I emailed this to the White House early this morning,
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Mr. President,
After hearing your comments regarding the all-night session in the Senate arguing over the Democratic filibuster of some of your judicial nominees, I felt compelled to express my opinions on the matter.
It seems that you and other Republicans have conveniently forgotten a few things related to Presidential nominations and our recent history. During the Clinton Administration, republicans blocked Judge Richard Paez' appointment for four years and engaged in what MSNBC.com called an "intermittent filibuster" to block the appointment of Marsha Berzon. Republican Senator Bob Smith of N.H. responded to Democratic complaints by saying "Don’t tell me we haven’t filibustered judges and that we don’t have the right to filibuster judges on the floor of the Senate. Of course we do. That is our constitutional role.”
You stated that these tactics were wrong-headed and devisive, but you ignore your own party's history of obstructionist tactics. Although your fellow Republicans cried out against the walk-out of Democratic Legislators in Texas during the recent controversy over re-districting there, the tactic was first used by Republican legislators in California.
While these tactics are unfortunate, they have a long history in our Natrion's political history. If you belive that this style of political dialogue is such a problem, perhaps you should first eliminate these tactics from the repertoire of your own party. It would allow you to point out that you truly believe in the principle that delaying tactics of this nature hurt the democratic process that our Republic depends upon.
You could further bolster your claims to believe in Democracy by reigning in those of your party that claim that disagreement of your policies is tantamount to treason, and that those who question our involvment in Iraq help only the terrorists. We are a nation founded upon free discourse, and our political system requires open debate of issues to function.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Best Regards,
Chris Levesque
Posted by Chris at November 13, 2003 09:46 AM