I’m sure Harry Reid knows that Mitch McConnell’s first act as majority leader will be to eviscerate the filibuster, and that the next time Republicans are in the minority, the filibuster will be once again considered a sacrament of the one, true, holy and apostolic Church of Bipartisan Comity. So I assume the reason his latest filibuster gambit is such weak tea is because of a few wobbly Democrats:
[…] The scope of the Democratic plan is apparently quite narrow: “We’re not touching judges. This is not judges. This is not legislation. This is allowing the people of America to have a president who can have his team … in place,” Reid said.In other words, if the minority wants to derail legislation by requiring 60-vote supermajorities, that will still be allowed. If the minority wants to derail judicial nominees through filibusters, that would be permissible, too. All the “nuclear option” would do, at least in this case, is stop a specific kind of obstructionism: the minority wouldn’t be allowed to prevent the Senate from voting on executive-branch nominees. That’s it.
I may have missed it, but I wish some reporter would call the office of every Democratic Senator to get a yes or no answer on filibuster reform (and if the answer is some weak “maybe” then assume it’s a “no”). If we can’t get them to change their view on the filibuster, at least we can give them a little public shaming.
Related to this, the grim news that Brian Schweitzer won’t run for Senate makes it more likely that McConnell will be the majority leader sooner rather than later.
schrodinger's cat
I will start rending of the garments when we actually lose the Senate.
Corner Stone
If you’re even going to threaten it, and we all know he won’t follow through, then the least you could do would be to include judicial appointees as well. Leave out legislation if you absolutely have to but for goodness sake, Executive branch nominees are the weakest part of this formula. They’ll all be gone soon enough. Judges are where it’s at and that’s something the wingnuts figured out 40 years ago.
Marc
I think this starts a chain reaction that removes the filibuster entirely for this term. If the Republicans react by, say, refusing to allow any judicial appointments – that tool goes away. Legislation would be next – if not in this Congress then in 2016. I think this is the right approach.
..and, yes, 2014 is looking more ugly rather than less so. But the R’s managed to screw 2012 up, and they’re going for more crazy and not less, so there is always hope.
Elizabelle
Very honestly, I am disgusted with Schweitzer.
We need that Senate seat, and it’s hard to get.
I cannot stand the idea of the GOP taking the Senate, which is the last stand against radicals in the House.
Corner Stone
Make hay while the sun shines. If we’ve learned nothing else this godawful weekend then let us realize this. We have to get these judges in place while we have a simple majority. Even if I personally don’t like all of them, they will be better over the next 20 years then what’s coming next.
c u n d gulag
To Senator Reid, and the rest of the Democrats in that once august, now nearly useless, house of Congress:
Shoot, sh*t, or get off the pot!!!
You’ve been talking about this for years, and to this day, you still look like a bunch of namby-pamby, wishy-washy, “squish’s!”
You make Hamlet look decisive!!!
Either do it, or STFU!
I’m getting weary of this nonsense.
And it makes every bit of sense in the world to do it, because when Republicans gain back the Senate, you’ll be even more useless, because they’re too smart to let you do what they’re f*cking doing now – which is completely stopping an elected President and his agenda in the tracks, with parliamentary games.
And @$$holes like you and Levin act as if it’s a tea party, and all the Republicans are doing, is not sticking their pinkies in the air, when downing their hot tea on your f*cking heads, and making you look like fools – all while taunting you by yelling that your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH!!!
Villago Delenda Est
@c u n d gulag:
very clearly what is needed here is a large wooden rabbit to infiltrate the castle.
Face
The day that Reid actually pulls the trigger may actually break the Endotoobez. The Righty blogs will crash from all the whining, the Lefty blogs will crash from all the shoulder-patting and self-congratulatory masterbating, while the Very Left blogs will explode under severe EmoFury(TM) that Reid didn’t go far enough.
Not to mention, Charlie Todd and Joe Scar will be rushed to their proctologists with the worst case of butthurt outside of San Frisco.
catclub
@Marc: agreed. Start the chain reaction. (and release the kraken!)
