# Sen Shelby from Alabama institutes a blanket hold on Obama nominees **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 6, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938 "2010-02-06T18:38:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/41 "2010-02-08T16:49:46Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Got a cite that GAO said that Boeing would have won the competition? They can’t say so directly, given their position, but [this is pretty damned blunt](http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/311344.htm): > [@](#): > > But for these errors, we believe that Boeing would have had a substantial chance of being selected for award. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/42 "2010-02-08T17:02:18Z")
Fair enough. (tips hat) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/43 "2010-02-08T17:03:14Z")
To some degree this distills down to whether a senator should harm the country to do whatever he can to help the people who vote for him. These programs would bring in jobs. What state doesn’t need them? But holding up 70 nominations is a big nasty step to take. It is ugly politics. But can he justify it by saying he is doing it for Alabama? It is dirty politics on a new scale. But, if he gets the contracts ,won’t the people in Alabama be happy that he would fight so hard for them? But any state that keeps bringing back Sessions can justify anything. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/44 "2010-02-09T00:35:32Z")
You have to understand how these people think. For reasons that are too complicated to explain, I was at a party that Sen Shelby attended back in the fall of 2008. I overheard him talking to a like-minded wealthy elderly woman and I swear they talked like they thought the election of Obama would be like a Communist takeover and the end of America. I guess when you think that way, no tactics are too extreme. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/45 "2010-02-09T00:38:46Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > Obama should recess-appoint every pending nominee and leave the Air Force contract to be decided again. He’ll never do it (although I think he should recess appoint the nominees, I’m not qualified to judge the merits of the contract). If he did, the press would start screaming about how it’s such an attack on the American people to recess appoint your nominees. I can just imagine Chris Matthews somberly telling everyone how recess appointments are the biggest threat to the nation since the aliens attacked in Independence Day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/46 "2010-02-10T05:36:54Z")
Y’know, I honestly don’t have a problem with senators fighting for pork money for their state. I (like most Americans) like it when my senators do it for me, so it’d be hypocritical for me to criticize it in others. But this? “Put money in this funding bill or I won’t support the funding bill” makes sense. “Site this project in my state or I won’t support the project” makes sense. That’s bargaining. But “site this project in my state or I’ll completely shut down completely unrelated areas of government” is just thuggery. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/47 "2010-02-10T06:42:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Y’know, I honestly don’t have a problem with senators fighting for pork money for their state. I (like most Americans) like it when my senators do it for me, so it’d be hypocritical for me to criticize it in others. But this? “Put money in this funding bill or I won’t support the funding bill” makes sense. “Site this project in my state or I won’t support the project” makes sense. That’s bargaining. But “site this project in my state or I’ll completely shut down completely unrelated areas of government” is just thuggery. And while doing all that, complain about deficits. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938/48 "2010-03-09T05:40:55Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > He wants a 35 billion dollar air tanker project to be funded. Northrop, which was partnered with EADS in the proposal to build the tankers in Alabama has [dropped out](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100308/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tanker_fight) and will not submit a bid for the contract. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sen-shelby-from-alabama-institutes-a-blanket-hold-on-obama-nominees/527938.md?page=2)