Did the Senate spend 30 hours on talking about going to war with Iraq? Where are their priorities? Is this the people's work or the work of the president? Which is more important?
Blah, Blah, Blah
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28574-2003Nov11.htmlWednesday, November 12, 2003; Page A22
STAGING A FILIBUSTER used to mean taking to the Senate floor and talking continuously. Yet beginning this evening, the Democratic filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominees will have Republicans staging a nonstop, 30-hour yap fest. The Republican stunt may provide a service to anyone who happens to be awake and bored at 3 in the morning. It will particularly assist those who -- residing on some planet other than Earth -- have not previously had the privilege of hearing Republicans decry Democratic obstructionism and Democrats decry Mr. Bush's extremism. Republicans will energize their base and help Democrats energize their own, and the event will further degrade the once relatively apolitical judicial nominations process. One thing it will not do, however, is facilitate the confirmation of good judges to the federal bench.
If senators wish to spend 30 hours not doing their jobs, we can offer a long list of bills they might spend their time not passing. We would cheer them on if they talked ethanol subsidies to death. But every moment senators spend decrying the other side's misdeeds with respect to judges makes it harder to pull back and craft a process that does not hopelessly politicize the judiciary.
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