Comrade Jake
It won’t happen under a GOP-controlled Senate either. Individual Senators love their power, and as soon as you require only 50 votes instead of 60, a bunch of them lose it.
KG
@Corner Stone: yeah, I don’t get the idea of “let’s stake our starting position as the weakest reform and then negotiate from there!” I can understand not wanting to eliminate the filibuster entirely, it’s a useful tool to prevent overreach (the GOP has abused the hell out of it the last few years in a gross overreaction to the Dems using it a few times to deal with some of GWB’s more terrible appointments). But at least stake out the position of “judges and executive branch appointments are off the table.”
p.a.
I sensed a lost cause when I read the TPM headline ‘Reid, McConnell to confer’
catclub
@KG: I don’t see the need to staking out a position when the final act is a vote. You either have the votes or you don’t. And the squish on the Democratic side is that you may NOT have the votes for judicial appointments if you push too far. If you get a win on executive branch appointments, however, then you can push for another vote on the next thing.
Steeplejack
@Mistermix:
Good post. I don’t see how you “selectively” kill the filibuster. That’s just the Republicans agreeing not to use it. If they will even agree to that little.
Also, it’s ad nauseam. Common error.
Cacti
@schrodinger’s cat:
This.
We were supposed to have a hard time holding the Senate in 2012, then the GOPers started opening their mouths about “legitimate rape”. Never underestimate the teabaggers’ ability to asshole themselves out of otherwise winnable races.
Corner Stone
@catclub: Executive branch appointments are like farting in the wind. Yes, the president and the admin deserve the people they want in those spots.
But saying that’s the sum of your goal, that’s the thing you’re shooting for is garbage. Judicial nominations determine every thing else that’s relatively long term about how our country works.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
True that.
Another Halocene Human
It’s not really as weak as you think… if they go for this it means a great deal for organized labor. Make no mistake.
As for judges… sigh… more and better Democrats, guyz.
Apparently the blue dog sheethaids hate Blacks more than they hate unions? Apparently.
Villago Delenda Est
@Face:
I see no problem with Chuck Toad and the Intern Killer being afflicted with massive butt hurt.
No problem at all. Make them suffer.
Another Halocene Human
@Corner Stone: blah blah blah I have no idea what I’m talking about blah blah blah the Near is morally weak blah blah blah
Another Halocene Human
@Cacti: It’s kind of the satisfying (to me) conclusion of a rapidly shrinking coalition. If the embarrassed Republicans simply sit on their hands and refuse to vote or vote for embarrassed-Republican fringe parties for the next ten years–no need to (gasp) turn Dem–we could really get some stuff done around here.
amk
reedy reid. what else is new?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
1. It’s not just Harry Reid that should know this, it’s every Democrat in the Senate.
2. As for losing the Senate, I believe we just survived the two elections that had the greatest chance of having the Senate convert. Yes, we do have to survive the post-VRA midterms – no big feat – but it’s on us to get people to realize why they need to vote.
I would not be surprised if one of the wavering Democrats that Reid has to deal with asked that the nuclear option only apply on days that don’t end in “y”.
some guy
The House of Lords may actually vote to change their voting rules? Excuse me while I first clutch my pearls and then, after a good strong whiff from my smelling salts, wish these noble Lords that they act wisely and justly for the good of us all, Lords and plebians both.
Corner Stone
@Another Halocene Human: What the fuck are you babbling about?
Ted & Hellen
Dear god in heaven, this country needs a Democratic Democratic party.
These fuckers are useless. Pathetic. Disgusting.
catclub
@Corner Stone: “Executive branch appointments are like farting in the wind. Yes, the president and the admin deserve the people they want in those spots.”
Except the administration is presently NOT getting those farts in the wind. Ask the NLRB.
Roger Moore
@Marc:
Either that or it forces the Republicans to fold on appointments in order to avoid that chain reaction, which I suspect is Reid’s main goal.
danimal
I expect this whole go-round is only an appetizer. Imagine a conservative SCOTUS jurist retiring, resigning or passing away. There is no way the GOP will give up their majority without an epic confrontation. This is merely foreplay, replacing Scalia/Alito/Thomas/Kennedy/Roberts with a non-conservative is the climax.
