Novak on Democratic proposal to end filibuster fight: "like going to a concentration camp and picking out which people go to the death chamber"

CNN host and syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak compared an offer by Senate Democrats to avert a ban on the use of judicial filibusters with "going to a concentration camp and picking out which people go to the death chamber." Novak was referring to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid 's(D-NV) proposal on May 12 by to confirm some, but not all, of President Bush's blocked judicial nominees in return for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) agreeing not to resort to the "nuclear option" to ban judicial filibusters.

On the May 14 edition of CNN's The Capital Gang, Novak responded to a question from panelist Al Hunt:

HUNT: Bob, why would Senator Frist refuse an offer [by Reid] to break the deadlock?

NOVAK: Because the whole system is that you're not going to have -- like going to a concentration camp and picking out which people go to the death chamber. You're not going to let the Democrats do that, say we're going to -- we're going to confirm this person, we're not going to confirm the other person. They're going to -- they're going to say that this is not the way we're going to do it. They've had all kinds of different offers of that kind.