Not Just Politics

In his first efforts at magnanimity and working with those that are willing to work with him, the White House has announced it is going to shove the collective nose of the Democrats into the puddle of piss on the floor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) set up a showdown with Senate Democrats on Monday by renominating 20 failed judicial nominees, many of whom had been denounced by critics as "right-wing extremists."

The renewed battle over the nominees promises to produce plenty of fireworks as Bush begins his second term with an expanded Senate Republican majority and still-defiant Senate Democrats.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, has threatened to change the Senate's rules to prevent any more procedural hurdles known as filibusters against judicial nominees.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has vowed Democrats are "not going to cut and run" from any such fight.

This is not politics as usual, it is the most blatant display of political arrogance one can imagine.

Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), a Texas Republican, said, "The American people sent a strong message on November 2 against the obstructionist tactics that, unfortunately, we saw all too often in the past four years."

"I'm hopeful that the will of the American people has been made clear to the obstructionists and that these 20 nominees will receive swift up-or-down votes, as all judicial nominees deserve," Cornyn said.

The arrogance of that statement is beyond explanation other than to recognize people like Cornyn are nothing more than teenagers drunk for the first time on peppermint schnapps. It's like watching a continuous loop of the Police Academy movies over and over and over again.