Pickering To Retire

[Dinger]

Charles Pickering says that the minority stopped the majority from confirming him to a permanent postion on the federal bench. Wah wah wah, so now he thinks he should step down.
This is just strange to me. I think there is a whole lot more here than is being said. bu$h wanted him in so bad, did Pickering do this with KKKarl's approval? chimpy's? Cheney's??

Definitely a missing piece or two here.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/12/09/pickering.retires.ap/index.html

[ewagner]

1. Very curious

They could have probably confirmed him permanently in the next congress so stepping down doesn't make a lot of sense.

Skeletons in the closet?

[klook]

2. Skeletons

From NY Times, Jan. 17, 2004:

"Judge Pickering was nominated to the appeals court soon after Mr. Bush took office. Senate Democrats argued that he did not deserve elevation because he had written an article as a young man recommending ways to strengthen Mississippi's anti-miscegenation laws, left the Democratic Party in 1964 when the national party tried to integrate the state delegation to the national convention and, more recently, presided over a 1994 trial in which he took extraordinary steps to reduce the sentence of a man convicted in a cross-burning incident."

Those are enough skeletons in the closet for me to oppose this jerk.

More from the NYT article:

"While confirmation of Judge Pickering in the coming session is improbable, he could conceivably be renominated should Mr. Bush win a second term and Senate Republicans win a filibuster-proof majority in the next election.

Reached at his home in Hattiesburg on Friday, Judge Pickering said that he was grateful for the opportunity to serve on the appeals court. By accepting the recess appointment, he leaves his seat on the district court and, if he is not confirmed by the Senate as an appellate judge, will have to retire."

Fine by me.

[MrBenchley]

5. Since then, it turned out he outright lied under oath

during the hearings....I think that's the skeleton that's going to keep him from popping up again in front of the Senate in the foreseeable future.

[EC]

3. This guy worried me

because of his voting rights record. I figured * wanted him in the district court to cover his election ass. Now that the elections are over, he's not needed anymore...








"Blessed are the peacemakers."...Jesus,Sermon on the Mount

[MrBenchley]

4. Not so strange...

Since he was snuck in, it's been discovered he lied before Congress about his connections to the white supremacist Mississippi Sovereignty Commission in his hearing (which is perjury). If he popped up in a hearing again, he might well be serving time not long after.

[fob]

6. This guy may end up being bush*s "bork". When rehnquist if finally

declared gone, bush* will send up the most heinous, divisive creature ever. It will be a ploy though. He'll be following up with an even MORE heinous choice but one that is not so readily obvious as being such.

The more insane the first choice that is a smokescreen for getting the real SECOND choice, the more dangerous the second choice will be. The Dems should confirm the OBVIOUS first choice louse and put as ugly a face as possible to the theo-con death cult member of the (Formerly Supreme) Supreme Court Memebers.

IMHO.



Edit: forgot my example - Send Pickering up first, then after the fightin' and complainin' about obstructionist dems, they send up...John Ashcroft!