Senator Schumer: "No more confirmations of Bush high court nominees" ("We were hoodwinked.")

[DeepModem Mom]

The Politico: 'No more confirmations of Bush high court nominees'
By: Carrie Budoff
Jul 27, 2007


Schumer said his “greatest regret” in the last Congress was not doing more to scuttle Alito.
(Photo by AP)

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush “except in extraordinary circumstances.”

“We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. “The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.”...

Senators were too quick to accept the nominees’ word that they would respect legal precedents, and “too easily impressed with the charm of Roberts and the erudition of Alito,” Schumer said.

“There is no doubt that we were hoodwinked,” said Schumer, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee....

***

Schumer voted against confirming Roberts and Alito. “In Friday’s speech, he said his “greatest regret” in the last Congress was not doing more to scuttle Alito.

"Alito shouldn’t have been confirmed,” Schumer said. “I should have done a better job. My colleagues said we didn’t have the votes, but I think we should have twisted more arms and done more.”...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/5146.html

[BlackHawk706867]

1. Well Mr. Schumer, Impeach the "Son of a bitch"then... eom. ww.

[Kagemusha]

2. Okay.. remind me here.. did Schumer vote for cloture before voting against them?

I was briefly under the assumption he'd gone along with it all but I can't remember clearly anymore so I'm asking a better question.

[KAZ]

10. He was not part of the Gang of 14. n/t

n/t

[Solly Mack]

3. oh to be lied to by a liar...how that dupes me every single time

why, whenever an easily identified right wing conservative that has a verifiable track record of right wing opinions tells me anything different, I just go right ahead and give them the benefit of the doubt and feel so hoodwinked later on...

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Exactly! This belated handwringing just isn't credible

When has anyone in BushCo ever been trustworthy? C'mon Chuck, you oughta know better!

[Tatiana]

11. Hey Chuck voted responsibly and correctly. It's his "colleagues" that screwed up.

Nice that he is getting out in front of this issue preemptively, however.

[Tatiana]

4. I am starting to think that when the Dems win a comfortable majority in '08 (hopefully)

....they should simply add two more Supreme justices to the court, for a total of 9. This can be done by Congress with a simple majority vote and would be a lot easier than trying to impeach a Supreme Court justice.

[KAZ]

18. May want to rethink (rewrite) this post.

I know the last 2 are brain-dead, but we already have 9, and it would take more than a simple majority of Congress to change it.

[Tatiana]

37. LOL. Should have cut the vicodin in half. I meant a 7-4 or 6-5 court

instead of the 5-4 lockdown we have now. That would make a total of 11. I think.

Thanks for the correction :hi:

[aquart]

5. He damn well should regret it.

[depakid]

6. Day late and a dollar short

The damage has already been done....

Kiss Roe and Griswold goodbye.

[Tesha]

15. Most people have no idea what Griswold was about and what depends on it. :-(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswold_v._Connecticut

Tesha

[robinlynne]

7. I'm sorry. How could you not know?

[Mojambo]

9. At least he admits he blew it.

That puts him one up on Hillary.

[RufusTFirefly]

12. Hillary admits nothing. That proves she's tough.

:sarcasm:

[Tesha]

13. *NOW* he figures it out? What a schmuck! (NT)

[Swamp Rat]

14. If that is the case then Roberts and Alito MUST BE REMOVED!!!!!!!!!

[RufusTFirefly]

17. Oh really? On what grounds?

Yes, Schumer voted correctly, but there's no point in going back and shutting the barn door now.

[Zodiak]

19. Scalia is vulnerable for refusing to recuse himself from Cheney's case

Even though he pals around with the mad shooter on hunting and fishing trips and such.

Hell, because he goes on hunting trips with Cheney, we should have him removed because he is mentally unstable.

[Virginia Dare]

31. Agreed, I think there are already grounds to impeach Scalia..n/t

[Swamp Rat]

25. I doesn't matter to me at all "on what grounds."

'Jaywalking' for all I care.

[Zodiak]

16. See this face?

This vulture is why we will have to live with unbelievable contradictions to our Constitution for the foreseeable future.

"We were duped"

Bullshit. The media circus behind this ridiculous face is what gave you the excuse to just pass the buck. Too much trouble to put up a fight...and you didn't have the votes, right?