Tim F.
Why a reporter?
Zifnab
@Ted & Hellen: Traditions, god damnit! We did not dine at this country club for the last 40 years only to be told we’re going to start parking our own cars, carrying our own clubs, and going elsewhere for the happy endings promised in the massage room.
The filibuster is a proud tradition within the Senate, intended to secure the rights of the minority to get their palms greased before any legislation passes. How dare you throw that all away!
mdblanche
@Elizabelle: What on Earth is Schweitzer thinking?
@KG: This isn’t where the negotiations started but where they ended. And Reid’s negotiations weren’t with McConnell but with his own caucus’ fossils.
FlipYrWhig
I still think changing the procedures around what a filibuster IS is much more important than establishing rules about when it, whatever it is, gets used. I liked some of those ideas from two years ago about changing numbers of votes to keep a filibuster going. That way it would remain a tool for spotlighting egregious nominees (e.g. John Bolton). And that’s presumably what the milquetoasts in the Senate want to save it for: to keep Boltons and Borks out of office, or at least to shame them and the presidents who nominate them. If they had a strategy to differentiate, even just in public relations terms, filibuster-as-obstruction-for-obstruction’s-sake from filibuster-as-obstruction-of-whackjob, they could get somewhere. But all those attempts have failed because the eminences grises of the Senate don’t like changing their ways. Frustrating.
catclub
@mdblanche: “What on Earth is Schweitzer thinking?”
“Fuck this noise?”
ruemara
Why are these Democratic heros such wusses when it comes to fucking getting into the goddamn game and running for a seat? Fucking Schweitzer.
schrodinger's cat
Thread needs kitteh, kitteh who understands numbers
gene108
@danimal:
Scalia/Kennedy, the too oldest wing-nuts on the court, are only in their mid-70’s. Given the miracles of modern medicine, I doubt either will retire within the next 10-15 years, until they can have their position filled by a Republican President.
@mdblanche:
Last line of the article linked up top explains it. Schweitzer’s the head of a Montana based mining company. Pay is better and he probably prefers Montana to D.C.
Corner Stone
@catclub: Let’s back that up a little. I absolutely want and would demand that executive positions be filled by simple majority vote. That’s not at issue.
My contention is that of the possible categories mentioned above, the executive nominees are the weakest part of the three.
So, yes, absolutely want the NLRB at full strength. I also contend that judicial nominees are, in the long run, a more important aspect.
FlipYrWhig
@mdblanche: I was speculating that Schweitzer probably doesn’t want to be a Senator because the Senate sucks sewage. When your political brand is that you’re a cowboy who can’t stand fools, the Senate is probably the least likely place where you can keep that up.
CDW
I’m guessing that democrats are thrilled to death with republican obstruction or else they would have done something about it a long time ago. They don’t have to vote on anything at all that might p!ss off a voter. They don’t have to take a stand on anything. They can blame it on the other guy if someone asks. A pox on both the parties.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: True, judges are where it’s at, but that’s also probably why veteran Democratic Senators don’t want to give up the chance to filibuster an appalling wingnut when their party goes back into the minority. Their habit is to make contingency plans for their worst and weakest position possible, then congratulate themselves for their forethought.
catclub
@FlipYrWhig: ” to keep Boltons and Borks out of office,”
Bork got a vote. Wikipedia: ” On October 23, 1987, the Senate rejected Bork’s confirmation, with 42 Senators voting in favor and 58 voting against. ”
@Corner Stone:
“Let’s back that up a little. I absolutely want and would demand that executive positions be filled by simple majority vote. That’s not at issue.”
Then what is the senate voting on if its not at issue? I agree that Judicial appointments have greater consequences, but even executive branch appointments are not even getting up r down votes now.
patroclus
This isn’t “weak tea” – this is about getting functioning labor laws with a legitimate NLRB, a functioning Consumer Financial Protection Board and a functioning ATF, as well as a total of 15 presidential appointments that have either been slow-walked or postponed indefinitely. If the cloture petitions filed Thursday don’t get 60 votes, the filibuster for presidential appointments will be gone by the end of next week. And, it will clearly set the precedent for judicial appointments later if the Republicans continue to stonewall them as well.
