WaxWorks
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Thursday, February 12, 2004
Chutzpah? You decide.
I need to get something off my chest about this Judiciary Committee memo scandal. As I understand it, Republicans think the focus should be on the content of the Democratic memos at issue, not on the fact that Republicans hacked into the server and stole them. Their argument is that it shows that the Democrats were influenced by liberal interest groups in how they dealt with Bush's judiciary nominees.
Well, look at this article about the issue and count the number of Republican interest groups quoted:
...Several conservative activists have criticized Hatch, saying he should lead an investigation into the contents of the Democratic memos rather than focusing on what many of them characterize as legitimate activities by GOP staffers. The memos, they say, demonstrate the influence liberal interest groups have over Democratic strategy on judicial nominations and may have crossed an ethical or legal line...
"There seems to be a pattern here: capitulation to Democratic demands," said Kay Daly, president of the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary, representing 75 conservative groups. Hatch has bent over backward to accommodate Democrats on the committee without getting anything in return, she suggested. "To be seen as capitulating repeatedly is not something conservatives can stomach," she said, and their reaction is "getting dangerously close to thermonuclear."
"He has a congenital need to be loved by the opposition," said Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation. "The best thing you can say is that he tries to please all sides and ends up pleasing none."
Conservative activists say Hatch's support for an investigation of Republicans distresses party loyalists just as the 2004 election season gets underway. "This is the sort of thing that demoralizes the Republican base around the country, and it's very unfortunate," said Gary Bauer, founder of American Values, a conservative public policy group...
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), third-ranking member of the Senate GOP leadership, said the real issue was Democratic "collusion" with liberal groups to influence the confirmation process.
Oh, and let's not forget that the Federalist Society essentially picks Bush's nominees.
I am "shocked, shocked to find" that interest groups are playing a role in judicial nominations...
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