Harry Reid: “first of all, I want to lay it on the record that Carl Levin, the senior Senator from Michigan, is not inconsistent in…”

“first of all, I want to lay it on the record that Carl Levin, the senior Senator from Michigan, is not inconsistent in any way. We all know what happened to Carl Levin and the Michigan delegation is the fact that there were no hearings on the judges he wanted--no hearings. That is the reason some 20 percent of the Clinton nominees never made it. They refused to hold hearings. Carl Levin would have welcomed the procedure we are going through because if it had gotten here, and there had been an attempt to filibuster, cloture would have been invoked. Carl Levin, I say to my friend, the junior Senator from Virginia, is not and has not been inconsistent in any way. I want to refer to this. We have to understand what we are talking about here. Mr. President, 168 judges have been approved; 4 have been disapproved. For people to continually come on this floor, as if history facts have no bearing on what they are talking about--they believe, on the other side, if they keep saying it long enough, that there have never been filibusters before--that people will believe it. I show everyone this New York Times headline of September 25, 1968. Headline: ``Critics of Fortas Begin Filibuster, Citing `Property'.'' ``Griffin Attack Lasts 3 Hours. . . .'' Of course, we know that was a filibuster. Senator Byrd participated in it, as we recall.…”