Chuck Schumer: “I, too, rise to say a few words about judicial nominations and in particular to defend the chairman of our Judiciary…”

“I, too, rise to say a few words about judicial nominations and in particular to defend the chairman of our Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy of Vermont. Our friends on the other side of the aisle have made a lot of hay about our record on judicial nominations, but the facts simply don't bear out the allegation. Patrick Leahy has conducted the Judiciary Committee, both when we had the hearings on Senator Ashcroft's nomination to be Attorney General, when he was chairman for 17 days, and now as chairman for 5 months, in the most gracious, fair, bipartisan way that I have seen a chairman conduct him or herself. It is sort of unfair to demonize. That seems to be a new technique used by some. They are doing it to our majority leader, Senator Daschle, another gracious and fairminded man, because he doesn't agree with them. That seems to be the thing that has happened. Maybe it started a few years back with the contract on America and all the cohorts there. But it is not a nice way to do politics, to demonize an opponent. I know there are certain newspapers and TV shows and radio shows that try to spread the word. I just want to say, first, I don't think the American people appreciate it.”