RIP, “Up or Down Vote”:
In a letter released [Monday], all 41 Senate Republicans threatened to filibuster President Obama’s judicial nominees unless they were given veto power over judges from their states. The letter also demanded that President Obama renominate ultra-conservative Bush nominees like Peter Keisler, Glen Conrad and Paul Diamond.
I’m shocked.
Sinister eyebrow
I don’t think the phrase "Elections have consequences" means what the Republicans think it means.
Tokyokie
For gawd’s sake, force the petty bastards to mount an actual filibuster. Let them stop the Senate’s business cold and talk for hours about the necessity of a departed and widely despised president’s judicial nominations being confirmed. That’s a winner.
dmsilev
Via GOS, this is the appropriate reaction:
I understand that the Goldfish Antidefamation Group (GAG) has already registered a complaint about the analogy.
-dms
Incertus
Chances that Reid will actually make them follow through on the filibuster are about the same as the chances that the media will point out the hypocrisy of the Republican party on this point.
David Hunt
I’m shocked, shocked, to find out that
gamblingfilibustering is going on in this establishment!Sirkowski
Time for a Nuclear Option? Ha!
SpotWeld
Again the mythology of the "glorious @sshole" rear’s up.
Essentially the GOP minority is saying "We might be just one part of a much larger whole, but since we’re willing to be loud and rude about it, we should get our way. It’s your own darn fault for trying to reach some sort of concensus though reasonable discourse, as a bunch glorious @sses we have neither the desire nor the patients to listen to dissenting opions. We already know we’re right, we’re glorious @assholes."
Addmittly this is nearly the same tactic that PETA uses (but they also have scanitily clad women).
It’d be interesting to take this additude and compare it against a "ignoble fool" that Colbert and Stewart plan on thier comedy shows. (Even Al Gore dips into it from time to time. )
Raenelle
Where is ostracism when we need it?
skeeball
fuck it, we should have let them follow through with the nuclear option. its not like we stopped bush’s judges anyways. at least that way we wouldn’t have had to put up with this nonsense
Just Some Fuckhead
That sounds a lot different from the upperdownvote thingy Republicans were demanding several years ago.
Comrade Stuck
I have a filibuster nuke to sell you, good condition and only dropped once.
The wingnuts should have gone long and demanded free hookers and a large supply of diapers with a Vitter earmark.
PaulW
I’m with the "let them filibuster" crowd. Let the GOP stand up and block the government at a time a vast majority of Americans want government to work at and solve our economic woes. Let them preen for their radio overlords. Let the majority of independent and moderate voters swing completely away from Reagan’s Big Tent into the arms of the Democrats for the next 40 years. Let the Republican voting bloc shrink below the size of the Reform and Green Parties combined. Maybe by 2080 the Republican P… actually the way things are going I can’t picture the Republican Party existing by 2010.
TenguPhule
Can we have some video of each one of those hypocrites talking about "up or down" and "at the president’s pleasure" from the last judicial nominations?
Fuck them all with a spiked pole sideways.
Indylib
In other news the Republicans believe their own propoganda, at least until they are forced to actually – you know- look things up.
Dropping in on our local nation’s capital
edit
grrr – why can’t I blockquote the whole quote?
Dennis-SGMM
"…surrounded on all sides…superior forces…counter-attack failed…situation deteriorating rapidly…no way out…we are presenting our list of demands…"
SpotWeld
When the situation was reversed, and the GOP was demanding upordownvote… where the Dems holding out for veto power and cherry-picked nominees?
My recollection is that they were pushing for more public hearings / interviews /whatever (and I think the removal from consideration of 1 or 2 specific canidates).
amorphous
Kind of requires its own tag at this point.
Ned R.
@Indylib: Okay that Bono Mack bit is hilarious. We need that publicized more.
Jay in Oregon
God damn. They really are doubling down, aren’t they?
They think their only hope is to stop government from saving the economy; that way they downtrodden masses will see the light and turn to their conservative saviors again. They don’t understand that there’s a difference between government failing and government being obstructed. Fortunately for us, the American people do seem to get the difference.
