February 1, 2008
Brownback’s Testimony: McCain on Judges
Fresh from my inbox, Senator Brownback, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, gives his testimony regarding McCain and judges. I’ll post the whole thing below, but here is what struck me the most:
When I raised my concerns at the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court in 2005, few other Republican Senators would join me at that critical time. John McCain was one of them.
This was also noted by Rolling Stone, in an interview with Senator Brownback:
The day Miers withdrew her name, Sen. John McCain surprised the mob of reporters clamoring around Brownback outside the Senate chamber by grabbing his colleague’s shoulders. “Here’s the man who did it!” McCain shouted in admiration, a big smile on his face.
Contrast this to Mitt Romney’s top judicial advisers, Jay Sekulow and Gary Marx. Both came out swinging for Miers the morning she was nominated. In fact, you can still read Sekulow’s praising of Harriet Miers in a press release he sent out the same morning she was nominated:
“Once again, President Bush showed exceptional judgment in naming Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court to replace Justice O’Connor,” said Jay Sekulow…
I think its pretty clear which candidate is going to receive the best advice in the White House on judges.
Here’s the full e-mail sent out by the McCain camp:
Dear Friend:
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I know how important it is for our president to appoint men and women to the court who will not legislate from the bench.
We’ve seen the consequences of overreaching judges who have created a right to same-sex marriage and even a right to abortion.
The presidential election will determine nothing less than the future of the Supreme Court. We can go from being one justice away from overturning Roe v. Wade to being two or even three justices away. There are also so many other important issues in front of the court- property rights, the Second Amendment, faith in the public square - just to name a few.
I have fought these battles in the Senate with John McCain. He is no recent convert to the cause - John McCain is a consistent conservative you can trust. John McCain and I stood side-by-side to confirm John Roberts and Sam Alito to the Court, and I know that as president, John McCain will appoint justices with a strict constructionist view of the Constitution.
When I raised my concerns at the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court in 2005, few other Republican Senators would join me at that critical time. John McCain was one of them.
John McCain knows that among a president’s most lasting legacies are the men and women he appoints to the courts. John McCain knows that we must have judges committed to interpreting the law, not creating it. A sampling of the names McCain supported for confirmation to the federal bench are as follows: Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Miguel Estrada, Charles Pickering, Janice Rogers Brown, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito. This record of supporting conservative judges speaks for itself.
John McCain made his first major speech after the midterm election losses to The Federalist Society on November 16, 2006. Commenting on the recent election losses suffered by the Republican Party, McCain stated:
“Nor do I believe Americans rejected our values and governing philosophy. On the contrary, I think they rejected us because they felt we had come to value our incumbency over our principles, and partisanship, from both parties, was no longer a contest of ideas, but an ever cruder and uncivil brawl over the spoils of power… The genius of our founding fathers wasn’t that they were better people than those who came before them; it’s that they realized precisely that they did not have a greater claim to virtue, and that the people who followed them weren’t likely to be any more virtuous than they were. That critical insight led them to realize something important about power: if its exercise isn’t limited, it will become absolute.
“Power always tries to expand. It’s a law of nature, of human nature… Why has the appointment of judges become such a flashpoint of controversy in the past twenty years or so? When you understand our system in the way I’ve just described, when you see the wisdom in it and the humility it requires of public servants, it’s easy enough to understand why we are so concerned that the judges we appoint share that understanding of the nature and limits of power.”
During my campaign for president last year, I expressed my deep concern that America is becoming a less democratic nation as unelected judges dictate more and more of our nation’s laws and social policy.
I have talked at length with John McCain about these issues, and he not only shares this concern but has actively promoted a conservative view for the judiciary and the nominees we need to get confirmed and onto the bench.
Not only does John McCain stand strong on the issues, but he can win in November. More so than any other Republican candidate, the polls show that John McCain can beat Hillary or Obama in the general election.
I am proud to support John McCain for President, and I urge you to stand with me to send Senator McCain to the White House. John McCain will help us bring to an end to the federal courts’ sad chapter of judicial activism.
Sincerely,
Sen. Sam Brownback, Co-Chairman
McCain for President Judicial Advisory Committee
http://race42008.com/2008/02/01/brownbacks-testimony-mccain-on-judges/trackback/
February 1st, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Guys - stop posting pro-McCain propoganda.
McCain already has this thing wrapped up, right?
You can go back to your regular programming now.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Testy are we?
February 1st, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Just what I would have expected from the fraud Romney… judicial nominations like GHWB, David Souter types.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Awesome post Billy, I would trust Brownback over Sekulow any day. Didn’t you once tell me that he makes $600,000 a year and flies around in a private jet off the checks of pro-life grandmas on social security?
February 1st, 2008 at 8:41 pm
There are plenty of good democrat and independent judges. Are there any decisions they have made that have been bad?
February 1st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Brownback is a hack…Give me a bag to vomit in. Vote for a DEM…any dem
February 1st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I’m John McCain, and I was in Vietnam, and so was my friend John Kerry.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Yes, Natalie that’s true… sick isn’t it? Another great post, Billy.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Very good comment Natlie, I agree with you 100%. Brownback is the most trustworthy out of the two. I support John McCain because he is pro-life, plan to support him the Maine Caucuses this weekend.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Billy, It is nice of Brownback to do a “Jack Kemp” for McCain. What does McCain himself, and none other, has to say about the judges?
February 1st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Erik, by the time the general election comes around, Mccain’s son will be in Iraq, if he isn’t already there.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I’m Jack Kemp and I approve this new Bush.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Oh, wait-I got the names mixed up!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Look, having a Senator that has worked with (possibly done a few back room deals with) endorse McCain is nothing.
