Sen Leahy: "BUSH SHOULDN'T BE WORRIED - HE SHOULD BE TERRIFIED."

[kpete]

Leahy: Bush Should be "Terrified"
by: odum
Sat Dec 02, 2006 at 22:54:16 PM EST



...............

............ Patrick Leahy. For those who've heard Senator Leahy speak, you know that his delivery can vary quite a bit. It can be easy to tell when he's tired, physically or mentally - so Leahy on the stump doesn't necessarily mean the same thing twice. But Leahy of late has had a fire in his belly, the likes of which we haven't seen in a while. His sadness at the loss of comity and the discarding of basic Constitutional values under the Bush GOP has turned into outrage, and he has been consistently riveting in front of a crowd in recent months.


But since the election, that outrage has turned into inspiration, and it's an inspiration he passed on to the crowd tonight. Like the speakers before him, Leahy was funny, thankful, exuberant... but there was an edge that was very serious. He related a conversation where he was recently asked if President Bush should be "worried" that he was now to be Chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. The crowd started cheering.


"No, no" he said, calming the crowd, as if to be prepared for a softening of his rhetoric.


"No, he shouldn't be worried. He should be terrified."


And the room exploded.


Leahy went on to assure the crowd that, unlike "some in the administration," he'd "actually read the Constitution," and went on to promise that no judges nominated to the federal bench who would ignore that Constitution would ever get past his committee.

more at:
http://greenmountaindaily.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=704
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/2/225454/847

[cool user name]

1. Music to my ears ...

I haven't even read the whole piece yet.

But damn, that sounds good. "He should be terrified."

Fuck yeah, he should!

[calimary]

17. And to mine, also!

Be still my heart!

[SammyWinstonJack]

93. He's terrified us and the whole world these past six years....now it's his turn to be terrified!

Let's see how he likes it!

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Oh, I love that. n/t

[nam78_two]

3. K&R-Sen. Leahy is one of the best

I wish he was my Senator ...

[cool user name]

4. Holy shit ....

I have a tear in my eye and I don't get emotional.

"No, no" he said, calming the crowd, as if to be prepared for a softening of his rhetoric.


"No, he shouldn't be worried. He should be terrified."

This is real, real good.

[Occulus]

25. I'm a cynic.

There. I said it.

I'm waiting for January. I predict, in January, we will see a slew of threads containing "He SAID he'd do that!!" or "I can't believe he's doing X instead of Y!"

Wait for it.

That said, I would be ecstatic if he were to folllow through on that particular legal threat.

And I do see it as a legal threat, and not a political one. Investigations are usually very revealing things...

[tavalon]

33. I'm usually a cynic too

Of late, not so much. I don't have the idea that we've saved the Republic or anything, but just stopping it from careening off a chasm of endless depth for now seems to have put me in the mood to believe. Now, if my belief is dashed, it will be even worse for me than when Kerry fucked up and I was depressed for most of a year over that one. And I was one angry bitch that time around but you haven't seen angry bitch compared to what I'll be if these folks we sent to the Hill don't kick some thug ass.

[KnaveRupe]

36. Leahy already received one envelope full of weaponized anthrax from a government bio-weapons lab...

I too will wait and see whether he's ready to take these fuckers down for that, or whether he's going to be cowed by the fear of knowing what these thugs are capable of.

[SammyWinstonJack]

94. bu$hco won't get away with that again!

[creeksneakers2]

5. I want Leahy to run for president. n/t

[Greybnk48]

6. Kick this on up. n/t

[calimary]

18. With great pleasure!

:toast:

[tavalon]

45. Kicked again so people can see that not everyone is capitulating

[Octafish]

7. Judiciary Committee means Leavenworth for Bush.

Leahy knows Bush lied America into war.

Remember, Leahy was the guy who asked why Bush didn't warn America regarding 9-11.

Why did 9-11 happen on his watch?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2302369&mesg_id=2302369

[Art_from_Ark]

16. Leahy was also one of the recipients of an anthrax letter

and a very impolite epithet from Darth Cheney.

[tavalon]

34. Yup, it's time for Cheney to go fuck himself

None too soon. We the people are sick to death of being fucked by this bunch. It's time to kick some thug ass!

[YOY]

50. He already has fucked himself...there is no need to tell him...maybe to point it out though

That's why Dead-eye Dick had better be doubly terrified.

[Octafish]

75. Sneer and the Neocons may make their own move.

Sort of a "grease the skids" under Smirk and the crazy monkey's cronies.

