Residual Forces

Remember the talk of getting 60 Senate seats last election? Sure it was early on, but still, the hope of ending the roadblock Democrat’s stranglehold on the conservative agenda and judges was inspiring the base and providing hope for our cause….. Then something happened, and it was BEFORE the war and Foley scandalized the (R)epublican brand.

McCain’s Gang of 14!

Hugh Hewitt remembers the first blow fired at the Republican Senate leadership of a 55 vote majority. (read the whole thing)

Then John McCain organized a back-room deal with six other Republicans to undermine the Bush-Frist strategy of returning the Senate to its old rules. The fig leaf was the confirmation of Judges Brown Owens, and Pryor and a promise not to filibuster judicial nominees through the end of the session absent extraordinary circumstances, which were undefined. Other fine judges were thrown under the bus. And the extra-Constitutional schism with hundreds of years of practice was not repaired.

The damage to the GOP was instant and immense. Not only were fine judges sacrificed to John McCain’s ego, many in the base simply tuned out the GOP from that moment forward. Why work that hard and invest that much in a party that cannot deliver on its pledges even when gifted with 55 seats? Why fight for a majority that would not fight? Ohio’s Mike DeWine, an otherwise reliable conservative, never recovered with the Buckeye State’s GOP base and lost his seat in 2006. Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee was also turned out, though the party’s bill of grievances against Chafee was much longer than just the Gang of 14.

There were other stumbles along the way to the loss of six seats in the fall of 2006, but the McCain Gang’s coup in the Spring of 2005 started the slide. And for what? White and White argue that we should be grateful for the successful confirmations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito and Judges Brown, Pryor and Owens.

But those fine jurists all would have been confirmed had the filibuster been ended anyway, and many more besides.

At a time when it was Conservative judicial ideals vs. Liberal Obstruction, McCain chose to stop the conservatives from even having the battle.

McCain’s non-proliferation treaty should be seared in conservatives’ minds. He killed the nuclear option, and look what it got us.