Joshua Horton

Blaming Democrats for gridlock has been a tactic that Republicans have used on a number of policy issues. First it was used with tax cuts, then it was the Patriot Act, now it’s the President’s judicial nominees.

It seems that whenever the Republicans have a problem, it’s because the Democrats won’t allow something. Silly me, I thought the Republicans had control of the House, Senate and the Presidency.

In the 1990s, Republicans argued that they could not do anything because of President Clinton. Now, according to the Republican majority, it’s the minority power of Senate Democrats that runs the show.

Of course, this raises the question, what happened to Bush’s campaign promise that he would be bipartisan?

What happened to his promise to round up support from both sides of the aisle, just like in Texas?

Well, just look at Texas! The Democrats are being forced to allow newly created Republican controlled congressional districts, and if they don’t, they are being arrested or forced to pay huge fines for leaving the state.

If that’s the bipartisan support that President Bush favors, then our system is in trouble.

This latest effort by the Republican controlled House and Senate, to shift blame to the Democrats for holding up the confirmation of judicial nominees, is just one more example of their pathetic partisan ways.

The truth is, the Democrats have actually approved 146 of the President’s nominees and are holding up only three judges because of their extreme right-wing views.

The three judges that have been stalled are Brooks Smith, Priscilla Owen and Miguel Estrada. Smith is being denied because of his membership to men’s only clubs. Owen is not being approved because she is one of the members of the Texas Supreme Court that received campaign contributions from ENRON. And the former nominee Estrada was blocked because the White House did not allow him to fully disclose documentation that was requested by the Democrats that would have demonstrated his views on a number of serious issues.

Blocking people like this from gaining important decision making positions is the job of the Senate.

The original intent of advise and consent was to keep extremist or biased judges from entering office. It has never been their job to become a “rubber stamp” for a President, and confirm anyone he nominated.

When it comes down to it, the Republican Party is to blame for this backlog of nominees who have not been confirmed, not the Democrats. The Democrats have only objected to 2 percent of the Presidents judicial nominees!

For most people, having 98 percent of your nominees approved would be seen as a good thing. Why are the Republican’s holding up the entire system for three undesirable nominees? The answer is quite clear.

Republicans are holding up the rest just to make a political statement and lay blame.

Reach Josh Horton at [email protected].

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