When thieves fall out, and all that rot, wot?

[eppur_se_muova]

76. First time, I read that as "Speer", had to do a double take ...

kind of an eerie resonance there.

[Octafish]

96. Same crowd.

Evil people.



Taming of Evil
2000, by Renata Pabulinkas
oil on canvas, 58 x 62-inches

It's a good thing there are so many who know it and give a damn, eppur_se_muova.

[Bobbie Jo]

8. Oh yeah....be afraid, be very afraid...n/t

[Nictuku]

9. Speak Truth to Power

There have been times where Senator Leahy has been a bit of a let down, though not many. He is a true Statesman, and strong speaker.

[Gloria]

10. I don't know how old he is, but I sure hope he stays fit and healthy....

[cool user name]

14. I hope nothing happens to him ...

[cali]

26. Senatior Leahy is 65 or 66

I forget which. He's been in the Senate for 32 years, and he's a great argument against term limits. I saw him this summer at a fund raising house party for a local pol. (This being VT, if you want to meet and greet any statewide office holder, it's easy as pie.) He seemed in great shape then. He's truly a lovely guy, as well as having a great moral compass and a backbone of tempered steel.

[PegDAC]

84. And stays off small aircraft... n/t

[last1standing]

11. I've said it before and I hope to say it again....

This is what we voted for. This is why we fought so hard during all these dark days. This could actually be the beginning of the return to the America I grew up in.

We all deserve credit for this and I hope we're able to pat ourselves on the back much more in the near future.

[calimary]

99. Couldn't agree more. It's certainly what I voted for.

Seems to me a majority of Americans wanted to operate this country Under New Management.

[Warren Stupidity]

12. Perhaps Duck! Cheney might want to reconsider

having told Leahy to fuck off?

[TwentyFive]

24. Yep! Those words are traveling back to bite him. n/t

[Botany]

57. Egg zack lee

The comment was, "Go fuck yourself."

Hope Dick Cheney enjoyed being a prick because the law is about
to come down on him and the boy prince like a ton of bricks.

[valerief]

13. Yodel-Leahy-Hoo! nt

[calimary]

100. LOL

Good one!

[porphyrian]

15. That is awesome. - n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

19. I love it!

Patrick Leahy will line their asses out.

[rosesaylavee]

20. So funny. So good to laugh at this, isn't it?

:rofl:

[jazzjunkysue]

21. There. I just got a constitution for christmas!

It's gonna be a great year!

[Hekate]

22. Heh: the Dem Donkey will give Bush an ass-kickin' to go with his thumpin'

Go Leahy!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

Hekate

[Diane R]

23. I think my Christmas just came early. n/t

[cali]

27. kpete, thanks for posting this.

I also loved this part of the article about Peter Welch, our new rep:

Newly elected US Congressman Peter Welch was relaxed, sincere, funny - and downright inspiring. I like Peter, but I haven't generally found him to be very inspiring in front of a crowd, which made it even more remarkable. He spoke eloquently about meeting with Rep. John Murtha after the leadership vote, and accompanying Murtha to the Bethesda military hospital the very next day to visit and speak with the Iraq wounded. The crowd practically yelled halleluia when he ended his three minutes by stating clearly and directly that he understood and embraced the fact that voters had sent him to Washington first and foremost to end the Iraq War and bring the troops home as soon as possible.



Peter is a fantastic guy, nothing like Bernie in terms of presentation, but as quietly determined as you can get, and as liberal as anyone in Congress- very, very smart, and knowledgable as all hell on environmental issues.

[kpete]

46. You are SO welcome

I love the visual I get - imagining Bush shaking in his cowboy boots!!!

[WinkyDink]

28. Ah, the post-11/07 world!

[calimary]

101. Hope you say that a few more times. I think we ought to co-opt the

battle-cry "11/7! 11/7 changed EVERYTHING!!!" That's our battle-cry. And it completely hijacks the other side's kneejerk screeching that "9/11!!! 9/11 changed EVERYTHING!!!" This IS a post-11/7 world. And it DID change EVERYTHING.

Say it and spread it!

[lonestarnot]

29. OMG! What a feeling!

[malaise]

30. Get em Patrick Leahy!!

Start the investigations.

[tavalon]

35. Nice, huh? n/t

[tavalon]

31. I predict that this will be one of the most recommended threads evah!

Of course, I couldn't resist.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, that made my toes tingle. Whoop!!!