Brownback couldn’t even get his wife to vote for him for President and you want us to take his word for it that McLiar is a conservative. If Brownback, Olsen and these other endorsers where so thrilled with a McCain Presidency why didn’t they come out 4 or 5 months ago? I’ll tell you, BECAUSE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR JOBS and McLiar and the straight BS express will promise anything to win.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:26 pm
The REAL Truth, I dislike McCain so much that I won’t vote for him if he wins the nomination. But I need to point out that you get a piece of truth wrong. Senator Brownback endorsed McCain immediately after he dropped out of the race, which was last September, I believe. Yeah, he also has done some campaigning for McCain in NH. But, you got it right with the rest of the endorsers!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Brownback endorsed McCain when Mac was still seen as “politically dead.”
February 1st, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Sorry - He was so insignificant I forgot about that
February 1st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Billy
The fact remains that McCain can not win the general without the entire republican party and he isn’t going to get it.
Most people I talk to say they will vote third party or stay home.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Haha, Brownback is still a loser.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Brownback couldn’t even get his wife to vote for him for President
—–
What proof do you have of that? That’s not true I saw them both together in Iowa on the campaign and she was one of his strongest supporters.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Too harsh. Mitt and his activist judicial surrogates clearly stood for affirmative action in such selections. That’s why Mitt created a blind system to give him the best qualified nominees in MA. The brilliance of this system, in Mittlogic, was to pass the buck by making sure no one could hold him accountable for whomever was ultimately chosen.
When that system selected a cavalcade of white male Ivy Leaguers, Mitt figured out a way to circumnavigate his own system in order to appease his opponents. So he overrode the system’s recommendations and chose judges based more on affirmative action again. One of these appointees gained fame as the judge who released a murderer, thereby giving the death sentence to the Maucks near Tacoma, WA. Romney had previously touted this judge’s appointment as a triumph of his own devotion to appointing judges based on gender, race, and private sexual proclivities.
So Rombots should exercise judicious restraint when yelping at McCain for his juridical appointment credentials.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Jl
Take a joke - your supporting one
February 1st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
MarkG
His (possible) judicial appointments have nothing to do with the reason I will never vote for McLiar, it’s because he is a lying backstaber and can’t be trusted with anything important.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:52 pm
No sale. You’re just a Rombot who won’t accept anyone other than Mitt. That’s fine as far as that goes, but let’s try to be a little honest here…
February 1st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I am the straight talk express.
I’ve always supported the eventual republican nominee, but I’m tired of voting for the lesser of the two evils. It only makes the party weaker each time. There are many people I would (have) voted for Thompson, Newt even Giuliani but not McCain, he will cause more damage that we can afford.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Brownback is another phony conservative. I could care less about his recent found admiration for McFraud.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:02 pm
You have to love the McFraud supporters for their blindness to McCain’s Illegal Amnesty Stance. His willingness to raise taxes…his willingness to give terrorists access to US courts, his desire to kill US business with his CAFE standards and his willingness to be a LIBERAL DEMOCRAT. I find it interesting when Robert Novak also remembers McFraud’s disdain for Alito and his conservatism. Another thing that old fool at 72 forgot!! HIS VOTING RECORD IS A DISGRACE!!! All major bills that bear his name are LIBERAL and COUNTRY DESTRUCTIVE..Feingold, Liberman and Kennedy..just put that McSHAMNESTY name with each and you learn with this old fool stands. But his supporters will wave the “HE IS A WAR HERO” garbage…yeah right! with a foul temper and no class. Oh yeah I know he was a prisoner of war….the same thing this old fool alawys uses as a way to deflect attention to his LIBERAL record.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 am
REAL Truth, seriously, say something of any substance or just stop commenting.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
#26–Given the ratio between then and now, Brownback is the most conservative and aristocratic senator since Henry Clay. The fact that you deem him “phony” is a testament to your lack of the title of conservative (or classical liberal) yourself. Speaking in your best interest, it would be best for you to say nothing, than to bring into question your own conservative credentials–or lack thereof.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I just don’t see how Brownback can get the casual voter to go out and get McCain. I just only seeing him get a small portion of the voting population, but that is all. Brownback can only get hard core pro-lifers to vote for McCain.
Oh…and BTW, Brownback didn’t put that email together. Inside sources tell me that Rob Wasinger, Brownback’s Camp Manager as well as his former Iowa Political Director Martin Gillespie put this whole email together. I respect Brownback’s cause for life, but I think a Huckabee endorsement would have been more suitable. He wouldn’t have the guts to do so because they are both in the Senate, and votes in the Senate are much more important.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
McCain might’ve voted for Roberts and Alito, but I don’t have faith he would actually appoint like-minded judges…
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/30495.html
NOTE: McCain voted to confirm Justice Alito, but subsequently said in private meetings that he would appoint someone like Chief Justice Roberts to the Supreme Court, but NOT like Justice Alito!
McCain sneered that Justice Alito “wears his conservatism on his sleeve.”
And lets not forget the company McCain keeps and has a record of bad legislation in his cohorts with Teddy Kennedy, Russ Feingold, and Joe Liberman…
Romney all the way
February 4th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Oh God not the Huckster’s supporters Again !!!! I don’t believe a high quality Senator from Kansas would endorse Hucky the bigot
February 4th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
[...] testimony and that of Senator Brownback are powerful: these are two men who worked side-by-side with Senator McCain in pushing through [...]
September 9th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
[...] Brownback has been leading the “Catholics for McCain” effort here and here and here and here and here. I wrote so much about it I figured I’d give everyone an update on how that effort [...]
September 9th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
[...] Brownback has been leading the “Catholics for McCain” effort here and here and here and here and here. I wrote so much about it I figured I’d give everyone an update on how that effort [...]