The January deal was that filibusters wouldn’t be done except in extraordinary circumstances and almost immediately thereafter, 44 Republican Senators wrote a letter saying that they would never confirm any appointment to the CFPB and the Defense Secretary nominee was filibustered for the first time ever. Reid waited and waited and the filibusters continued.
Today, there is a special all-party conference in the old Senate chambers from which nnothing is expected and the cloture votes start later this week. We’ll see.
askew
I think that is a big stretch. Dems are poised to lose WV and SD in 2014. After Booker wins the NJ-Sen seat in October, Dems will have a 5 seat cushion. MT is a toss-up at worst without Schweitzer as we have a stronger bench than the Republicans in MT. Remember we hold 2 Senate seats and the Governorship. AR is also a toss-up. Hagan and Landrieu both have big war chests, good polling and weak opponents. I think they’ll hold their seats easily. So, that puts us down 4 seats at most. The GOP has at least 1 toss-up seat in KY. McConnell is the lowest polling Senator and Grimes is a great candidate for Dems.
At this point in 2012 election cycle, everyone thought the Dems lost the Senate as well. Then, the GOP nominated a string of nutjobs. So, let’s see how the nominees shakeout before freaking out.
Davis X. Machina
@gene108: Schweitzer may have local campaign-finance issues.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Lemme see now. I have a job with okay pay and perks that define the word fabulous. Every one of my friends and relatives are hired in jobs with high pay and nebulous responsibilities. All I have to do is show up for work for fewer days than any American who works for wages. That’s it. You want me to upset this apple cart and take a stand? Fuck you very much and besides the RIAA is giving a cocktail party and I simply must hear their side of the issues. My driver just messaged me that if I don’t leave now I won’t have time to change and arrive fashionably late. My ass is desiccated from not being kissed within the last few hours and so I must fly.
Omnes Omnibus
@Elizabelle: Why is he obligated to run? I can understand disappointment, but disgust seems a bit harsh.
eric
@Corner Stone: This is a trial balloon for the Media sycophants of the GOP and the Establishment. That is the reason for the weak tea. If this happens and the earth does not swallow itself, then more can follow. The constituency for the Dems’ actions is the MSM because they have the ink as the saying goes and they likes themselves the GOP for their own economic reasons. The Media is no friend to actual integration, gender equality or labor rights. That tells me where they come down on Dem vs GOP policies, administration, and appointments.
Corner Stone
@catclub:
I’m either not saying this very well, or you are being very stubborn for some other reason.
furlyfly
Hey look. A post about politics. Imagine that.
Elizabelle
Here’s Nate Silver. Senate Control in 2014 increasingly looks like a tossup.
One tiny quibble: he notes North Carolina Democrats may have trouble turning out their voters in the midterm. (Senator Kay Hagan’s seat is up in 2014.)
I think Art Pope and the radical state GOP band o fool legislators might motivate Democrats more than Silver acknowledges.
Moral Mondays, anyone?
FlipYrWhig
@eric: I dunno, I don’t expect anything more. I think the dino-senators will never allow the elimination of the filibuster for judges, precisely because judges get lifetime appointments and a lot of those senators imagine themselves in the minority wanting to block an egregious judicial nominee. Because as CS said the other executive appointments are by definition temporary, that’s a much easier sell. The rest of the filibuster-able scenarios… I don’t see those ever going away, at least not while a Democratic majority is setting the rules.
(FWIW, I don’t think Republicans care nearly as much about the prospect of arch-liberals getting lifetime judicial appointments as we do about arch-conservatives. I don’t think there are enough liberal-left judges and prospective judges. Definitely not by comparison to the Federalist Society types and other total screwballs on the other side. Alas. We could use some judges as far left as their dudes are right.)
Yatsuno
@Elizabelle:
Nate at least admits right now he’s kinda making this up as he’s going along.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus:
Schweitzer’s not obligated to run, and I don’t blame him for not wanting to be in the Senate. I could not keep a meal down were I forced to dine with Mitch McConnell or James Inhofe. The kabuki likely looks even more sickening close up.
