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Senator Patty Murray (D, Washington State) has written an Opinion editorial about the current battle over President Bush's judicial nominations that proves that giants no longer wander the hallowed halls of the US Senate. This wondrous piece of fiction appeared in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday, April 22nd. It's a good thing it is titled "opinion" by the newspaper because opinion is all it is as no facts are contained within.
After reading Senator Murray's work, one wonders if a knowledge of history has officially been deemed unnecessary - nay, even anathema - for a United States Senator because nearly every aspect of her editorial is just plain wrong on historical fact.
Ignoring the hoary beginning of the thing in the first two paragraphs, the first major example of her historical ignorance brilliantly shines out in her claim that the Republicans are " trying to increase their power by ignoring rules dating to our country's founding".
The fact is the Republicans only real effort here is to change the Senate's current rules on when to finish up with the debate on a judicial candidate and get to the up or down "advice and consent" vote that the Senate is required to do per the Constitution (Article II, Section II). And, by changing the Senate rules, the Republicans ARE adhering to those "rules dating to our country's founding" that Murray supposedly bemoans a violation because the Constitution says straight forwardly that the Senate can make their own rules for operation at any time. So, she is completely wrong with her very first "fact" in the editorial.
Next, in the very same paragraph, she says, "It appears they will soon ... push through radical judicial nominees ... by eliminating a 200-year-old rule that allows senators to speak on behalf of our constituents and fight for the ideals we hold dear." Once again, she is swinging at a bad pitch. The Senate Republicans are only changing the number of Senators required to end the debate and get to the vote on the nominees. They are NOT trying to eliminate the debate in the first place.
Her next little gem is more of a misleading, demagogy than an historical misstatement. Murray says " We had an election this past year and it's true that Republicans ended up with the majority in Congress. But that does not mean that half the country lost its voice..."
First of all, "half the country" is neither Republican nor are they Democrats. Murray's claim would lead one to believe that 100% of the country identifies with one Party or the other one which would be the only way to have "half the country" upset that they are not being represented. Furthermore, as it stands now, just over half of those who vote in this country are currently voting Republican. So even if we assume Murray is only talking about voters instead of the entire country she is wrong.
So far she is swinging heavy but every hit is going into foul territory.
Here is her next non sequitur.
"One of the first things every child is taught about the U.S. government is the separation of the three branches. This separation, and the checks and balances that come with it, are fundamental to the greatest system of government ever created. This system is worth protecting."
OK. All well and good, except that the system of checks and balances that the Founder's created to which she refers is one that operates between the various branches. Last time I checked a Democrat Senator and a Republican Senator are in the same branch of government. So, the checks and balances idea she is referencing simply does not apply. It seems as if she wasn't paying attention in her childhood. Let's hope the rest of the children have better attention spans.
What are we on, strike four? A major leaguer she ain't.
Next up ...
"When any citizen comes before a judge, we have a responsibility to ensure that they will get a fair shake ... We can't make those assurances if one party alone is selecting, considering and confirming them to the courts."
Huh? How does having one Party with a lock on power automatically equate to having an unfair judiciary? If she is right about this then we have had an unfair judiciary since Franklin D. Roosevelt won office in 1934 because the Democrats have about had a hammer lock on power ever since that time, until recently. I sort of doubt that the good Senator would agree with this claim. So, we must assume that she is just trying to mislead us once again.
After a few paragraphs where she extols the perfection of the system of choosing judges in her home state she exclaims, "Our record of bipartisanship makes this Republican power grab all the more outrageous."
But the power grab is actually coming from the extreme left not the Republicans. Murray even admits that the Republicans are currently the majority and in a democracy, even a representative one like we have in the USA, the majority has the power.
Another swing and a miss for the Senator. Here is the next pitch...
"The record proves that this isn't about judges at all. This is about destroying the system of checks and balances created to prevent the abuse of government power and to protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans."
Interestingly enough she has not once attempted to explain what "system of checks and balances" are being destroyed in this case. We have already determined that the system of checks and balances refers to the check on power between the various branches of government, so we are left wanting to understand exactly what she is talking about. Of course, we must realize that this was done on purpose. She is engaged in perfectly vague rhetoric so that we can feel outraged without really knowing why.
The good Senator should fire who ever wrote this for her, I'd say.
Next. Here's the wind up...
Murray says, "It seems many in this country are intent on running roughshod over the Constitution, bent on misusing their power to destroy fundamental principles of democracy."
This is almost laughable. One principle, in fact the main principle, of democracy is voting. And it is the Democrats who wish to squelch a vote. They want to eliminate the possibility of a vote on the nominees they are blocking from getting to the Senate floor. It's just that simple. It's the Democrats who are destroying a fundamental democratic principle here.
Well, folks, the ball game is winding up and so far, the good Senator hasn't brought a single run home. I will have to take her last paragraph one segment at a time it is so chock full of foolishness.
"That's not how America works. It is not what our Founding Fathers intended. In our democracy, no single person and no single political party may impose extreme views on the nation..."
Wrong. In fact, the Founders all imagined there would be no such thing as a political party and in the beginning they went to great pains to look as if they were not involved in lowly, vulgar party politics. So, they certainly imagined that everyone would be on the same page, therefore all essentially in the same "party". But, she is also wrong to assume that a "single person" is imposing "extreme views" on the nation. If that were true we would not be having this debate in the first palce.
"...The constitutional system of checks and balances was set up for a reason. It has worked for two centuries. "
Again, it has worked, not between Senators but between the branches of government. Murray missuses this fact so many times in this piece that it is apparent she has no idea what the system of checks and balances even is. She is totally ignorant of the concept. Utterly unschooled and completely unknowledgeable of what she speaks.
"...There is no reason to go nuclear and destroy this fundamental principle now."
Since she never really satisfactorily explained what "fundamental principle" to which she refers, we are left wanting at the close of her illiterate editorial.
It's a sad thing when citizens discover that they have placed the bat boy in the game and left the star homerun hitter in the showers. Maybe Murray doesn't even qualify as a bat boy, though. Maybe the citizens of Washington state sent the popcorn vendor to the plate.
A swing and a miss. That's the game folks.
By Warner Todd Huston
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