Time: Kyl-ling Her Softly (Sen. Kyl behind Miers' rejection)

[Roland99]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124291,00.html

The last group President Bush thought he had to worry about opposing Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. But it turns out the man most responsible for taking Miers down was an insider, the G.O.P.'s fourth-ranked Senator, Jon Kyl (rhymes with smile). The second-term conservative from Arizona argued at length in meetings with majority leader Bill Frist and G.O.P. whip Mitch McConnell that the Miers nomination was too risky ideologically and too costly politically, sources on Capitol Hill tell TIME. From Day One, says a G.O.P. staff member, "(Kyl) was trying to kill Miers."

The influential Judiciary Committee member and his staff organized internal whisper campaigns, say Republican sources, that led to newspaper articles damaging Miers. The strategy was so successful, G.O.P. staff members say, that the White House called Kyl to object. Undaunted, his staff spread word of the disastrous meetings Miers was holding with Senators until White House officials finally said they were canceling the rest of the sit-downs a week before Miers withdrew her nomination, say Hill sources.

Kyl's coup de grace came last Wednesday after the Washington Post unearthed pro-choice language Miers used in speeches a decade ago. That morning, after Frist told Bush he didn't have the votes to get Miers out of committee--let alone confirmed--the President sent chief of staff Andy Card and other White House officials to the Hill to try to save the nomination. But Kyl and his team fought back, G.O.P. staff members say, and used the Post article to help keep Senators opposed to Miers and to bring at least one other Senator into the undecided camp. At 9:30 p.m., Frist called Card to tell him it was over, and Miers' withdrawal was announced 12 hours later. Kyl's office declined to comment on his role in her downfall, but the White House will no doubt keep an eye on him during the next confirmation campaign.

Nice to see my Senator (Sonofabitch McConnell) standing behind the eminently qualified Miers. :eyes:

[NMDemDist2]

1. I'll be spending a large part of the next year working to defeat Vile Kyl

:puke:

[Sal316]

2. This ought to make good campaign fodder...

...find some quotes from him over the 5 stalled nominees screaming for an up or down vote and then say he denied a vote because of 'political risk'.

[Roland99]

3. Here are some good ones!

http://kyl.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=215139

For more than two years now, Senate Democrats have blocked an up or down vote on some of President Bush’s best nominees to the federal courts. It’s unprecedented; and it’s unacceptable.

Three of the four nominations currently being filibustered would fill vacancies on the court that have been deemed “emergencies” by the administrative office of the courts. In total, there are 41 current vacancies on the courts - 22 of which are ‘emergencies’ -- meaning that continued Senate inaction in confirming judges will delay justice for crime victims, prosecutors, and defendants. (Remember: under the Constitution, criminal defendants have the right to a speedy trial.) Caseloads are backlogged and important issues are left unaddressed as more nominees are blocked by Democrats.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/jan-june05/judges_4-25.html

SEN. JOHN KYL: Well, exactly the opposite. For 214 years it has been the tradition of the Senate to approve judicial nominees by a majority vote. Many of our judges and, for example, Clarence Thomas, people might recall, was approved by either fifty-one or fifty-two votes as I recall. It has never been the rule that a candidate for judgeship that had majority support was denied the ability to be confirmed once before the Senate. It has never happened before. So we're not changing the rules in the middle of the game. We're restoring the 214-year tradition of the Senate because in the last two years Democrats have begun to use this filibuster.

And that goes to the statistics that my friend Dick Durbin just cited. If you take all of the district court judges and put them into the mix, President Bush has had about the same number approved as any other president, but if you focus on the judges directly below the Supreme Court, the circuit judges, a third of them roughly have been filibustered or under threat of filibuster -- 16 out of 51 -- which resulted in President Bush having the lowest confirmation rate of circuit court judges of any president in modern history.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/27/17321/533

"All we seek is a return to 214 years of tradition in allowing presidential nominees the courtesy of an up-or-down vote."

[aquart]

4. May you be victorious in your endeavors.

[Cha]

5. So bush and pickle's very

personal choice for scotus was brought down by the Repuke senator from Arizona..who's in charge here?