I suppose there may be more sensible <$NoAd$> things than to stand up in the middle of folks who are fixin’ to have a duel. But that said, I wanted to post this letter my friend Sid Blumenthal sent me this morning that he sent earlier to John Hinderaker of the Powerline group blog …
Dear John Hinderaker:
I appreciate your attention to my column and the questions raised about President Bush’s judicial nomination in the light of the treatment of President Clinton’s nominations.
Rather than indulging in vituperative name-calling (Power Line: Close enough for Vicious Work), I would hope that you would bring to your interested readers’ attention this statement by Senator Diane Feinstein of California on the subject, provide a link and publish lengthy relevant excerpts. The facts of the matter ought to be the basis for debate, not vilification.
Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein – Judicial Nominations
Sincerely,
Sidney Blumenthal
Without going into the specifics of this exchange, it’s always struck me as more a matter of humor than debate that Republicans actually try to argue that they didn’t spend the better part of a decade doing to Clinton nominees what Democrats have now done, less successfully and less systemically, to Bush’s.
Late Update: Here’s a helpful tabular listing of Feinstein’s speech, helping illustrate just how many nominees were blocked and how it was done.
