Unprecedented obstructionism

The dem/leftists and their willing shills in the MSM, would have us believe that there has been little obstructionism on judicial nominees. They would also have us believe that using the filibuster is their duty unde the Advice and Consent in the Constitution. I have already posted on the latter. The Washington Times in their editorial, posts the fact and figures on using the filibuster as an obstruction tool.

"During the first complete two-year Congress of their presidencies, postwar presidents achieved the following confirmation rates for their circuit-court nominees: Truman (80th Congress; 3/3: 100 percent); Eisenhower (83rd; 12/13: 92.3 percent); Kennedy (87th; 17/22: 77.3 percent); Johnson (89th; 25/26: 96.2 percent); Nixon (91st; 20/23: 87 percent); Ford (94th; 9/11: 81.8 percent); Carter (95th: 12/12: 100 percent); Reagan (97th: 19/20; 95 percent); G.H.W. Bush (101st; 22/23: 95.7 percent); Clinton (103rd: 19/22: 86.4 percent); G.W. Bush (107th; 17/32: 53.1 percent).

Thus, for the first complete two-year Congresses of the 10 postwar presidencies preceding George W. Bush's, the circuit-court confirmation rate averaged 91.2 percent. For Mr. Bush, it was 53.1 percent. Moreover, before George W. Bush, no president's confirmation rate during his first complete Congress fell below 77 percent, which is nearly 50 percent (and 24 percentage points) higher than Mr. Bush's confirmation rate. It is also worth noting that the three nominees returned by Mr. Clinton's first Congress were confirmed during his second, effectively raising his first-Congress rate to 100 percent. And if we exclude Mr. Bush's two circuit-court nominees who were appointed to the federal judiciary by Mr. Clinton and nominated for the circuit-court bench by Mr. Bush as an unrequited, magnanimous gesture to the Democrats, then Mr. Bush's first-Congress confirmation rate falls to 50 percent (15/30), which is half Mr. Clinton's first-Congress effective rate.

Let's now aggregate the data for a president's first four-year term, while making minor, necessary adjustments (e.g., folding the 79th Congress into the first term of Truman, who succeeded Roosevelt in April 1945; using 1965-1968 as Johnson's first term; and ignoring Ford, who served less than 2.5 years). Then, the first-term confirmation rates are the following: Truman (10/11: 90.9 percent); Eisenhower (23/26: 88.5 percent); Kennedy/Johnson, 1961-1964 (24/29: 82.8 percent); Johnson, 1965-1968 (37/39: 94.9 percent); Nixon (38/41; 92.7 percent); Carter (56/61: 91.8 percent); Reagan (33/42: 78.6 percent); G.H.W. Bush (42/54: 77.8 percent); Clinton (30/42: 71.4 percent); G.W. Bush (35/66: 53 percent)."

As you can see, the numbers speak for themselves and are a far cry from what the dem/leftists and their media allies would have us believe. Some of the fault though, lies with the republicans. They need to be reminded that they are the majority party and need to start acting like it. They also need to be reminded that no matter how much they bend over backwards to accomodate the minority party, the MSM will still trash them. If it has to come to the socalled 'nuclear' option, then so be it. If the dem/leftists want to shut down the government over this, then let the fallout be on their heads. A note to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi etal: If you and your party want to call the shots on judicial nominees, then get more of your party elected. If you want to have a super majority to confirm those nominees, try amending the Constitution. Until you can achieve either both or one of those, you are merely being obstructionists. - Sailor