VP Kicks Ass

I couldn't agree more with Vice President Cheney.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney warned Democrats Friday that he will cast the tie-breaking vote to ban filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees if the Senate deadlocks on the question.

Republicans are moving the Senate toward a final confrontation with Democrats over judicial nominations. Internal GOP polling shows that most Americans don't support Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's plan to ban judicial filibusters — a tactic in which opponents can prevent a vote on a nomination with just 41 votes in the 100-member Senate.

"There is no justification for allowing the blocking of nominees who are well qualified and broadly supported," Cheney told the Republican National Lawyers Association. "The tactics of the last few years, I believe, are inexcusable."

"Let me emphasize, the decision about how to proceed will be made by the Republican leadership in the Senate," Cheney said. "But if the Senate majority decides to move forward and if the issue is presented to me in my elected office as president of the Senate and presiding officer, I will support bringing those nominations to the floor for an up or down vote."

These judicial filibusters are immature and unprofessional. It's pure partisan politics. The Democrats can't seem to do anything but lose seats in the Congress, so their solution is to break the rules and cheat in order to get their way. The so-called "nuclear option" calls their bluff. I don't like that it has to be used, but perhaps it will show them how the Founders really intended representative government to operate.