Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Karl Rove (???) rejects Senate compromise

Apparently, when nobody was looking, Karl Rove went and got himself elected to the United States Senate. That is the conclusion one could draw from this story in USA Today.

Karl Rove rejected a compromise with Senate Democrats Monday on long-stalled nominations for the federal judiciary and strongly defended President Bush's choice of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations.

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"We believe that every judicial nominee deserves an up or down vote," Rove said. "The process is not well served by these political games."
This is not bad news for Democrats. The GOP can no longer say that the Democrats are obstructionists for flatly refusing to consider approval of Bush's nominees. Of course, they never could honestly say it, considering that more than 200 of his nominees have not only been voted on, but approved. Be that as it may.

Now, the Democrats have reached out, Frist apparently was reaching back, but Karl Rove seems to be nixing the deal. Will Frist allow such blatant White House manipulation of the legislative process? Will he attempt to maintain at least an appearance of indpendence from the Executive Branch? Does Frist understand what his job is?

What on earth could be going on here? Does Karl Rove want the entire country to know that Senate Majority Bill Frist is his punk? That Frist wouldn't dare to pee standing up unless Rove tells him it's okay?

Will Frist push back? The only imaginable way to do that right now would be to ratify the deal with Harry Reid. Then, what? Will Frist disappear in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again?

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