I am disgusted with Schweitzer, though, because Montana’s Senate seat may be very hard to hold, and he could have ended up the last defense against a GOP Senate takeover. We are not going to know that for months.
I’m thinking Schweitzer needs to take one for the team.
mdblanche
@Davis X. Machina: Just lovely.
@Omnes Omnibus: No obligation. Of course if Schweitzer ever does decide to run for higher office later and is looking for support, he could find that no obligation thing works both ways.
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig: I’m not sure why we’ve been so extremely timid in pushing the issue of up or down voting on the judicial nominees. It seems like no one really wants our judges in those spots.
Cacti
O/T, but Zimmerman, now full of hubris from getting away with murder, has decided to proceed with his defamation suit against NBC Universal.
I’m totes in favor of George opening himself up to:
1. Deposition under oath by NBC’s lawyers
2. Compelled testimony and cross-examination at any trial (no 5th amendment protections in civil suits).
Comrade Jake
Well, Nate Silver is projecting the GOP to have 50-51 Senate seats after 2014:
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nate-silver-predicts-gop-holding-50-51-senate
Lots of caveats tho
Elizabelle
@mdblanche:
Blanche said it better and shorter.
Don’t look to me for support in 2016, Mr. Schweitzer, if I’m looking at a Republican Senate Majority Leader.
Gag.
eric
@FlipYrWhig: Gop senators dont care for lots of reasons. they care less than dems because some Dems actually believe in the Institution, even if it can be manipulated (I think Levin likely fits in here). Plus, the town is already hard wired against an actual Lib judge who might support affirmative action, reproductive rights, and other traditional lefty issues.
JPL
@Elizabelle: Hopefully you are correct about North Carolina. If Nate is correct, then take the filibuster off the table for appointments and judges. There is nothing to lose because we know the Republicans will.
Comrade Jake
Sorry, I missed Elisabelle’s post above.
gene108
@Elizabelle:
As far as I can tell, the NC Dems haven’t fully rehabilitated themselves from the Easley-Era scandals to make people interested in Dems again.
It’s one thing to be against Republicans, like people were against Bush & Co. in 2004, but it is another thing all together to be for someone, the way people turned out in 2008 because of the enthusiasm and hope Obama conveyed.
I’m not sure, how Moral Mondays will translate to GOTV in 2014.
I can understand people being cautious to think it will re-engage Democrats and Independents.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: Good question, and while I usually can role-play my way into the mind of an establishment Democrat and crack the code for why they’re doing what they’re doing, I can’t come up with an explanation for that. Because it sounds like process talk a/k/a whining? God knows that never stopped the Republicans from doing it. I can’t figure it out either.
askew
Silver’s wrong on Hagan IMO. She has a really weak opponent, she has a ton of money and is polling decently. That plus, the anti-GOP backlash that PPP has been finding in NC is going to push Hagan over the top easily.
askew
According to Politico, there are 51 votes for filibuster reform with Baucus, Pryor and Levin voting no. With Levin and Bacucus retiring, it is complete bullshit that they are voting no. They could take one for the team and vote yes to allow more vulnerable Dems to vote no. They are worthless.
FlipYrWhig
@Cacti: Oscar Wilde, ten thousand times the man George Zimmerman fantasizes himself being, tried a lawsuit against his boyfriend’s father for defamation. He ended up having to talk about his love letters and ended up getting prosecuted for sodomy. So it’s not a good idea. And I hope Zimmerman gets humiliated. Presuming he’s capable of humiliation, of course.
piratedan
@gene108: which strikes me as completely and totally insane when they can already take a peek at what has gone on in their state with R’s in charge. Dem scandals apparently linger forever, current Republican insanity is written off as oh well, what could possibly go wrong THIS time. I find it unfucking unfathomable.
Face
@Comrade Jake: The guy simply doesn’t miss. This is a really bad omen.
It would likely require GOP candidates to completely implode again, and I think they’ll be muzzled as much as possible this time around.
