He says he liked a couple of answers Sotomayor gave, but then he said this:
"I'm going to withhold a final decision until the process is completed," he said. "I owe it to her and my constituents and the country to make sure I allow the Judiciary Committee to continue its vetting process and proceed to a conclusion."He's saying, essentially, that he wants to see what might come out in the hearings before making up his mind. Fair enough.
Unfortunately, as I've written before, Crapo toes the party line virtually 100% of the time. And I don't just mean he takes a considered but conservative position like Mike Simpson, rather, he votes the way leadership wants him to vote. Just like Craig did, just like Kempthorne did, just like Risch seems to be doing.
So, I think Crapo is probably dissembling. His mind is made up; he'll vote the way he's supposed to. He'll wait until after the Judiciary committee votes, and he'll see what Republican leadership desires, and he'll vote that way. If opposition falls apart and Republicans cast a few votes for her, Crapo may well vote for her. However, if Republican leadership takes a stand, loyal Mike Crapo will be right there with them.
Update: It occurs to me that I ought to give a little credit where credit is due. Crapo has recently taken more progressive positions regarding local environmental issues. He helped craft a compromise for protecting Owyhee canyon lands, and he seems a bit open to at least considering breaching Northwest dams. Kudos for that. I think that on local and regional matters, national Republican leadership doesn't take a position, which leaves Crapo free to vary from the Larry Craig hard line view of the environment.
2 comments:
It sounded a little disingenuous to me too, but I'd like to give Mr. Crapo the benefit of the doubt on this one.
So far, the opposition has come up with pretty much nothing to justify voting against Sotomayor's confirmation.
They're complaining that Judiciary Hearings set for more than a month after she was nominated are "too soon" -- how pitiful is that?
Sen. Crapo will vote against confirmation. It will not make any difference in the final outcome, but he will "toe" the party line" while kowtowing to the wing nuts back home.
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