Speaking of pass the buck, the Republicans lie to the Democrats and the Democrats lie to their constituents. From their perspective, all is right because shit still rolls downhill.

ON EDIT: This does not apply to the principled Democrats who actually tried to fight this bullshit.

[AX10]

20. Martha Ann Bomgardner Alito: Vulture!

:puke:

[AX10]

21. Martha Ann Bomgardner Alito: Vulture!

:puke:

[AX10]

22. Martha Ann Bomgardner Alito: Vulture!

:puke:

[BuyingThyme]

23. Hey, Chuck, it looks like you've been hoodwinked on them "programs" too.

How many years until you open your fucking eyes and do something about that one?

[C_U_L8R]

24. Hoodwinked???!!! Oh come on.

Schumer.. you're from New York for cryin' out loud... hoodwinked ???
Oh the shame.
Anybody could see that Alito and Roberts were nothing but reichwing assholes.

[malaise]

26. So how come DUers were not

hoodwinked?

[TheDebbieDee]

27. The damage has already been done.................

as far as not blocking *'s nominees for the Supreme Court.

It's liking closing the barn door after the horses have escaped.

It's like putting the cork in the bottle after the genie has escaped.

It's like - oh! You get the point.

[seemslikeadream]

28. Two too late Chuck

[greenbriar]

29. The PUBLIC was not hoodwinked but no one listened to us

we were NOT fooled

[Truth2Tell]

30. Shut up Chuck.

Just shut the fuck up.

Doesn't the mortgage finance industry need a bail-out or something?

[rzemanfl]

32. Just pack the court in 2009 and all will be well again. n/t

[Malikshah]

33. Well, Duh, you idiot.

[WinkyDink]

34. No, YOU were "hoodwinked". ALL of us here saw CLEARLY what Alito and Roberts are about.

[in_cog_ni_to]

35. Oh, FUCK YOU!!!!! WE told you! WE emailed you! We called 5 times a day to tell you NOT to confirm

those rat bastards and, of course, YOU KNEW BETTER! The phone lines were shut down on Capitol Hill because of all our calls to stop those nominations! The President had a "right" to have his Judges confirmed??? Give me a fucking break!! NOW you see how wrong you were? NOW IT'S TOO FUCKING LATE! They sit on the court!

Maybe the next time, LIKE NOW????, you people will listen to US! IMPEACH CHENEY, BUSH and GONZO! I'm SURE you'll get right on that, eh Chuckie?

SCREW YOU!

[Bluebear]

40. YOU SAID IT!

:applause:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

43. Hear Hear!!!! Ditto! Ditto! Ditto!

:grr:

[spanone]

36. Mr. Schumer.....DUH

:boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring:

[Oak2004]

38. The more I think about it the more I think he may have been fooled

Though the hoodwinking came via a good dose of self-delusion.

I think a fair number of too-long-in-Washington Dems convinced themselves that if they went along, once they had regained Congress, Bush and the Republicans would recognize which way the winds were blowing, and be cooperative towards the Democrats.

Utterly delusional of course. And I would not be surprised to learn that the Republicans led them on in this delusion. Nonetheless, it's at least 50% self-delusional.

[DefenseLawyer]

39. What a tool.

I'm sorry but tough talk now is just self serving political bullshit. If you were fooled by Roberts and Alito you aren't qualified to pass the 6th grade, much less be in the Senate. No one was "fooled"; they were afraid.

[Booster]

41. Gosh, can't believe I'm smarter than Schumer - Hell, I knew at the

time they were being hoodwinked. Not good enough, Mr Schumer.

[derby378]

42. If it took this long for Schumer, don't be too hard on me if I call for a "purge"

Schumer was ready to back an independent campaign for Joe Lieberman versus Democratic nominee Ned Lamont before the DSCC pulled him back into the fold. If Schumer were to be replaced by another Democrat with more common sense, I wouldn't shed a tear.

[me b zola]

44. So is this a wink to *Inc. to side-step congressional approval

...and make all of their appointments over the recess?

[Marr]

45. Either add more members to the court or shut the fuck up.

Add them after Bush leaves, of course- but add them. I don't want to hear anything about being "hoodwinked". For crying out loud, I'm just a working stiff and I knew what those men were all about. Surely the Senate knew. They chose not fight, for whatever reason-- they were NOT "hoodwinked".