FlipYrWhig
@askew: Baucus and Levin I get. Guardians of Senate tradition and all that. Pryor’s father was a Senator, right? It’s probably that for him too.
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodinger’s cat:
It’s clear the kitteh understands the numbers better.
One of the characteristics of small businesses is that yes, if you look at percentages, their early growth is spectacular!
Then, a few years down the line, not so much.
And they fail.
Or to put it another way: 20 minimum wage Walmart employees are in a bar, and Mitten Rmoney walks into the bar (well, bear with me on this story). Instantly the average income in the room goes up dramatically, possibly by as much as 500%, and that’s just from Mitten’s speaking fee income, not from the swag created by the raping and pillaging of the victims of Bain Capital.
It means NOTHING, except to courtier wannabe “journalists”.
FlipYrWhig
@Face: except that their own voters want unmuzzled candidates, and think that their guy loses when he’s too squishy instead of being a foaming-at-the-mouth diehard. So embarrassing statements are sure to follow, because that’s what their base demands.
peach flavored shampoo
@FlipYrWhig: Isn’t Zimmerman’s wife in the clink for lying about finances?
Isn’t America great? Kill an unarmed, law-abiding citizen, and you walk. Lie about a meaningless bank account value and spend time in the pokey.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti:
It is my sincere hope that NBC/Universal crush the vile shitstain Zimmerman utterly, and in the process attach his income for legal expenses for the next five centuries.
The racist murder’s life needs to be made a living hell.
Yatsuno
@Face: Did you read Nate’s column? He himself admits he has very little to base this on. There is no concrete polling yet and some of the races don’t have established candidates yet. It’s squishy, but Nate’s paymasters demand column inches.
Villago Delenda Est
@Face:
As others have pointed out before, the base DEMANDS that these guys vent the crazy, and destroy their ability to reach beyond the base.
Cacti
@Villago Delenda Est:
I wonder if George’s lawyer has advised him that he won’t be going up against the Seminole County prosecutor’s office in this one either.
askew
@FlipYrWhig:
I have no problem with Pryor as he has a competitive race in AR in 2014. The other 2 are retiring and could have taken one for the team by voting yes so Landrieu and Begich could vote no to help Dems hold Senate. But, they are selfish assholes who have let Reid take the heat for not reforming the filibuster before the 2013 session began.
kindness
I know there are a lot of important things going on in the world. But when I’m here I still can’t get over Tunch. It blocks out everything else.
And I don’t even come close to what John is feeling.
Ben Cisco
@Elizabelle: If an NC Dem cannot get out after what’s happened here with Art Pope and his puppet McCrory, then there is nothing more to say for them.
Linnaeus
@Cacti:
I have a feeling – just a feeling, though – that George Zimmerman will get a lesson in the meaning of corporate power if he goes through with that suit.
ericblair
@Villago Delenda Est:
Never underestimate survivor effects either. If a small business has a real shit year, it’s quite likely to go under and disappear from the database of businesses that the survey is looking at, especially if you’re looking backwards a year or two.
Ben Cisco
@Villago Delenda Est: Tumbrel Master is wise.
Elizabelle
@Ben Cisco:
Yup. I agree with you a lot more than with gene108.
I don’t see “independents” and moderates voting GOP either. Many or most like good schools and services.
FlipYrWhig
@askew: I think Levin and Baucus genuinely would rather preserve senate traditions than help their party here and now. A lot of old-timers in age-old institutions tend to think this way. Think universities or churches. The clerisy likes to preserve itself and its ways.
Ben Cisco
Dear NeoConfederates,
2014 is coming and SO ARE WE.
Ted & Hellen
@Cacti:
So you’re totally cool with the way NBC mangled the recording in edit to make it sound as though Zimmerman volunteered the information that TM was black?
You don’t see a problem there?
Elizabelle
@Yatsuno:
Most true. Although the title and beginning of the narrative probably strike joy in Republicans’ stingy little almost hearts.
Ted & Hellen
@Villago Delenda Est:
The judicial system and a jury think differently.
But naturally you, who know next to nothing about what actually went down, are in a position to judge.
