Alan Simpson: “Mr. President, I rise to speak with reference to the nomination of Sam Brown to be Ambassador to the Conference on…”

“Mr. President, I rise to speak with reference to the nomination of Sam Brown to be Ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Mr. President, this is the type of nomination that gives me pause, and causes me to reflect anew about when it is proper to oppose a President's choice for such a post. We face that issue frequently in this Chamber. We have all seen Presidents nominate individuals who embrace philosophies that we do not agree with, and we allow many of those to be confirmed. I believe that most of us on both sides of the aisle do a pretty good job of upholding the general principle that the President, once elected, is entitled to have his chosen people in positions of importance. I try to abide by that principle. We're going to see that principle upheld during the consideration of Judge Breyer's nomination to the Supreme Court. We saw it upheld with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and with Anthony Kennedy. We saw it upheld with Cabinet appointments such as Robert Reich and Ron Brown.”