Well, I don't know why we should be surprised -- Howard Dean wouldn't know the truth if he found it chewing on his tie.

Dean charged it was hypocritical for conservatives to denounce the possibility of a procedural hurdle known as a filibuster against Alito, a federal appeals judge since 1990.

Dean noted conservatives had helped force President George W. Bush's earlier nominee, White House counsel Harriet Miers, to withdraw without even getting a hearing.

"How dare they have an ad saying we want an up-or-down vote on Judge Alito, when they wouldn't give one to Harriet Miers?" Dean told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Uhhhhh -- wrong, Howard.

I don't know of a single conservative who opposed giving Ms. Miers a vote. We simply warned the White House that we, the members of his base who did the legwork to get him elected, were not supportive of the nomination and that we would be urging GOP senators to vote against Ms. Miers. We reminded him that the defeat of the Miers nomination would weaken him, and suggested that he would do better to act from strength by withdrawing the nominee before she was defeated or confirmed with significant opposition from his own party. There was no one on the GOP side talking about there not being a vote.

on the other hand, the Democrats have regularly taken the opposite position. They seek to prevent any vote, regardless of whether or not the nominee has a majority behind him or her. Where conservatives would have permitted a vote even if they were to lose, liberals don't want a vote at all if they are going to be defeated.

With the possible exception of Hugh Hewitt (who I believe to have been unhinged on the Miers matter), no one on the Right considers a urging the withdrawal of a nominee to be the same as filibustering a nominee.Our method was to urge reconsideration -- the Left's method was an act of obstructionism. That Dean does not recognize the difference is indicative of either dishonesty or dementia.

Posted by: Greg at 02:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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