whom to blame

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/...3-5dbbec6b1242

Harry Reid: The Man Without A Plan
Posted by: Duane R. Patterson at 5:39 PM
The weekend can't come soon enough for Nevada Senator Harry Reid, the feckless Democratic majority leader. He got caught politicizing the California wildfires as being global warming related, and then when questioned by a reporter a short time later about his comments, he denied he said it.

Today, Reid and the Democrats got thumped twice before lunch. First, a Democratically-led filibuster of one of President Bush's Appellate Court judges, Leslie Southwick, failed as 62 Senators voted to invoke cloture and move on to a final vote, where they confirmed Judge Southwick to the 5th Circuit Court.

Next up on the docket was Illinois Senator Dick Durbin's latest amnesty incarnation, nicknamed The Dream Act. This also needed to get sixty votes to invoke cloture and work towards a final vote of passage. Here's how badly the Democrats have managed the Senate. Durbin, who is assistant majority leader and serves as the Whip, thought they easily had the sixty votes to invoke cloture. In fact, he and Reid were so sure of their head count that Reid already had blocked the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow in the Senate for debate on the Dream Act, leading up to a final passage vote. But a funny thing happened. Reid, Durbin and the rest of Democratic leadership miscounted their votes by a smidge. Instead of getting 60 or better, they only fell short by eight votes. Only 52 Senators voted for this turkey. Reid was stunned. Not only did he get two shots to the chops before the morning was over, he now had no idea what to do with the rest of the day on the floor. He had reserved a day and a half worth of time for a bill that can't possibly get past cloture.

For your enjoyment, here is the video of what a Senator looks like when he has no idea what he's doing, has no plan, no agenda, and basically just wants his mommy.




Since Reid is now consulting with Mitch McConnell to see what to do next, might I offer a suggestion? How about telling Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy to get off his rear end and move the nomination along of Michael Mukasey to be the next Attorney General? After a long delay, the Judiciary Committee finally held hearings last week. But they haven't held a vote to move his nomination to the floor. They haven't even put the nomination on the docket for future consideration in the Judiciary Committee. Wouldn't you think that the Senate Democrats, the same ones who couldn't wait for Alberto Gonzales to leave, would want someone in there that even ultra-lefty Chuck Schumer esteems?

Which Senator do you think has the most to gain by stalling on the nomination of Mukasey? Which Senator benefits from having a Justice Department in a continued state of transition for the rest of the Bush administration? I'll give you a hint. She's running for president.

The Los Angeles Times has done a nice series of stories looking into the very bizarre fundraising of the Clinton campaign, not only from the donor bundling of Norman Hsu, but into questionable fundraising by minimum wage-earning dishwashers in L.A.'s Chinatown district. If there are any illegalities in the Clinton campaign fundraising, it's going to be up to the next Attorney General to decide whether or not to investigate, prosecute, or hire an outside counsel to look into it. The longer the Bush Justice Department is in disarray, the more the Clinton machine can try and run out the clock.

In the meantime, we'll continue to monitor the Senate to see if Harry Reid has any bright ideas on what to try next. It may be a very slow afternoon.


http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_7277962

Sen. Cornyn explains vote against DREAM Act
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 10/25/2007 09:34:09 AM MDT

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, voted Wednesday against the motion to proceed to the DREAM Act, a bill seeking to allow the legalization of undocumented immigrant teenagers headed for college, Cornyn said.

The senator said in El Paso in August that he supported the DREAM Act. But Wednesday, he said that although he had "a great deal of sympathy for the plight of children who have no moral culpability for being in this country illegally," he opposed the lack of bipartisan negotiation on the bill.

The Senate Democratic leadership prevented "any amendments to even be considered, including one that I sought to introduce which would have added a graduation requirement to the bill," he said. The motion, introduced by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., which required 60 votes to pass, was rejected by a vote of 52 to 44.

1. one of the main reason we failed because, the democrat blocks all the republicans amandment. This is not the first time he does it. he did it during CIR.
2. we are unlikely to have dream passed as long as he is in power.
3. I pointed that out in one of the DA1982's post that it doesn't look very look that they will have a vote on the motion to proceed."
http://dreamact.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3089&start=0
second message.
4. the decisive blow is Bush's veto thread. The white house issued a veto thread 10 mins before the vote started. hmm.. very unique timing. think about it, once the vote is started they can't cancel the vote. so, It sounds like that Bush and his party wanted Dream to fail. to make Democrats look bad ? I don't know. what do you say ?

I dont want to argue, but the reason it had to be a closed amendment process is because Sessions was promising an avalanche of irrelevant amendments if the Dream Act proceeded to a vote. Sessions would have been able to tie the Dream Act in knots if there was an open amendment process and anybody can offer whatever amendment they want.

Dont blame Reid. He kept his promise to bring it to a vote and he's always been a supporter.

Also, that article is completely wrong. Reid and Durbin were not sure we had 60 votes and Durbin kept telling reporters we needed a bit more to get past cloture. Obviously, that radio show host is writing his own narrative for his sheepish listeners.

and it certainly didn't help matters that the white house released a statement against the DREAM Act

No, the White House did not issue a veto threat. They came out in opposition of the bill, but they did not promise to veto. Sessions even corrected himself on the Senate floor.

CIR_Dream
You may be right, but not letting other senators adding amendments are just too arrogant to certain point.

4. the decisive blow is Bush's veto thread. The white house issued a veto thread 10 mins before the vote started. hmm.. very unique timing. think about it, once the vote is started they can't cancel the vote. so, It sounds like that Bush and his party wanted Dream to fail. to make Democrats look bad ? I don't know. what do you say ?

most importantly the timing, Folks, they could issue a thread days before the vote but....

Senators would have been able to offer amendments, but I think the Democrats would have been able to pick and choose which to bring to the floor. Cornyn's amendment would have probably been picked since its a legitimate amendment. It was designed to prevent Sessions, Demint, and Vitter from mucking up the Senate debate.

so...anyway....that's it??
all we can do is just ...being illegal students and waiting for a few years again??