Incertus
@Ned R.: I thought it was funny, but not particularly surprising. No Congressperson, no matter how studious, has the time to actually read all the legislation that gets voted on. That’s no excuse for this sort of thing, mind you, but Rep. Bono Mack is hardly alone in doing it.
Indylib
@Ned R.: The scary thing is, I’d rather have them lie about it than be ignorant and so incurious that they spout this shit without verifying it.
Ned R.
Incertus’s point is well-taken but I’m with Indylib — if you’re going to harp on a point (and that’s something plenty are guilty of no matter the party), best to make sure the point has some sort of basis in reality rather than being, say, owned by your own staff in front of a reporter.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@Incertus: The problem with Rep. BonoMack was her insistence that it was in the bill even though apparently neither she nor her staff had read it?
I dunno, I guess I would expect less definitive statements, such as "to the best of my knowledge," or "I have been informed that this is the case."
That, of course, begs the question of who informed her so erroneously?
Could it have been the head of the Republican Party?
The Moar You Know
I want the nuclear option and I don’t even want them to discuss or threaten to use it; I just want it to be done. The fucking Republicans need to be spanked hard so that they’ll understand that they lost the election, goddammit.
Rainy
Haha! They have a lot of nerve trying to state demands. Fuck them! Did they not see their approval ratings? I mean, seriously, WTF?
eyepaddle
If gall was cash, the GOP would have more than enough to bail out the entire world’s economy.
I second the opinion of the R’s getting fucked sideways with a spiked pole.
SIde note–does anybody think Atanajurat is "Darrel" spelled backwards? Do you ever see them in the same place at the same tme? Think about it….
Indylib
@Incertus:
I take your point that this isn’t strictly an R problem, but c’mon the entire Republicon echo chamber has been screaming about this single issue for days. You’d think at least a few congressional staffers might have looked this up for their bosses if only so they could quote the exact language from the bill. And when they didn’t find the language in the bill would have let their fellow staffers know, so that their Congresscritters could have been informed that what they were spouting was a lie. Then said Congresscritter could have decided whether or not to continue to use it.
Origuy
@Indylib: Besides the fact that the Sin Cities Express isn’t in the bill, a train from LA to LV would probably go through her district, with at least one stop. Might give a reason for people to live in those acres of empty houses in Riverside County.
Indylib
@Origuy: I would love to see more train lines all over Cali. I lived in San Diego for 3 years and I would have loved to have a line that went to LAX. Flights were always cheaper out of LA, but by the time you got there by bus or driving it ate up most of the savings. And I tried getting from the Amtrak station in LA to LAX – frikkin’ nightmare.
ChrisB
Fuck them! Make them filibuster and expose their hypocrisy. And then, if necessary, which it probably won’t be, smite them with the nuclear option.
Martin
I think Reid should compromise and restore the rule that a filibuster required standing in the chamber and speaking continuously.
Martin
I doubt it. It’d turn north and follow the 15. Bono is out in Palm Springs.
Surprised that the creeping train story seems to have finally stopped once it got up to a hovering train specifically from Disneyland to a prostitution establishment. I was sure the next revelation was that it would be powered by incinerating fetuses, or only gays could ride it, or marsh mice, or gays with marsh mice, or that it’d route through Mexico to pick up some illegal immigrants to take away our jobs…
It’s like their creativity just dried up.
Alan
OT: Did this blog comment on this Larison Article? He friggin’ nails Limbaugh and movement conservatism.
Joshua Norton
To quote prominent repugs from the past:
"Nuculear Option".
valdivia
OT but isn’t great to see Orzag completely ridicule the ‘attack on capitalism’ talking point on CNBC?
Back on topic–anyone who fails to make a distinction between not supporting a policy, thinking it is the wrong policy and wanting the president to fail in fixing the economy is being obtuse. Scherer I am looking at you.
sidereal
Fortunately, they don’t have many states. And they’re going to have fewer next election.
