McCain Urges Bipartisanship On Judges

By: Andante Higgins
Topics: Hillary Clinton

(CBS)

From CBS News' Andante Higgins:

John McCain said today he hopes cooperation among Republicans and Democrats can end the bitter fighting over the appointment of judges. "I think the gridlock of judicial nominees is a symptom of the gridlock in Washington on a lot of issues and Americans don't approve of the job we're doing right now," he said. "I think it is another indicator that we need to sit down together and move forward with an agenda."

McCain led the "Gang of 14," a bi-partisan group of seven Democrats and seven Republicans who agreed to a truce to move the judicial nomination process forward in the spring of 2005. Today, he said it is a classic example of how the partisan gridlock problem can be handled. Some conservatives were upset by his participation in it, but McCain says he is proud of what he did and hopes that people can realize that it was successful at the time. "All I can say is that we were facing a situation where it was not clear how they would succeed," he said.

McCain added that he opposed the "nuclear option," a controversial procedural move to end a filibuster with a simple majority vote, and which the "Gang of 14" successfully avoided using. "I opposed that for a variety of reasons, including the precedent that it would set as far as the erosion of fundamental differences between the Senate and the House – a majority vote verses 60 votes," McCain said. "I hope that there would be a growing realization that what we did was a successful effort and at the same time preserved the 60 vote principle of the United States Senate."

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by mattcat25 May 7, 2008 1:59 PM EDT: The reaching across the isles in bi-partisanship cooperation has been encouraged many times by the Republicans as long as it%u2019s the Democrats that will give in. If it%u2019s the other way, time and time again, it has been NO WAY for Republicans to join forces on positive issues for Americans. The Republicans have the dire need to stack the deck of the Supreme Court because they knowingly will have to test the Judicial System with their constant illegal and immoral actions.; Reply to this comment


by javalation May 7, 2008 12:26 AM EDT: McCain needs to stay in the Senate to support all of the liberal judges that prez Obama sends over for approval.; Reply to this comment


by memekiller May 7, 2008 12:21 AM EDT: McCain wants the same bipartisanship as the GOP -- for Democrats to hop on board.

I think the GOP has sucker punched Dems every time they offer a hand of friendship. It''s time for the GOP to make a GOOD FAITH offer for a change.

Either help us change the country, or get out of the way.; Reply to this comment