Byrd's votes on Priscilla Owen

[James T. Kirk]

1. Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion To Invoke Cloture on the Nomination of Priscilla Richman Owen, of Texas, to be U.S. Circuit Judge)

Byrd (D-WV), Yea

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00127

2. Question: On the Nomination (Confirmation Priscilla Richman Owen, to be U.S. Circuit Judge)

Byrd (D-WV), Yea

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00128

:wtf:

Why the heck did Robert Byrd vote for cloture on the Owen vote and then vote to confirm her?

:wtf:

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Ask him

I mean it. I'm not being a wiseass. You might want to drop him a polite note (because his staff will probably be handling it, and they don't deserve the blame) asking him WTF he was thinking.

I personally think it was some kind of compromise or wheeling and dealing. Time will tell whether he got snookered (always a probability).

--p!

[James T. Kirk]

4. On his website

http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_speeches/byrd_speeches_2005_may/byrd_speeches_05_24_2005.html

It's some rambling story about pharisees, Chaucer and polecats.
:crazy:
I'll have to e-mail him.

[Jim Lane]

2. Completely predictable

Byrd was one of the seven Democrats who agreed to vote to in favor of cloture in case of any filibuster opposing a particular trio of Bush nominees, including Owen.

His second vote wasn't mandated by the agreement. One problem with the agreement, though, is that it creates an incentive among Democrats, especially its signatories, to support nominees they would otherwise have opposed. Byrd makes his vote for cloture look better by voting to confirm. He's saying this nominee isn't really so bad after all, therefore my vote for cloture wasn't sabotaging the last chance to block an unsuitable nominee.

For future extremist nominees, the seven Democratic signatories retain the right to declare "extraordinary circumstances" and support a filibuster. They can also expect, however, that if they do so, the Republicans will declare that the agreement's been broken and will push the nuclear option again. Then it will look like they gained nothing from their earlier agreement; all they did was to smoothe the way for three bad judges. To avoid that outcome, they'll be strongly tempted to conclude that the particular nominee before them isn't so bad.

[xchrom]

3. you have to take byrd as he is.

while he resist bushco as he understads it -- he can also be very conservative.

he comes from a very different time.

he's travelled light years so far -- and as long as the compromise went down -- he's doing it his way.