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• You're right, but ... (Score:1)

  by vsergu (505)

  It's hard for me to feel a lot of sympathy considering the way the Republicans similarly unfairly blamed Clinton for the attacks earlier. It'll blow over soon enough, and the Republicans can get back to hilariously hypocritical complaints about the treatment of Bush's judicial nominees.
  
  People reap what they sow.
  • Re:You're right, but ... (Score:1)

    by pudge (1)

    Well, Clinton was partially to blame. Just as Bush, Sr. was, of course.
    
    And I don't see how you can call the nomination complaints hypocritical. Sure, Clinton claimed there was a "vacancy crisis" when there were 64 vacancies on the federal bench, but while the Democrats controlled the Senate in 1992, there were 63 vacancies -- only one fewer -- and Clinton said that was equivalent to "full employment in the federal judiciary".
    
    The fact is that recent new Presidents have had 90 percent or better confirmati
    • Re:You're right, but ... (Score:1)

      by vsergu (505)

      Chief Justice Rehnquist said there was a vacancy crisis during the Clinton years. Was he just a puppet of the Democrats?
      
      Whether there's a disparity in treatment, and which direction the disparity goes in, depends entirely on who's tweaking the statistics. And the complaints about treatment of Clinton's nominees had more to do with unprecedented delays than with rejections. In any case, Bush hasn't yet had the pleasure of having any of his nominees kept waiting for years to have even a hearing. That's p
      • Re:You're right, but ... (Score:1)

        by pudge (1)

        You misunderstand either my statements, or Rehnquist's. Clinton said when the Democrats controlled Congress that there was no crisis, and when the Republicans did that there was. Rehnquist said at both times that there was a vacancy problem, in 1993 first, and then again in 1997. I did not say there was no vacancy problem, I said that the Democrats are clearly selective in when they think there is one.
        
        And no, the statistics aren't up for grabs. They are quite clear. On any measurement, Bush is getting
        • Re:You're right, but ... (Score:1)

          by vsergu (505)

          If you're saying that the Democrats are selective about when there's a vacancy problem, then we agree about that. I just think the Republicans are similarly selective.
          
          None of this is about justice or reasonable treatment of nominees. It's about each side wanting to get their people in and keep the others out, and if we had a Democrat in the White House the two sides would simply switch scripts.
          
          Tweaking statistics isn't about making up numbers. It's about choosing parameters and deciding exactly what co
          • Re:You're right, but ... (Score:1)

            by pudge (1) on 2002.05.18 14:55 (#8550) Homepage Journal

            It's about each side wanting to get their people in and keep the others out, and if we had a Democrat in the White House the two sides would simply switch scripts.
            
            Perhaps, but there's no evidence of that. The record of Republican Congresses supporting Clinton nominees is right there.
            
            Tweaking statistics isn't about making up numbers. It's about choosing parameters and deciding exactly what comparisons to make. You've decided that the relevant measure is what percentage of a president's nominees have been approved during the first 16 months of his term.
            
            No. I have decided that the relevant measure of how much support a Congress gives a President in this regard is how many of that President's nominees are confirmed by that Congress, not in the first 16 months, but in total. I already conceded that there is still 1/4 of the 107th Congress remaining in which the 107th Congress can turn around its dismal record, and I expressed doubt that they would. Similarly, the numbers I quoted for previous presidents were for the entire Congress.
            

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