Framing the Dissolution of the Filibuster: How Republican Senators Justify the Grab for Absolute Power
By Robert S. Rivkin, Pacific News Service, AlterNet.org
You've
got to hand it to the Senate Republican leaders. Launching debate on
May 17, Majority Leader Bill Frist offered the most succinct argument
for ramrodding [Bush's] most extreme judicial nominees through the
Senate confirmation process. With dazzling simplicity, he opened the
debate with the statement that, as a matter of simple fairness, all 10
of Bush's nominees are entitled to “an up or down vote” because a
majority of senators supports their confirmation.
The Republicans have identified a theme – or as linguistics professor and commentator George Lakoff would put it, a “frame” – that the average American can understand. “Up or Down Vote” – what's complicated about that?
The
Democrats have tried to expose the hypocrisy of this propaganda by
pointing out that the Republicans, in effect, “filibustered” over 60 of
President Clinton's judicial nominees by killing their nominations in
committee – and preventing a vote on the Senate floor. Moreover, Frist
was required to admit that even he voted in favor of the filibuster on
at least one occasion.
In TV
ads placed by radical right groups that are closely connected to the
Republican Party, another deceptive theme has been pushed: that Bush's
most controversial judicial nominations are designed to stop “judicial
activism” by “arrogant” courts. Would Republicans admit that the 1896
decision in which the Supreme Court interpreted the equal protection
clause of the 14th Amendment to permit racial segregation, was an act
of judicial activism? Would Republicans admit that another 19th century
Supreme Court decision that allowed corporations to be cloaked with the
constitutional rights of a “person,” was an act of judicial activism?
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Blog For Iowa 
According to the Senat Roll Call, our own Chuck Grassley has at least five times voted to uphold filibusters of Clinton nominees. If the nuclear option comes to a vote Tuesday, he will likely show his hypocrisy and vote to cut off filibusters. He should be held accountable.
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