"It boils down to political grudges. The 'Gang of 14' agreement reached last May made no commitment to ending the filibuster blocking Saad's nomination. Democratic Sens. Carl Levin (Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) blocked Saad but not because he isn't qualified.

Levin is still mad because when President Bill Clinton nominated a cousin of Levin's wife to the 6th Circuit, she wasn't given a hearing by the SJC. Stabenow got ticked after somebody forwarded a private e-mail that Judge Saad had sent to a friend expressing criticism of Stabenow for blocking his nomination. And this comes from a woman who denounced the administration while standing on the Senate floor next to a sign reading 'Dangerously Incompetent.' Some temperament.

Worst of all, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) snidely attacked Saad's character and reputation by implying that there was something damaging in his FBI file. Saad had been through four FBI background checks after being nominated twice each by President George H. W. Bush and the current President. Surely, if there had been a problem, neither White House would have sent the nomination on to the Senate. Reid's comment was an obvious attempt to smear an Arab-American in a post 9-ll environment."

# posted by Toneman31 @ 2:29 AM