Ezra Klein: Your Daily Must-Read

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May 13, 2005

Your Daily Must-Read

August on Voinovich. In George's defense, the amount of pressure that was brought to bear must've been simply unbelievable, and his assurance that the vote would historically leave the committee without a recommendation is going to make it possible to kill on the Senate floor. On the other hand, I really don't understand what Bush is saying to these guys that's scaring them so much. Voinovich won 77% of the vote in his last race; you'd need a stick of dynamite to eject him from his Senate seat. So what are the threats that force all these folks to stand down? And how powerful must they be to have ensured that no one, no one, decided the White House had simply gone too far and it was time to teach them a lesson?

Very weird.

May 13, 2005 | Permalink

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» Vo-mentum from The Ethical Werewolf
Voinovich has given us some Joementum in the Bolton debate, and we should be thankful. Now our concerns can't be dismissed as just a bunch of Bush-hating Democrats complaining about Bolton. [Read More]

Tracked on May 13, 2005 3:29:50 PM

Comments

I don the tinfoil cap from time to time, and your comment made me reach for it. Why do these "moderate" republicans lay down for such a radical ideology on a regular basis? Why would Chaffee, for example, toe the line when he knows this is setting up plenty of attack ads to run in '06?

As for Mr. Voinovich, I wonder if he wanted more time for more allegations to surface. They know more about the sentiments of the senate than we do, perhaps he knows that Bolton would die in an up-or-down vote? Beats the hell outta me. I'd appriciate any other points of view, this is an interesting window into the rift in the Republican party.

Posted by: verplanck colvin | May 13, 2005 1:10:27 PM

To tell you the truth, as much as I adore August I wasn't impressed by this post. Can we please stop the habit of insulting men we don't like by implying they're womanly (i.e., "pussy" and "Vaginavich")? That only winds up insulting women as well. Also, Voinovich made it clear why he sent the nom up to the full Senate: "out of respect for the President." A poor reason, certainly, but it's not like he gave no reason at all.

Posted by: Elayne Riggs | May 13, 2005 1:17:28 PM

When a group of nrotheast Republicans signed their annual pro-AMTRAK letter in 2004 they found their appropriations requests denied that fall. When Specter said he would do his job, his chairmanship was threatened. Maybe Voinavich wants to get money for his state and sit on meaningful committees as opposed to being a Senator-In-Name-Only like a lot of the Kool Aid gang.

Posted by: Poppy McCool | May 13, 2005 1:23:12 PM

Watch the dynamite talk. We need all the moderates we can get.

I'm actually hopeful on this. The vote will be a "stand and be counted" chance for Moderate Republicans to try to turn their party back to something Democrats might be able to work with again. If enough Republicans vote against Bolton, maybe the rest will remember that most of this country is not a bunch of right-wing extremists.

Posted by: William Bollinger | May 13, 2005 1:57:42 PM

I think a good part of the answer is that the GOP moderates fear Bush, party leadership and the Cons/Theos much more than they fear retribution at the polls.

When your own party apparatus is running ads in your district/state that call into question your loyalty on some issue, you have evidence, not hypothesis, that danger is present. Appropriations, committee assignments, primary challengers, compaign finance support and other means are used to enforce compliance.

The means used to enforce party loyalty are no less effective than a horse head in your bed, or a phone call in the night. Even an intentional near miss gun attack makes the point.

Bolton will be confirmed because the party has ruled that Bush can not be defeated, on any issue that the party rules is crucial. Bolton doesn't matter, but toeing the line must be ensured.

The filibuster issue, which is much more of a conscience item, will benefit from making sure that party discipline is required on Bolton. Then on to the expected Supreme Court fights where a nuclear attack on deviants would be inevitable.

Once a party has adopted a 'we cannot allow defeat through voting deviation' attitude, no political figure can withstand the pressure without willingly accepting major retribution.

Posted by: JimPortlandOR | May 13, 2005 2:39:41 PM

Perhaps the Leaders have perfected their method of stealing elections so they now can focus on which sycophant gets the job.

There just doesn't seem to be much evidence that Republicans fear being ousted by the electorate. They seem to answer only to the Party.

Posted by: Phil | May 13, 2005 5:17:09 PM

Voinovich actually only got 63.85% in his last election - State Senator Eric Fingerhut ran (well, technically walked) a great race against him and gained more ground than any other Ohio Dem in recent history.

Source: http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/results/index.html

Posted by: Brew | May 14, 2005 1:53:31 AM

Uh, because they're spineless turds? And this surprises you?

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