Conservatives May Target Schumer As Retribution For No-Confidence Vote

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/11/resolution-schumer/

Conservatives May Target Schumer As Retribution For No-Confidence Vote

To counter the fallout of an Alberto Gonzales no-confidence vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has repeatedly said he will bring an alternative resolution to the floor. Today, Roll Call previews what that alternative, targeting Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), may look like:

“He may get a dose of his own medicine,” said Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.), adding, “Schumer is clearly way out of order. … This isn’t going to be free.”

One Senate Republican source explained that such a resolution would not name Schumer directly, but instead instruct the Senate to vote on whether a Senator who runs a campaign committee should be “using his political capacity to run the show” on an investigation such as the U.S. attorneys scandal. Schumer is the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“My sense is, we’re going to let them get cloture, and we’re going to talk about it,” the source said. “We have more dirt to throw at them than they have at us.”

This line of attack — that Schumer has a “conflict of interest” because he is investigating the U.S. attorney scandal while also serving as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — was first raised three months ago by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). It’s a complete distraction.

Schumer has no conflict of interest. The investigations led by the Senate and House Judiciary Committees are focused exclusively on the Executive Branch and not on Congress. Potential investigations into improper behavior by members of Congress would be conducted by the respective congressional ethics committees, as they should be.

Moreover, for many senators, the resolution is deeply hypocritical. None of those who previously attacked Schumer complained about the apparent “conflict of interest” that was raised in the 1990s, when then-Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY) was chairman of the Senate Whitewater Committee investigating President Clinton. As ThinkProgress previously noted, during that time, D’Amato was serving as national co-chairman of then-Sen. Bob Dole’s (R-KS) presidential campaign, as well as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

It's only going to make them look like babies.

God forbid they even consider doing the right thing.

The man is clearly corrupt to the core. Let them stand up for him.

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“We have more dirt to throw at them than they have at us.”

<snip>

Talk about denial.

:cry:

and distract them from such irrelevancies as the high cost of gasoline.

rather than for political advantage or poo-flinging. This no-confidence vote would seem an easy, painless way to tell Gonzo he's a fuck-up--a politically safe no-brainer for both parties. Why rally around THIS assclown, of all people? Throw him under the bus today with a minimum of fuss and attention, and then get it off the front page for a while--they're being really stupid here.

up for November 08. The rethugs deserve whatever they get.