Hours after I compliment some Democrats for not acting in a partisan manner, Obstructionist Daschle strikes again. Senator Daschle is at least posturing that he has 40 votes to filibuster and he might. I bet it is very close though. Daschle’s reason for the filibuster:
While stopping short of saying they would kill the nomination, they said they would filibuster -- or delay a vote -- until Estrada more fully answers questions about his legal views and the Bush administration provides memoranda he wrote while he worked in the office of the solicitor general in the Justice Department.
Daschle has a pattern of misrepresenting the facts to smear opponents. In this case, he – along with Senator Clinton and a few others – is making an issue out of nothing. Paul Weyrich discussed why the Bush administration would not provide these memoranda.
The Times [and now Daschle] forgot to point out what every living ex-Solicitor General had to say about the then-Democrat dominated Judiciary Committee's request for the memos that Estrada wrote in the Solicitor General's office. What these distinguished attorneys told the "Gang of Ten" was that this was an unprecedented request that, if granted, would have a debilitating effect on the Office of Solicitor General in representing the United States. Signing that letter were Democrats Archibald Cox, Drew Days, Walter Dellinger, and Seth Waxman as well as Republicans Robert Bork, Kenneth Starr, and Charles Fried.
So the biggest objection that Obstructionist Daschle is willing to mention is that Estrada, like every single nomination before him with Solicitor General office experience, refuses to release confidential material. Every single living Solicitor General agrees with this decision, yet Daschle and his gang pretends this is a controversial issue.
Daschle is really worried that President Bush will nominate Estrada for the Supreme Court in a few years. Estrada is clearly qualified, but he believes that judges should enforce the law and not create the law. This is anathema to leftist Democrats so they are trying to taint Estrada now – vs. risking annoying Hispanics even more if Bush nominates Estrada for the Supreme Court. But why doesn’t Daschle just say he doesn’t agree with this philosophy? I would still disagree with him, but he’d have my respect for intellectual honesty.
Hopefully more Democrats will join Senators Ben Nelson (Nebraska) and Senator John Breaux (Louisiana) in supporting Estrada. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve heard Senator Miller (Georgia) will do so. According to Family News in Focus, the following Senators are still considering the issue: Bill Nelson (Florida); Mary Landrieu (Louisiana); Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas); Tom Carper (Delaware); Mark Pryor (Arkansas); Daniel Inouye (Hawaii); Robert Byrd (West Virginia); Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico); Evan Bayh (Indiania); Ernest Hollings (South Carolina); Jim Jeffords (Vermont) and Joe Biden (Delaware). If you live in one of these states, please contact your senators and ask them to support and promote the nomination of Michael Estrada.