Obstructionism In Action-- Obama Nominations Failing To Get Senate Approval

Wait... The Democrats won the Senate, right? Even with Republicans preventing Al Franken from being seated-- and even with Ted Kennedy incapacitated-- there are still 58 of 'em and only 40 Republicans. So what happened to President Obama's nomination of David Hayes as the #2 guy at the Interior Department? Obeying directives from Limbaugh and Cheney and the rest of the obstructionist hard core, the Republican Senate caucus decided on a de facto filibuster. When Reid moved to shut down debate-- for which he needs 60 votes-- he wound up with a 57-39 outcome, 3 short. I hate to say it but clearly, it's time for Kennedy to give up his seat. (Kerry was attending a military funeral in Massachusetts, which is why he missed the vote and Mikulski has been out for a few days.) Reid and Kyl traded votes so that, under the arcane Senate rules, Reid can bring it up again, and Olympia Snowe crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats. (With Kerry, Mikulski and either Kennedy or Franken voting, the cloture would have-- or, more important-- will in the future, be successful.)

Hayes, the first of Obama's nominees to be rejected by the Senate, is an environmental lawyer and he was targeted by GOP hack Bob Bennett (R-UT) because Interior Secretary Ken Salazar canceled oil and gas leases. Salazar right after the vote:  "It may be uncomfortable for some to watch us have to clean up mess after mess-- from corruption to lawbreaking-- that is the previous administration’s legacy at Interior, but to cast a vote against such a qualified and fine person is the height of cynicism."

So why does Bennett have his panties all in a tangle? Ahh... glad you asked. Back in March we looked at a little intra-party political problem Senator Bennett is having back in the theocratic homeland of the Mormon Cult. If you're an avid twitterer, you may be aware that what we warned about back then was revealed-- by another klutzy Republican troglodyte-- this morning. Bennett is viewed as a something of mainstream conservative and the Utah Republican Party is cleaning house and moving way to the right. Last year they ousted another mainstream conservative, Chris Cannon, and replaced him with a hard right fanatic, Jason Chaffetz, a confirmed bigot and someone way out of the mainstream of American political thought-- just the way most of the Mormon hierarchy likes 'em. Next up on the chopping block is Bennett, who was, until today's twittery slip, hoping to avoid a vicious primary with Utah's neo-fascist Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff. Like most Republican politicians, Shurtleff is clueless about how to use technology but knows he has to make himself look like he's one of the cool kids. So, forgetting it's a public communication system, the hapless AG sent out a series of tweets-- now removed, 1984 Ministry of Truth style-- giving away his hand. (Someone who knows what a slimy character Shurtleff is, photographed the evidence.)

Following a Twitter announcement from former congressional candidate Tim Bridgewater (R) that he would challenge Bennett, Shurtleff fired off a series of Twitter messages that he thought were private.

The writing is strange and hard to decipher, but the message is clear: Shurtleff is in.

“I'm announcing I'm running at 12," he wrote in one.

“it will also be against Bennett and I’ll pick up his delegates when he drops off the first ballot,” Shurtleff writes, apparently referring to the multi-ballot nominating process at the Utah GOP’s state convention.

He says in another that he will have “all of the legislative conservative causcus [sic] and other senators and representatives there endorsing me. Time to rock and roll!"

Anyway, Bennett has been on a lunatic fringe rampage all year trying to prove that he isn't a mainstream conservative but a neo-fascist obstructionist maniac. Uncharacteristically, this year he's one of the deadly zeroes, a group of 25 far right obstructionists who have voted against every single proposal President Obama has put forward. His score is zero; Orrin Hatch's is 6.06. Hatch isn't up for re-election.

There are two unrelated matters each related to today's vote that I want to point out. First is that, despite an hysterical and bloody uproar from the nutroots, the GOP Establishment is determined to destroy far right Florida fringe candidate Marco Rubio's primary campaign so they can get relatively moderate (and electable) Charlie Crist into the Senate. Yesterday Red State's Erik Erickson warned after the NRSC endorsed Crist that they would be sorry when all the "salacious stuff" started coming out about him.

Even more important is another vote coming up to confirm Dawn Johnsen to run the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. Normally the Senate just gives nominees a pro forma look and then confirms them with a voice vote. That's how a scumbag and torturer like Jay Bybee got the job. But the Republicans have decided Johnsen is too liberal for the job, regardless of what the president thinks. And yesterday Harry Reid confirmed that he doesn't have the votes to prevent them from their de facto filibuster maneuver. Odd how one of Bush's most controversial nominees, Michael Mukasey, was confirmed as Attorney General with 53 votes while Johnsen needs 60 votes to be confirmed. Pseudo-Democrats Arlen Specter and Ben Nelson have vowed to oppose her nomination, although at one time it looked like Nelson had agreed to vote for cloture, which would allow an up or down vote that Johnsen would easily win. Reid actually only needs one more GOP vote (since Lugar favors the nomination) and both Maine senators say they are still deciding how to vote.

A few days ago an L.A. Times editorial urged her confirmation and pointed to the horrifying hypocrisy of the Republicans' tactics: "The irony is overwhelming: Republicans in the Senate are opposing-- and may try to filibuster-- President Obama's choice to head the Justice Department agency that during the Bush administration provided legal cover for the torture of suspected terrorists. Their argument: Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen is a partisan activist who would politicize the Office of Legal Counsel, which is charged with providing the executive branch with an objective analysis of existing law."
That hate her because she's so outspoken about her opposition to torture and because she's a powerful voice for pro-choice positions.

The Republicans' opposition to Johnsen is hypocritical, given their acquiescence in the rank politicization of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Bush years. But even Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has noted that the nominee has not been a cloistered academic. Feinstein said she voted for Johnsen in the Judiciary Committee after the nominee assured her "in no uncertain terms" that she would leave her views as an activist behind when she returned to the office, where she served during the Clinton administration. Feinstein added: "I take her at her word."

So do we, and only partly because Johnsen has broad support from the legal community. Her most impressive qualification for the position, in addition to her prior service, is a detailed position paper she and 18 other former Office of Legal Counsel lawyers published after the release of the first torture memo. It offers a mirror image of the way the office behaved during the Bush administration: "When providing legal advice to guide contemplated executive branch action, OLC should provide an accurate and honest appraisal of applicable law, even if that advice will constrain the administration's pursuit of desired policies. The advocacy model of lawyering, in which lawyers craft merely plausible legal arguments to support their clients' desired actions, inadequately promotes the president's constitutional obligation to ensure the legality of executive action."

She's probably one of the half dozen best nominations Obama has made so far. Pennsylvania progressives should watch carefully to see how the Senate's newest "Democrat" votes on this one. And anyone know what ever happened to Harry Reid's public promise to seat Al Franken by the beginning of April?

Employee Free Choice is extremely important if we're going to turn the economic tide and go back towards middle-class friendly policies. But it isn't the only reason to look askance at Biden's lame deal to make Specter a Democrat: