Angie Craig: “is it a religious test? Is it an environmental test? Is it a right-to-life test? Is it a racial test? No. Now we say it…”

“is it a religious test? Is it an environmental test? Is it a right-to-life test? Is it a racial test? No. Now we say it is Tom DeLay's test. If it weren't so deadly serious, it would be laughably humorous. But the other side has reduced what is a tremendously important constitutional responsibility of this Senate into a political game. From the very outset, when the Bush administration came to town, telegraphed across the Nation was a very clear message by our colleagues from the other side. Inside their internal party politics and beyond, it was all about politics and who they would reject, or who they would disallow the right to have a vote on the floor of the Senate when nominated by this President--if that nominee made it through the Judiciary Committee--whether they would be allowed to became a sitting judge in one of the courts of the United States for which the President, the Congress, and the Senate are responsible. Religious test, environmental test, a right-to-life test, a racial test, now a Tom DeLay test. Doesn't the other side have anything to talk about nowadays? Don't they have a policy they can take to the American people that will grasp the majority of the American people's minds or is it simply targeting around the edges? It is deadly serious, and it is not humorous at all.…”