York on the Stolen Democratic Memos

Byron York writes here about the memos stolen (perhaps by a GOP staffer, who has now been put on administrative leave pending investigation) from Senate Democrats about judicial nomination strategies. York castigates the mainstream media for not picking up the story of the substance of the memos. What precisely is that substance? According to York:

The memos, dating from 2001 until April 2003, show Democrats working in close consultation with such groups as People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Actually, “close consultation” is too weak a phrase. The memos reveal the Democrats and the interest groups to be partners in the effort to defeat Bush nominees — with the Democrats serving as the junior partners.

I am one person who is far from shocked by the memos. As I have been writing for months, the Democratic strategy to selectively use the filibuster of Bush judicial nominees that Democrats can paint as too "extreme" is a way of appealing to their base (just as Republican strategy to paint the Democrats as obstructionist and engaging in a downward spiral is rational). Democrats work in close consultation with groups that represent their base, just as Republicans do. This is not an outside group dictating what a party should do; it is the party following the rational strategy of relying on the research of such groups to target those judicial nominees whose filibuster makes the most sense politically. I would imagine that if Republican memos from the Clinton years were made available we would see a similar pattern of close consultation, this time with conservative interest groups.

Posted by Rick Hasen at November 30, 2003 08:32 PM