So a group of Republican Senators have decided that getting favorable media attention is more important than preventing the Constitution from being violated by obstructionist Democrats. Not surprisingly, their leader was John McCain , long known as a RINO -- Republicans In Name Only. The Democrats have promised to filibuster judicial nominees only under "extraordinary circumstances" -- vague words that leave the Democrats free to decide what they think may constitute extraordinary circumstances.

We all know what that means. Any judge that fails to pass the Liberal Litmus Tests -- promising to uphold abortion on demand and not oppose gay "marriage" -- will be considered "extreme" and filibustered to death. This violates the Constitution, which specifically calls for the "advice and consent" of the Senate for a President's nominees. The Senate gets to vote yes or no on each nominee, not prevent a vote from being taken by using a "house rule" that covers discussion on motions and bills. A President's appointments are not ordinary Senate business like motions or bills! Any Senator who allows appointees to be filibustered is willfully violating the Constitution, and will never get my vote for any office, ever.

On a side note: before you Liberals start yelling the talking point du jour, "Abe Fortas," get the facts straight. Both parties delayed Fortas' nomination to Chief Justice for a matter of days while allegations of corruption were being investigated. When it turned out that Fortas would lose even if a vote were taken, LBJ withdrew the nomination. Fortas later stepped down from the bench amid a cloud of ethical violations. If anyone -- Democrat or Republican -- has evidence of corruption or crime committed by any of Bush's nominees, then they should go right ahead and delay the vote while the allegation is being investigated. THAT would be considered an "extraordinary circumstance." Not swearing to advance the Liberal agenda of the party that's out of power is not an "extraordinary circumstance." Yet that's exactly what will happen.

When the American people vote a party out of power in the House, the Senate and the White House, it's because their agenda is not wanted. Republicans have gained a majority in every branch of government, including state governorships and legislatures, since 1994. The only branch of government not directly controlled by the people is the judiciary... so the people have voted for those who would appoint and confirm the kind of judges they want. And certain weak-willed Republicans, who are afraid to act as though their party keeps winning because they might not get invited to the best cocktail parties, have surrendered to the losing party without a shot being fired. They continue to thwart the will of the American people, as expressed in election after election, just to gain a few favorable words in the "mainstream" media and a few points in the polls. And frankly, it's disgusting. We all lose by straying from Constitutional principles. There can be no compromise with unconstitutional actions.

The elephant in the room that no one's talking about is the next round of Supreme Court nominees. It's no secret that Chief Justice Rehnquist, a strong Conservative and strict Constitutionalist, is suffering from thyroid cancer. When he steps down, as he inevitably will, the Democrats will declare any nominee to the ideological right of Joe Stalin "extreme" and be free to filibuster until the cows come home. The rest of the Supreme Court judges aren't getting any younger, either. How many "extraordinary circumstances" are we going to hear about in the next few years?

There have been times and places in which a tiny minority controlled the majority, and it's never been pretty. We recently rectified such a situation in Iraq, where the Ba'ath party, supported by the Sunni minority, kept the majority of the people in virtual slavery. If we allow the minority Democrats to hold a virtual veto over the judiciary, while the judiciary continues to interpret laws and legislate from the bench according to Liberal sensibilities, we might as well stop pretending to live in a Republic where the people have a say in their own government.