground, a participant said.
“I think there’s a realization that this particular [Democratic] effort has to be countered and they’re in full-scale attack mode,� a GOP aide said, adding, “I think that people know that we’ve got a serious problem here.
“There’s been a lot of talk. Advice has been solicited from me and others. I’ve been told that a plan will be submitted tonight. It will be tweaked.�
–At least one Democratic Senator is looking for a compromise.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.