On Feb 5, 3:31*pm, "nom=de=plume" wrote:
Unbelievable ...

A Republican Senator from Alabama has put what is by all accounts an
extraordinary "blanket hold" on almost every single nomination that
President Obama has sent to the Senate.

This is what happens when the Democratic leadership plays nice with bullies.
The country loses. And if Sen. Richard Shelby is successful, this kind of
extortion will only get worse.

At least 70 nominees to important positions at the White House, the federal
judiciary, and crucial cabinet agencies - including those charged with
keeping us safe from terrorism - cannot move forward until this hold is
ignored or lifted.

This is not just the typical Republican obstructionism, but a brazen brand
of political extortion. According to reports, Sen. Shelby will lift his hold
on the President's executive appointees if the Senate agrees to pour
billions of dollars into Alabama via two federal programs:

- A $40 billion contract for Northrop/Airbus to build air-to-air refueling
tankers in Mobile, Ala.
- The construction of a $45 million FBI lab outside Huntsville, Ala.

Now I wonder how many nutcases on this forum support Shelby's action.

--
Nom=de=Plume

How dare Shelby take a page out of Senator Nelson's and Landrieu's
playbooks!!
Extorting the process in exchange for favors for your home state?
Preposterous!
String everyone up that has done that in DC!!

Oh wait... we'd better have a few hundred replacements ready to go.
Not a bad idea.