Instapundit/Glenn Reynolds notes Daschle's position on blocking all judges and even links to this DVT post about Daschle's inconsistency on judicial nominations. Now see this New York Post editorial today entitled "Daschle's Duplicity," which is, again, absolutely incredible:
Presidential recess appointments, according to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, are a necessary executive prerogative: "That's the only way [the president] can get the nominations through," because the other side is "blocking just about everyone."Indeed, says Daschle, "I don't blame the president for being frustrated and having lost patience. . . . The president acted, and I'm glad he did."
At least that's what he was saying five years ago - when Democrat Bill Clinton was the one making recess appointments, allowing him to bypass Senate confirmation of his federal judicial selections.
How time flies.
Now it's George W. Bush - stymied by Senate Democrats' refusal to allow many of his nominees even to come up for a vote - using the recess-appointment tool, and Daschle is singing a different tune.
...
Of course, this isn't the first time that Daschle and the Democrats have threatened legislative jihad over judicial appointments: When the GOP sought to block some of Clinton's nominees, Daschle vowed to unleash "a messy set of circumstances" that would bring Capitol Hill to a virtual standstill.
Republicans merely want to move the process forward, something Democrats are resisting on petty political grounds, accompanied by unfounded smear attacks that have distorted several of the nominees' judicial records.
The Democrats should follow their own leader's advice of five years ago, when he complained that "some of these people have been waiting for years," adding that "it's only fair to these candidates that they get an up-or-down vote."
That's all the White House has been asking for.
Again, don't the good Senator's constituents deserve some modicum of consistency?
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