I think you should take it upon yourself to find out Z’s whereabouts and make sure that he suffers. It would only be the right thing to do, and also dovetail nicely with your faux butch bluster on the interwebs.
Ted & Hellen
@Ben Cisco:
Tumbrel Master is the supply source for all of Balloon Juice’s hot air.
Johnnybuck
Call me crazy, but I think if a few things break the right way, Georgia could be a possible pick up opportunity. Gov. Deal isn’t winning too many popularity contests, and the declared GOP candidates are all tea baggers.
of course we are talking about Georgia…
Dead Ernest
@Elizabelle:
For what its worth, political wire is saying the oppo research showed Schweitzer’s past associations with ‘dark money’ (I’ve no idea what their on about. There may have been links but I didn’t) was “more involved” than previously thought. Pity.
Steve in the ATL
@Johnnybuck: Dems have no bench in Georgia. Black candidates can no longer win statewide elections.
Xenos
Stuff the fucking courts already.
chrome agnomen
@Elizabelle:
why does anyone think that it matters, to a senator from either party, which party controls the chamber?
El Cid
The problem faced by many Democratic Senators on being able to pass legislation (the step beyond the nominations battle IOW) without Republican filibuster is that legislation which opposes their personal or parochial interests then is more likely to pass. It’s very useful to have a constant Republican filibuster as an excuse.
Juju
@gene108: Actually, both Kennedy and Scalia are 77. All fat Tony needs to do is to keep eating those cannolis, that might take care of things.
askew
@Steve in the ATL:
Actually, Michelle Dunn, daughter of former Senator Sam Nunn, is considering a Senate run. She has experience working at State Dept and CIA and has run multiple charitable organizations in Georgia. Currently, she is CEO of Points of Light charity that is being honored at the WH today with HW Bush and Obama on hand.
Johnnybuck
@Steve in the ATL: Sam Nunn has a daughter who reportedly might consider a run, but you’re right about the weak bench.
mdblanche
@askew: Landrieu doesn’t cast tough, brave votes. If it looks like she’s casting one, it means you need to adjust your definition of tough and brave. Since she’s for it, this is going to have either no effect or a positive one for Democrats at the polls, even in red areas. The holdouts are just assholes.
tybee
@Steve in the ATL:
i don’t see any hope for georgia, either.
FlipYrWhig
@El Cid: I’m not sure about that. I don’t think Democrats as a rule would rather not pass laws at all and blame the other guys’ filibuster. I guess I’m not that cynical yet, or think that they themselves are. Instead, I think the people who want to pass something that improves life are at odds with the ones who are obsessed with winning their next election. So the conflicts come when a law that would help some people also stands to upset other people. The upsiders and downsiders stalemate. And as it happens, the first group includes a lot of relative youngsters, and the second includes most of the oldsters and would-be dynasts.
FlipYrWhig
@mdblanche: the person whose opinion I’m curious about is Russ Feingold. Anyone know his view? He was always so hung up on procedures and traditions, but also a strong progressive voice, so I can see him in either camp, as a filibuster reformer or a filibuster status-quo-er.
patroclus
@FlipYrWhig: Feingold isn’t a Senator any more; having lost in 2010. His view might be interesting, but it doesn’t matter as to the vote.
RaflW
This is totally fucked.
Because you know that the douche-nozzle truth-impaired folks at, say, Britefart will just claim that the filibuster has been eliminated so why do the Democrats, after this massive power grab suck so bad?
Well more that 27% of Americans will see “filibuster ended” and think it means for everything and not understand. Reid is too timid. His ultra-squish moderate Dem colleauges can just eat shit today. Because that’s what they’re ordering up for themselves and all of us.
What a barge of warm spit this is.
A Humble Lurker
@Ted & Hellen:
Sounds like a plan.
Noticed you stopped blathering about Z’s injuries after the medical examiner said what he claimed happened couldn’t have. Wonder why that or any of his story’s other inconsistencies don’t seem to bother you.
FlipYrWhig
@patroclus: I know he’s not there anymore, but I wondered what he thought, because he might have a unique perspective.