Thursday, October 25, 2007

JOHN MCCAIN

McCain Still Glad for Gang of 14 Deal on Judges

Perhaps it’s the rain drenching the D.C. area today, but it seemed like a quieter conference call between John McCain and bloggers this morning. (McCain was in Iowa; don't know what the weather report was like there.) Some of the highlights:

On Southwick: If the standard becomes, this individual “appears to have the intention of intolerance” – what’s that all about? I voted for Ruth Bader Ginsberg, not because I agreed with her philosophy, for God’s sake, but because I believed elections have consequences… The Gang of 14 worked because Republicans were in the majority, and we could find seven reasonable Democrats who would agree to only filibuster in extraordinary consequences. I’m proud that we were able to get Roberts, Alito and many judges at appellate and circuit court through under that agreement. And I’m glad we didn’t use the 51 vote standard that we would have had under the nuclear option, now that we see the obvious consequences for a Democratic president and a Democratic majority.

On what he would do if Democrats opposed his judges: “You gotta make ‘em famous. You have to go to the American people. I would go, ‘Here is Southwick. Here is the record. Why are the Democrats refusing to confirm a judge of this quality?’ Ridicule works, and sarcasm works from time to time. Ronald Reagan knew when it was most useful.”

On Nancy Pelosi’s revised S-CHIP proposal: I swear to then I will not sign or approve any bill that would expand entitlement programs without paying for them. What a sham, what a scam this is… Let’s move all the money for pork barrel programs to S-CHIP. [The Democrats] seem to think they have a winning proposition. Maybe they do, because they say, ‘ how can you be against children’s health care?’ But I say that if we really care about children, we’re not going to lay an unfunded liability that they can’t afford on them.

On the vote on the DREAM Act yesterday: I would have voted against it I have said a thousand times, I have heard the message from the American people. They want the border secured first and then they want – well, at least I want to go on to comprehensive reform.

On the report that last week, there were no U.S. or Iraqi casualties (!) in Anbar province: I hope Harry Reid pays attention to it... It’s directly related to the surge.

Other news and notes: McCain mentioned, "We do have a [television ad] spot up concerning that cultural and pharmaceutical event." ... He'll appear on George Stephanopolous' show this Sunday morning.

10/25 11:51 AMShare