ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The Anchorage Daily News reports:

Stevens said Friday that he believes Republicans have enough votes to approve the rule change, although two Republicans, John McCain of Arizona and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, have said they oppose it.
....

The Senate's role is to confirm nominees, he said, not choose them. "We think they [the Democrats] have a minority right to be heard on the confirmation process," he said. "None of us are involved in the selection process."

Some Republicans have argued against the rule change, saying someday they will return to the minority. Stevens expanded in the opposite direction, saying Democrats should remember that someday they will be back in the majority and might not want to be subjected to decisions made by 41 people.

Thanks to How Appealing for this Alaska link.

On Friday, Senator Bennett of Utah made a speech, and the full text is available from the web site of Senator Frist, the Majority Leader. In his speech, Senator Bennett said this:

Today there are radio ads being run in the home states of Senators who have still not made up their mind how they are going to vote, radio ads that attack these Senators' integrity and suggest if they do not vote as the majority leader would like them to vote, they are not PEOPLE OF FAITH. They are attacking their integrity and their RELIGION. To me, that is as repugnant as attacking the President's nominees as right-wing whackos. This kind of vilification must stop, but I don't know how to stop it. The First Amendment gives us all a right to say whatever we want to say....

Senator Bennett is right. But keep in mind that, "Every great movement for social justice in America has been powered by religious sentiment." It's legitimate for elected officials to speak to religious gatherings, as Democratic Senators have often done. And, Democratic Senators have also been known to ridicule religious people. So, let's hope that the nomination controversy will be resolved on the merits, and not because of religious attacks of one sort or another.