BIDEN ON FAIRNESS TO JUDICIAL NOMINEES: Sen. Joe Biden stated on ABC's "This Week," that he had never asserted in 1997 that judicial nominees should be fairly treated by getting an up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate:

Appearing with Mr. Biden on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl implored Mr. Biden to give the nominees an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. "If you don't like these [judicial nominees], if you think they are too radical from your point of view," Mr. Kyl said, "vote against them. Joe, on March 19, 1997, that's exactly what you said ought to happen on the Senate floor: Candidates ought to receive an up-or-down vote."

In response, Mr. Biden falsely asserted, "I didn't say that."

Mr. Biden's memory of what he in fact argued in 1997 turns out to have been in error:

Well, here is what Mr. Biden said on the Senate floor on March 19, 1997, according to the Congressional Record: "[I]t is totally appropriate for any U.S. senator to voice his or her opposition to any nominee for the court," Mr. Biden argued. "But I also respectfully suggest that everyone who is nominated is entitled to have a shot, to have a hearing and to have a shot to be heard on the floor and have a vote on the floor," Mr. Biden said. "It is totally appropriate for Republicans to reject every single nominee if they want to. That is within their right. But it is not . . . appropriate not to have hearings on them, not to bring them to the floor and not to allow a vote."

Indeed. I could hardly disagree.

(Washington Times article via Powerline)