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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumObama Civil Rights Nominee Knew He Was Doomed But Wanted Debate, Harry Reid Says
Last edited Fri Mar 7, 2014, 12:03 AM - Edit history (1)
Obama Civil Rights Nominee Knew He Was Doomed But Wanted Debate, Harry Reid Says
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic leaders knew early Wednesday that they likely didn't have the votes to advance Debo Adegbile, President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. But hours later they went ahead and held the vote anyway -- and dealt an embarrassing blow to the White House when it failed.
So why didn't they cancel the vote and save some face? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Adegbile himself asked Democratic leaders to proceed with the vote, win or lose.
During a Thursday sitdown with reporters, Reid said that Adegbile, a respected civil rights lawyer who previously led the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, met privately with Reid and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for nearly an hour before the vote. The three of them went through the pros and cons of proceeding with what would likely be a loss. In the end, Adegbile said he wouldn't withdraw his name, even though Republicans and even some Democrats were ready to block him over the fact that he once helped get convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jabal off death row.
"He said, 'I'm 47 years old. ... I've spent all my life trying to do the right thing,'"
-snip-
Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/harry-reid-debo-adegbile_n_4912790.html
p.s. *Looks like article has a typo: in the forth paragraph where it said 'Reid' it should have said 'Adegbile'.
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Obama Civil Rights Nominee Knew He Was Doomed But Wanted Debate, Harry Reid Says (Original Post)
Tx4obama
Mar 2014
OP
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)1. I'm glad they had the vote.
If that was the President and Democratic leaders' choice, have the vote. If the choice is approved, great. If not, you nominate someone else and keep trying.
Cha
(295,913 posts)2. good for them.. not sure what Harry means about that
'I'm 47 years old", though!
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)3. Good catch! That has to be a typo! n/t