[madokie]

32. Thank you Patrick Leahy

[Vinca]

37. Vermont has the best senators: Leahy and Sanders.

They're going to be great together.

[tavalon]

38. There might be one or two that are just as good as those two

but they are stellar indeed. Not enough to get me to move to Vermont but certainly enough for me to praise Vermont's voters for the fine discernment.

[Vinca]

41. I didn't mean to imply they were the only great senators,

but I can't think of another state with a pair quite like this one. (Sadly, I live across the river with Gregg and Sununu. Ugh!)

[tavalon]

43. I didn't really take it that way

Truthfully I used your post as a jumping off point to make a slightly, and only slightly less fluffy post than Kicked and Recommended, especially since I had long ago recommended and that isn't something we can do early and often.

[cascadiance]

56. Hoping we can get a recall of Ahnuld here in California...

... convince DiFi to run in that recall election. Then when she kicks his rear, hopefully we can talk her into appointing someone decent to replace her to pair up with Boxer (George Clooney maybe? :) ). Then perhaps we can have a pair as close as good as Vermont's! Then maybe I'm dreaming a bit too much too!

Sanders and Leahy rock!

[wryter2000]

62. I'd be great with Governor DiFi

And to round out the Senate, another great Barbara...Lee!

[cascadiance]

65. Another great idea...

Though I can see the freepers wanting to get back at us for parodying "Jenna and Babs" by now saying that California is "The Babses" then... :)

[wryter2000]

68. I can live with that

Their days of joking are over. :rofl:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

82. I agree, because Illinois has one great one, and who knows about the other.

Durbin is superb. Obama, well, he has a lot of promise.

[Danger Mouse]

39. kicked and recommended

Damn straight, Bush should be shaking in his cowboy boots! Kick his ass, Leahy!
I still can't believe it sometimes...I still can hardly believe that we managed the glorious victory that we did. It's up to us, and to the victorious, to make something of the chance we have been given to make things right.
:kick:

[MoonRiver]

40. SWEEEET!!!

It's clear I'm going to be glued to C-SPAN for, at least, the next 2 years! :woohoo:

[tavalon]

42. Hey you guys!

This is a nightshifter signing off. This needs to stay at the top of GD on this fine Sunday. It's celebratory stuff and we deserve it, dammit!

I will have sweet dreams of Sen. Leahy kicking the Bush Administration up one end of the mall and back again.

[Frank Cannon]

44. Leahy can go fuck himself

I hope he never, ever forgets that Cheney told him to do this on the floor of the Senate. It was one of the most arrogant, asinine, classless acts from an administration that has become synonymous with arrogant, asinine, classless acts.

Go get 'em, Pat.

[cascadiance]

55. Revenge is a dish that's best served f'in' cold!"

Cheney shouldn't forget that!

[Inuca]

60. Can somebody please remind me...

... of the context in which Cheney dropped this pearl?

[wryter2000]

64. Reminder

Cheney had made some remark or other that Leahy wasn't a good Christian. (I think he's Catholic.) Leahy told Cheney he didn't appreciate that remark, and Cheney told him to go F himself.

Ever since then, I say "go Cheney yourself." It gets around censors on boards where you can't use profanity, AND it rubs it in with the rwers.

[Inuca]

70. Thanks! n/t

[Frank Cannon]

73. And it all happened on the Senate floor during regular business hours

Your tax dollars at work.

[depakid]

47. Who else is on the committee?

I can think of about at least a half dozen or so "Democrats" who would backstab Leahy.

[cali]

48. Biden, Shumer, Feinstein, Feingold, Durbin,

and I forget who else. I can't imagine any of those folks stabbing Leahy in the back.

[Inuca]

59. Kennedy too

Not too shaby a crowd...

[blm]

49. LOVE YOU, Sen. Leahy. Time for anti-corruption Democrats to lead the charge.

.

[progressoid]

51. I think he IS terrified. nt

[NotGivingUp]

52. Very cool! Go, Patrick!

[BeliQueen]

53. I cheered too

Just reading that I sent up a whoop!

Woo hoo!

[cascadiance]

54. And THIS time if a wingnut Senator asks a nominee about judicial activism...

... with the idea of trying to nail down their position on Roe v. Wade, I think it is imperative that Leahy work with someone like Feingold to ask that if the nominee represents themselves as a "Constitutional Constructionist" and would overturn things he perceived as unconstitutional (like Roe v. Wade), then ask him if he/she would also do it to overturn the biggest judicial activist ruling of all that came from Santa Clara vs. Southern Pacific! Corporate Personhood! Now that the progressive caucus is the dominant caucus on Capitol Hill now, hopefully it can shake off the DLC shackles a bit to do that sort of line of questioning!

