Cheap Talk

The people who brought us the Clean Air Act have done it again. The time the language warp is the term "bipartisanship." It's what the President wants now that he's lost the edge in Congress. Mr. Bush wants so much for us to get along, that he's promised to work with the Congress in getting the nation's business done. He wants it so much that he's renominated six people for the federal appeals courts that the Democrats previously told him were not acceptable. From the NY Times:

White House officials said Wednesday that President Bush would renominate six of his earlier choices to sit on the federal appeals court, leaving Democratic senators and other analysts to ponder what message he is sending.

...At least four of the nominations have been declared dead on arrival in the Senate by Democrats who have consistently opposed them as unacceptable. All six nominations will remain before the Senate through the lame-duck session of Congress and then will expire.

What's the big deal? A president is entitled to nominate federal judges, it says so right in the Constitution, where it also says that the Senate has the job of advising and consenting on those nominations. Well, let's be charitable and note that perhaps at least some of those nominated really don't quite have the right credentials for the job of judge.

The four nominees whose chances of confirmation are viewed as nearly impossible are: William J. Haynes II, the Pentagon’s general counsel who was involved in setting many of the interrogation policies for detainees; William G. Myers III, a longtime lobbyist for the mining and ranching industries and a critic of environmental regulations; Terrence W. Boyle, a district court judge in North Carolina; and Michael B. Wallace of Mississippi, a lawyer rated unqualified for the court by the American Bar Association. [Emphasis added.]

What I found curious is that Mr. Bush would send these renominations to the lame duck Congress. Yes, the GOP owns this Congress, but the Democrats still have enough votes to use the filibuster. What is Dr. Frist going to do, threaten the dread nuclear option? If he does so, in a couple of months, that tool will be in the hands of the Democrats in the new Congress.

It's too early to tell just what the president has in mind beyond sheer mule-headedness. It certainly is possible that the president thinks that by deliberately provoking gridlock, he can turn the public away from the Democrats as the party who couldn't get anything done when they had the power. One thing is clear, however, his definition of "bipartisanship" is one that jibes with reality about as much as his definition of "victory."