Progressive Détente

Jon Walker’s stance on the filibuster is wrong. What’s gonna stop the GOP when they have a simple majority and another truly stupid idea?

Like repealing health care reform?(In other words, what ceu said…)QT

I hate to be realistic, but I can’t help it. The odds of the filibuster going away or being changed like the proposal is about the same as getting struck by lightning. What ceu says is what the Democrats will think – what about when we are in the minority. Also too many Democrats still have big use for the filibuster, ie: Lieberman, B. Nelson, Landieu, Lincoln, etc., etc. I really doubt any motion to change the rules will get enough votes to pass.But I do really like the idea of doing away with it. I really think if they did get rid of it and the Republicans gained a majority and started doing their batshit crazy stuff then America will get a real wake up call to what the GOP is.

The whole system is broken. A Republican Congress would not necessarily need the filibuster killed to enact it’s devilry. The filibuster was there the past eight years. They simply cowed Democrats into not using it much. Plus, the Republicans vote as a block and with a few conservative “Democrats” crossing the aisle cloaked in “bipartisanship”, their measures passed easily. Failing that, George W. Bush showed how much he “valued” (his own word there) the Constitution by pretty much saying “Pass whatever law you like. The Constitution gives me the power to ignore the Constitution in a time of war. That you didn’t declare, but hey, thanks for the input.” With another president like that being advised by whichever Cheney worms their way into his inner circle, filibuster or no filibuster, they’ll do as they please.If we can get HCR passed, if we can tweak and improve it over the next few years before it rolls out, if it is successful and people like it, the Republicans will have to have an overwhelming majority in both houses and the presidency before they can ever repeal it. All that noise about repeal is nonsense. They’ll campaign on it. They’ll sunday talking-head show posture and bluff about it. They may even make a half-hearted stab at trying to repeal it. But they wont succeed completely. Once it’s established, it will be hard to kill entirely. Oh they’ll cut funding or nominate some idiot to run the thing now and then, but they won’t be able to repeal it completely.

I have to say, I like the revision where all that 40 Republicans + Lieberman + Nelson could do is put off a cloture vote for a little while. If we had that rule in place, there would already be a final bill including a public option.

Wait! Does that mean FDL admits there’s a rule requiring 60 votes in the Senate?!

Frankly, I’d just as soon make them carry through on the filibuster threat, cloture be damned.Everybody stays until the debate is over with. I wanna see the GOP send out for the Depends™ while the Dems get some pizza and beer and relax and watch the show.No leaving the floor except to take a bathroom break, and even then they’re escorted by the Sgt-At-Arms to make sure they get their butts back to the floor.No going to their office or the cloakroom for a nap. When some of those old farts grab their chest and fall over from the stress, then maybe they won’t be so cavalier about the threat.Inside a day, you’d have the GOP begging for cloture.The side benefit is that their electorate, watching on the TV machine while the Senate fucks around and fucks around might decide to replace a few of them come the next election.Ok. I feel better now.

Wolfe_Tone – AMEN!!!!

“Wait! Does that mean FDL admits there’s a rule requiring 60 votes in the Senate?!”Good one Matt!I agree with those who say make them filibuster it. Make them filibuster everything. They can keep it at 60 but make them show to all voters what schmucks they are.

Why are we assuming that if the Republicans get a 51-vote caucus in the Senate, they won’t just pull the so-called nuclear option?

No going to their office or the cloakroom for a nap. When some of those old farts grab their chest and fall over from the stress, then maybe they won’t be so cavalier about the threat.Inside a day, you’d have the GOP begging for cloture.Back during the 1994 MLB strike, James Traficant, he of the hideous toupee and the federal prison stay, suggested on the House floor, “Negotiators should be locked in a room with no windows and air conditioners and should be fed baked beans, fried cheese, hard-boiled eggs and chocolate Kisses. In eight hours, they’ll be pleading ‘play ball.’ “Traficant’s a pretty weird guy, but he had to be right at least once.

CLARIFYING… I don’t think it’ll be eliminated. Cloture and filibusters will remain, but the threshold will be rolled back to 55 or 57, if at all.

They won’t touch the filibuster. It’s too good of an excuse not to pass needed legislation. It allows elected officials to hide behind their corporate sponsors without totally exposing them as cocksuckers.