Leahy is a man I think that can help us with this!

[Blackhatjack]

58. What many Bush Supporters Don't Realize Is .....

.... true principled Republicans who believe in constitutional rights and less government intrusion will be cheering Senator Leahy on in his efforts.

Bush and his cohorts have been 'pretenders' all along -- and have been ruled by corruption from day one, and manipulation of all levers of power for their own selfish purposes. They exploded the national debt, intensified the trade deficits through their policies, enriched their friends and supporters, stole public benefits for poor and gave tax breaks to the rich, completely dismantled congressional oversight and promoted corrupt practices, looted the public taxpayers' treasury, started a war for false reasons, and the list goes on.

There is certainly more to be a 'principled' Republican, than giving Bush & his cohorts everything they wanted without question and justification. We might differ with 'principled' Republicans on many issues, but today we have more in common with them than with the corrupt regime presently in power. Blind Bush supporters will wake up to this once the investigations begin, and members of this Administration are required to testify under oath.

Leahy and Conyers and Waxman, just to name a few, will be exposed as true heroes before this is all over.

[RestoreGore]

61. I'll believe it when I see it n/t

[Quixote1818]

63. It sounds like he is just having fun. I wouldn't take this too seriously

and like someone said above. "I will believe it when I see it".

[cali]

69. And you would be oh so wrong.

Leahy has already started. He has supoenas prepared and ready to be sent. His staff members are some of the smartest, toughest, meanest, most partisan sob's on the Hill.

Those of us who tune in ever 2 or three months to VPR's Switchboard, when Leahy is the guest, and we have the opportunity to call in and question him on stuff, know that this kind of blunt talk is nothing new for Senator Leahy- he's been doing it for most of the past six years. It always blows my mind how direct he's been. He believes that bushco faces the most dire threat to the nation. Leahy became a Senator in '74, and he often compares that sense of crisis to bushco. He has said repeatedly that the crisis under bushco is more acute than Nixon's disasterous and criminally induced one.

Leahy will not let this go. I would bet anything on it.

[Quixote1818]

71. Happy to be wrong!

Thanks for the info.:bounce:

[wryter2000]

74. Awesome

Utterly, totally, orgasmically awesome. :woohoo:

[AntiFascist]

80. This is great to hear...

it would be nice to see Democrats brave enough to hold up the rule of law to these criminals!

[SusanaMontana41]

66. Yes!

Here's to stopping all that "unitary executive" bullsh*t, too.

[wryter2000]

67. Just when I'd given up on celebrating the holidays

The Democrats are giving me the biggest Christmas present I could ask for.

[TexasLawyer]

72. kick

[Lena inRI]

77. SIC 'EM, SENATOR LEAHY. . .SIC 'EM!

CHICKENHAWK CHENEY versus BULL LEAHY

:kick: :toast: :kick: :toast: :kick:

[Rage for Order]

78. Does he mean judges like this?

"Leahy...went on to promise that no judges nominated to the federal bench who would ignore that Constitution would ever get past his committee."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2639235

Justice Stephen G. Breyer says the Supreme Court must...look beyond the Constitution's text when necessary to ensure that "no one gets too powerful."

Although in fairness, Breyer didn't say he would ignore the Constitution, he essentially said that if he didn't like the answer he found in the Constitution he would look elsewhere until he found an answer he did like.

[cali]

81. Breyer is a terrific justice.

You're misrepresenting what he said. He was explaining that the Constitution doesn't provide detailed guidance in all cases. He was most assuredly NOT suggesting flaunting the Constitution. We'd be lucky to have more judges of Breyer's temperment and intellectual ability elevated to the SC.

[Rage for Order]

97. He is a good justice

Breyer also said:

"In his interview, Breyer argued that in some cases it wouldn't make sense to strictly follow the Constitution because phrases such as "freedom of speech" are vague. Judges must look at the real-world context — not focus solely on framers' intent, as Scalia has argued — because society is constantly evolving, he said. Those words, 'the freedom of speech,' 'Congress shall pass no law abridging the freedom of speech' — neither they, the founders, nor those words tell you how to apply it to the Internet," Breyer said."

