Tough Guys
If I’m reading the explanations correctly, it’s a Republican filibuster, but the Dems have to do all the talking? What the hell kind of hardball is this?
I confess a suspicion that the Dem leadership is counting on not getting an up-and-down vote. There’s a decent chance that some of the Senators happy to vote for a cloture motion they know is doomed to lose will be unwilling to vote for a troop drawdown they know could win. And then what will we tell the netroots? Thirty hours of theater that ends in another unsuccessful cloture vote is the safe-sex version of defunding the war.
Comment by Nell —
July 16, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
You are so right it’s scary! (Picture Catherine O’Hara’s Lola Heatherton of SCTV fame…)
The thing to do is to bring the Webb bill back to the floor. Make the Republicans actually filibuster to keep troops deploying back into hell with ever-shorter rest and ever-longer deployments.
Then, if the Rs cave, and I think they would, bring the Medicare negotiate-with-big-Pharma bill on. Let McConnell and company filibuster to defend the ability of drug companies to charge U.S. taxpayers prices they can’t get from any other people on the planet.
The only explanation for this level of ineptness on Harry Reid’s part is lack of political will; he has enough experience to know how effing lame this effort is.
Comment by Thoreau —
July 16, 2007 @ 11:23 pm
A filibuster where the Dems do all the talking? That’s going to be one hell of a boring filibuster.
At least with the Republicans there’s a chance that you’ll get some crazy religious right stuff to laugh at, or something.
Comment by Dave L —
July 17, 2007 @ 10:47 am
Harry Reid doesn’t HAVE 60 votes. What the hell is he supposed to do, lead the Democrats over to the Federal Reserve Tennis Court to swear an oath to re-establish constitutional government?
What he CAN be faulted for is failing to put the onus on cloture-hating Republicans. This looks like just one more botched effort to remind the press that the GOP is, well, filibustering.
Comment by carsick —
July 17, 2007 @ 10:59 am
“Filibustering” is the word which shall not be named.
Reid is attempting to put it in the headlines and in front of the voters because it currently is being alluded to but not mentioned. Good on him. Make the R’s take a public stand on the up or down vote they so often have clamored for in the recent past.
Comment by the talking dog —
July 17, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
Jim had it right the first time: Reid is behaving as if he’s happier NOT to have these votes– NOT to force the Republicans to be on record as obstructionists. Somehow… it would “upset the system” which he and the members of his caucus are more interested in remaining a part of (i.e. a system of junkets and meals from lobbyists, “honoraria”, free health care, gymnasia, haircuts, etc.) then in doing something for
“them”us.The purpose of the all-nighter is… I actually have no idea WHAT it’s purpose is, other than to reinforce the idea that Dems are ineffective… again, a seemingly necessary part of the sacred “system”.
The fact is, the mere THREAT of filibuster has kept Reid from bringing bills to the floor: just keep bringing them– the only thing the press wants to cover are VOTES… so give them VOTES.
Comment by Barry —
July 17, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Gawd, it’s depressing. Especially as the Dems didn’t fillibuster jack sh*t when they were in the minority.
It’s almost as if we had a system where the GOP gets extra votes.
Comment by Virtue Lord Purple —
July 17, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
There is no solution to the Iraq War. If Americans really want the war to end, and they truly care for their ‘Soldiers’, then they will immediately, without hesitation, cease and desist from driving their cars. Other than that, you have no one to blame but yourselves. Also, I have news for you folks. Bush is ‘The Leaker’.
In the Name of Brutus
Dames and Gents,
In times unprecedented and tinged with despair, it is appropriate to reflect on the founding of our great nation. It was not with George Washington, but with Brutus, and not the one who killed Caeser. There was another who rebelled against the tyrant monarchy of Rome, The Tarquins. He wrote the Roman Constitution that would stand for 500 years. His sons sided with the monarchy. The monarchy lost. So to punish his sons and found a perfect union, he immolated his own sons.
Machiavelli speaks fluently and voluminoulsy and voiciferously on this subject, in ‘The Discourses’, and yet is proved wrong on several counts by the miracle of America. He says that a nation founded in servitude, as America was a colony, will never win its freedom. He also says that a nation founded on fertile soil that is easily defended, will in time loose all of its freedoms because it will become, eventually, inevitably, sloth and sated, and will forget to protect them.
As regards ‘The DC Madam’, I am personally involved. You can view my involvement at http://www.maytheygetwhattheydeserve.com/KAT.html
Sometimes a mouse will lead you to a kat, and a kat can lead you to a rat and a rat, ironically, can lead you to the truth. And the truth, as they say, and as it is written, will set you free.
May all those who sincerely and patiently wait for freedom be free and may all those who desire to steal those freedoms find instead the dire consequences that accompany contempt for a great man like Brutus.
As regards Machiavelli,
eram sapiens tamen nefas
And again,
vox vocis publicus est vox vocis deus
May The Republic stand forever and bring the Glory Of The World, with Dignity, into Its Treasury.
Purple
Virtue
Comment by Thoreau —
July 17, 2007 @ 6:07 pm
It’s almost as if we had a system where the GOP gets extra votes.
It’s called the electoral college.
And good point about how rarely the Dems filibustered. Of course, the Dems were told that if they did filibuster the GOP would use the “nuclear option” to abolish it. I actually respect the Dems for not threatening to abolish the filibuster, because I’d rather keep that check and balance around.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
July 20, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
On appointments; I don’t seem to recall that it applied to legislation, though I could be wrong.
It’s just, well, chickenshit. The Blues are somehow even more feckless with control of Congress than when they were an opposition party.