Ed Drone
The body parts were debating who should be the boss.
The muscles said, "My legs, my arms, my hands take us to our prey and catch it, let us run from danger, and keep us upright so we can see the prey or the danger. I should be boss"
The eyes said, "No, no. I am the window to the soul; I am the one who finds the prey and sees the approaching danger. I am the one who finds the mates, too. I should be boss."
The brain said, "Whose nerves carry the signals to look for food or danger, or to catch or run? Who makes all the decisions around here? I AM the boss."
Meanwhile, the asshole just shut up. Stopped working. Within days, the muscles were rubbery, they eyes watering, and the brain reeling. The candidates all capitulated to the asshole.
So, to be the boss, all you have to do is be the biggest asshole you can possibly be.
The GOP is proof positive that this is no joke!
Ed
JR
My ass!
ChrisB
@valdivia:
I saw that and it was great. (The nonsense on Morning Joe pushed me to CNBC, which usually pushes me to Bllomberg or Mike and Mike but not this morning.) What was best was Orzag’s non-verbal as well as his verbal disdain for the WSJ editorial board.
So far, every time I’ve seen Orzag, I’ve liked him.
Catfish N. Cod
If they’re 100% serious about this, it would force Reid to reinstitute the full filibuster. Veto power on local judges is one thing, but demanding ultra-right judges be nominated by a Democratic president is simply a ridiculous demand. It’s not going to happen, and the Republican Party knows that full well. Either that demand was not serious and for show only (and the veto power is what they will settle for)… or else they WANT to filibuster in front of the cameras.
And, you know, if this is now the Party of Rush and being as visibly obstructionist as possible is their new strategy, good for them. Let’s let ’em go hoarse a couple of times and let the bad PR roll.
In 1937, there were only 16 Republican senators.
Augie
Well, for educational purposes, it should be noted that what Republicans are actually referring to is known as senatorial courtesy which I suggest reading about. However, I’m not sure it ultimately changes the majority of opinions expressed here.
mightygodking
Heck, let ’em have the veto power.
Then nominate judges from the Ninth Circuit in response. Or some of the top state judges in the Northeast. It’s not like there’s a whole heap of fantastic moderate-to-liberal judges in Republican states.
The Populist
Fuck them. These same asshats wanted to nuke the filibuster option to suit their egos as the majority party.
I wish they had nuked it. Serves any idiot right when they do something without thinking it through.
As for Obama, why should he do what you people want? The Dems let you fucks have 98% of your choices for these jobs.
Irrelevant punks are what the GOP has become.
The Populist
You mean like the courtesy the Dems showed the right when they were in power? You mean like the so-called courtesy that these asshats have shown Obama since day one?
The Populist
The children on the right like to make sure that if you don’t play their way they will take their toys and go home pouting.
Frank
Let ’em filibuster. I want to know who their favorite cookbook authors are.
burnspbesq
Not only let ’em filibuster, bring a nomination to the floor every week, on the same day. It’ll be appointment TV. Do it on Thursday and it’ll kill CSI and ER in the ratings. Or do it on Monday, and get Keifer Sutherland on the floor. He can stick a pen in McConnell’s ear and say, "You’re out of time, Senator – WHERE’S THE NOMINATION?"
Phoenix Woman
Hey, the rumor’s going around that Obama might just go and appoint Jim Bunning to something — say, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports? Even the threat of doing so might be enough to make these clowns shuddup and siddown.
Bunning’s pissed off enough at the Republicans anyway that he’s suing them, and he’s already threatened to resign. If Obama asked nicely enough, say during the course of a pickup one-on-one game, Bunning would do it — and since KY has a Democratic governor who unlike Maine’s governor is not a total tool, the Republicans would find themselves down a seat. Awwww.
Shell Goddamnit
Yeah, what is with the re-nominating conservative judges? The fuck? Who the hell thought that was even a good idea to ASK for renoms? It just makes it easier to tell em to get lost, surely?