While some parts of the Constitution are vague, and probably intentionally so to allow for future flexibility, when it is not vague the Constitution should be followed as written. The end doesn't justify the means; if the Constitution does not allow for the ruling one seeks, then get it amended. Don't stretch the words to fit around one's own view of what should be.

[Pastiche423]

79. Hot Damn! K & R

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Tatiana]

83. Leahy is the real deal. He's perfect to head the Judiciary Committee.

I have no doubt that he will start digging (if he hasn't been already).

The thing is, now he has the party's support to really do his job. Make no mistake, Cheney didn't tell Leahy to go F himself for no reason. He knows the man is intelligent and can be very determined (despite the congenial demeanor).

Let the investigations begin! I want to see subpoenas issued.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

85. wasn't he a prosecutor? who put bad folks away, sometimes with a smile?

Wasn't he the guy who dealt with some really nasty mafiosos in his state?

[Tatiana]

90. Yes, he was a prosecutor!

Leahy served for eight years (4 terms) as State's Attorney in Chittenden County. He gained a national reputation for his law enforcement activities and was selected (1974) as one of three outstanding prosecutors in the United States.

This is from his old 2002 NDAA (National District Attorneys Association) profile:

<snip>

Senator Leahy, who moved up from ranking minority member to chairman of Judiciary, one of Congress’s most powerful committees, when the Democrats gained the majority and control of the Senate last June 6, presides over the committee with the skill, authority and finesse of a seasoned prosecutor presenting evidence and questioning witnesses in a courtroom.

Leahy comes by these qualities naturally and from experience. He is a former prosecutor. During his eight years as state’s attorney in Vermont’s Chittenden County (Burlington) he won national attention for some of his innovative crime-fighting programs. In the early 1970s he was an NDAA state director for Vermont, as well as a member of the association’s board of directors, and served as an NDAA vice president from 1972 until 1974, when he resigned to run for the U.S. Senate. When he was elected, he was 34, becoming the youngest elected senator in Vermont’s history and the first Democratic senator since the Republican Party was founded in 1854.

During his 27 years in the Senate, he has become one of the most influential voices in that chamber, admired by his fellow Democrats and respected by his Republican colleagues for his plain-spoken Yankee candor and his passionate opposition to any threat to the Bill of Rights.

The 61-year-old Leahy is a man of many sides. Among other things, he’s a constitutional scholar, an admitted computer enthusiast—he was one of the first senators to have his own Web site—and an admirer of the music side of pop culture.

In an interview with The New York Times, he admitted that his fascination with computers has become so obsessive that “when he stumbles out of bed each morning his first destination is not the kitchen for a cup of coffee or the doorstep for the morning paper. It’s to turn on his computer” to check the torrent of e-mail awaiting him from constituents, staff members and colleagues, and to surf the Internet for breaking news. His interest in computers and high tech is so intense that has referred to himself as the "cybersenator."

(more...)

http://www.ndaa.org/ndaa/profile/senator_patrick_leahy_jan_feb_2002.html

[cali]

91. He's also the foremost advocate in the US Senate

for a world wide ban on land mines, an accomplished amateur photographer, and a deadhead.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

92. shit - no wonder I like him.

instead of snapping photos, I make steel art work. But the dead part is still great.

[enough already]

86. This should be a clear sign to the House to IMPEACH the bastard

First 100 hours.

[Captain Hilts]

87. Bush shouldn't be worried, he should be FIRED! nt

[Maryland Liberal]

88. I wonder....

Now that Leahy is in charge - is it the right time for Justice Stevens to retire???

[cali]

89. No. I don't think so.

It's not like Leahy can get bush to nominate anyone good, only someone not quite so awful. Better to hope we win back the Presidency in 2008, and have a dem to nominate a really good jurist.

[symbolman]

95. Maybe he can

Save the INTERNETS while he's at it, eh?

We're taking a bruising there as well..

LOVE the quote, and thanks for the article KPete!

[Az_lefty]

98. Thank God real Americans are running the show again...

:applause:

[BlueIris]

102. I love Patrick Leahy. LOVE him.

Dick Cheney told him to fuck himself, and Leahy...has now turned that around quite nicely on Mr. Dick, I think.

[IWantAChange]

103. I hope America truly realizes what happened at the polls in November -

Democracy and the future of our children may - I repeat MAY - have been saved. To think that the Legislative branch of our government is actually going to do their Constitutional duty makes me SO PROUD - and so worried about the supporters of the GOP who allowed Dubyha to work behind the screen all these years.