Senator Patrick Leahy is apparently attempting to portray Republican questioning of nominee Sotomayor as racist in some fashion. In order to support this version of the facts, he lied today in public.
When Senator Lindsey Graham used the example of Republican support for President Bush’s D.C. Circuit nominee Miguel Estrada to make the elementary point that Republican concerns about Judge Sotomayor are based on her judicial philosophy, not on her Hispanic ethnicity, Judiciary Committee chairman Pat Leahy saw fit to respond in this way:
I’d just note, just so we make sure we’re all dealing with the same facts, Mr. Estrada was nominated when the Republicans were in charge of the Senate, was not given a hearing by the Republicans. He was given a hearing when the Democrats took back the majority in the Senate ….
Well, let’s “make sure we’re all dealing with the same facts,” Senator Leahy:
1. President Bush announced his nomination of Estrada to the D.C. Circuit on May 9, 2001. Fifteen days later, Senator Jeffords left the Republican Party and flipped control of the Senate from the Republicans to the Democrats. Leahy surely remembers that well, both because Jeffords was his fellow Vermonter and because the flip made him chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Leahy was once dismissed from the Senate Intelligence Committee, in days when the Senate took national security seriously regardless of party, for disclosing secret material.
He is not to be trusted.
Tags: Leahy, Sotomayor, Supreme Court
I co-hosted a local radio program earlier today and reminded listeners of Leahy’s 1987 “indiscretion.”
I wonder how many fictional “sleazebag Senator” characters from mainstream fiction have been largely based on Leahy…
(*SHRUG*) (*SIGH*)
The inmates are running the asylum, Mike. God help America.
BILL
Just as an aside…
I remember driving to Washington DC from Orange County, NY with a friend in order that we could personally pay our respects to President Ronald Wilson Reagan as his body lay in State in the Capital Rotunda.
We waited on line for hours. Finally, upon getting inside the building, we witnessed Leahy engaged in loud discussion with another individual (not a “civilian” on line to pay respects; apparently a staffer, colleague, lobbyist, or another “insider” with an “all access” badge) as if he were in his office or home or outside in an open space.
Leahy showed absolutely NO respect for where he was, what was occurring, nor did he apparently give a fig for the mourners or the solemn occasion.
As God is my witness… I swear that I’m not exaggerating even one tiny bit. Leahy’s behavior – which I unfortunately was forced to witness in silence – was disgusting.
God help this once great nation.
BILL