#1
Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:11pm
From the wonderful DailyKos.
Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if we saw the Republican hegemony disintegrate again, like it did when Newt Gingrich's Contract ON America went down in flames?
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Today brings the first whispers of "what if?" from the far right in this debate. Today's Roll Call (sorry, I can't provide the link as it's behind my Lexis/Nexis log in) features an article about how this fight will shape the future of the Republican party.
Buried at the bottom of the story is this extremely intriguing nugget:
A senior Senate Republican aide said Frist needs to spend the next 24 hours deciding if it is worth it personally to move forward with a vote even if he knows it will fail.
"If you go for this and lose, you have to say, 'What is the political fallout,'" said the aide to a conservative Senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Does it substantiate the Democrats' [argument] that we were overreaching and our own moderates proved it?"
A senior aide to a conservative Senator--presumably one that should be in Dobson's Frist's corner already--is let loose to suggest Dobson Frist might fail. I might be reading too much into it, but remember, this majority keeps a tight seal against leaks.
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With 44 Democrats and the lone Independent, Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.), in Reid's corner, he needs to peel away six Republicans to preserve the minority's right to filibuster judicial nominations. So far, just three GOP Senators -- Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), John McCain (Ariz.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) -- have publicly opposed the maneuver.
That leaves a handful of potential `no' votes for Reid to go after. He will need three of the five to prevail over Frist.
And most prominent among the undecided Senators are Armed Services Chairman Warner, who has taken a lead role in trying to derail Frist's effort and craft a compromise among centrists, and Judiciary Chairman Specter, who has been the most outspoken Senator pleading with Frist and Reid to stand back from the brink of the nuclear showdown [...]
In an interview with regional reporters from targeted states Friday, Reid said he had a private commitment from a fourth Republican to oppose the nuclear option but declined to name who that person was. He told the reporters that he had four GOP targets remaining, of which two will be needed to outflank Frist.
But Republicans have privately suspected that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate who has been actively engaged in the centrist talks, would join her home-state colleague Snowe in opposing the move.
The remaining GOP targets are Warner, Specter, DeWine and Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), according to aides and liberal activists [...]
A few other Republicans remain outside prospects for `no' votes, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Both have participated in the centrist talks.
Murkowski's office said Friday she remains undecided.
Republicans Preparing for Filibuster Defeat?
Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if we saw the Republican hegemony disintegrate again, like it did when Newt Gingrich's Contract ON America went down in flames?
---
Today brings the first whispers of "what if?" from the far right in this debate. Today's Roll Call (sorry, I can't provide the link as it's behind my Lexis/Nexis log in) features an article about how this fight will shape the future of the Republican party.
Buried at the bottom of the story is this extremely intriguing nugget:
A senior Senate Republican aide said Frist needs to spend the next 24 hours deciding if it is worth it personally to move forward with a vote even if he knows it will fail.
"If you go for this and lose, you have to say, 'What is the political fallout,'" said the aide to a conservative Senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Does it substantiate the Democrats' [argument] that we were overreaching and our own moderates proved it?"
A senior aide to a conservative Senator--presumably one that should be in Dobson's Frist's corner already--is let loose to suggest Dobson Frist might fail. I might be reading too much into it, but remember, this majority keeps a tight seal against leaks.
---
With 44 Democrats and the lone Independent, Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.), in Reid's corner, he needs to peel away six Republicans to preserve the minority's right to filibuster judicial nominations. So far, just three GOP Senators -- Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), John McCain (Ariz.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) -- have publicly opposed the maneuver.
That leaves a handful of potential `no' votes for Reid to go after. He will need three of the five to prevail over Frist.
And most prominent among the undecided Senators are Armed Services Chairman Warner, who has taken a lead role in trying to derail Frist's effort and craft a compromise among centrists, and Judiciary Chairman Specter, who has been the most outspoken Senator pleading with Frist and Reid to stand back from the brink of the nuclear showdown [...]
In an interview with regional reporters from targeted states Friday, Reid said he had a private commitment from a fourth Republican to oppose the nuclear option but declined to name who that person was. He told the reporters that he had four GOP targets remaining, of which two will be needed to outflank Frist.
But Republicans have privately suspected that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate who has been actively engaged in the centrist talks, would join her home-state colleague Snowe in opposing the move.
The remaining GOP targets are Warner, Specter, DeWine and Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), according to aides and liberal activists [...]
A few other Republicans remain outside prospects for `no' votes, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Both have participated in the centrist talks.
Murkowski's office said Friday she remains undecided.
Republicans Preparing for Filibuster Defeat?
Updated On: 5/24/05 at 05:11 PM
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