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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAn(other) Open Letter to Feckless Harry Reid Re: Nuking the Filibuster
http://www.politicalgarbagechute.com/harryreidfili/How much more abuse are you going to take from them? More importantly how much abuse are the American people going to have to put up with from them? What makes it even more galling is that your motivations for dragging your feet are so nakedly political. Blow the filibuster up, Senator Reid. Blow it up now. No one is telling you to strip the oppositions right to block a Supreme Court nomination, or to stymie a cabinet position. Were just asking for you to make it a little harder for them to block the president from doing his job, as required by the Constitution itself.
All were asking you to do is force them to stand on their feet and actually orate. Make them put in an effort, you feckless coward. Do your job. Show us that you are not just the left-leaning equivalent of your buddy Mitch McConnell. By all means do something because at this point there is no difference between you and them. Both sides are playing politics over substance at this point. There is no excuse for the level of obstruction the Republicans have engaged in over simple court appointments. I can summarize for you very easily why it is theyre blocking the D.C. court nominations so fervently because they know they arent going to win back the White House in the next two election cycles, and because at least three current Supreme Court Justices should be off the bench in that time.
They cant get elected to the White House because in a country that is shifting, moving in a more socially progressive direction, they are the party of continued discrimination. In a country that has seen the damaging effects of Reaganomics; they are the champions of Reaganomics on Steroids. They are the harbingers of austerity at a time when we see the folly of austerity across the pond in Europe. They are anti-immigrant at a time when most of America wants comprehensive immigration reform. All of this adds up to them knowing full-well the chances of their putting a new blowhard windbag like Scalia on the bench any time soon are both slim and none. So they stamp their feet and keep the president from performing one of the duties that our founding documents the things that these Republicans claim to love and defend so vigorously requires him to do.
"Feckless coward"? I was going to go with "complicit saboteur".
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)msongs
(67,413 posts)the rules. it is harry reid's fault if the dems do not coalesce and act to control the senate because he is the majority leader in charge. If he cannot do the job he cannot blame republicans. They are doing what they are expected to do and it is no secret to anybody.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)smokey nj
(43,853 posts)a problem.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)in his caucus.
Reid can't make the filibuster go away--he needs 49 other votes to do that (plus Joe Biden).
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Oh, wait, never mind.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Ask John Boehner how it works when that's not the case.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Why not?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Majority leaders very rarely publicly call out members of the caucus who elect them majority leader--McConnell vs Ted Cruz is the only example that comes to mind.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Keep in mind that Ted Cruz on our side would be obnoxiously and uncompromisingly left wing, not centrist, so we would not celebrate Reid for kicking such a person in the ass.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)But then since Harry obviously doesn't want such reform, why would he?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)If they don't like what he's doing, they can and will replace him.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)want to scrap the filibuster for judicial nominations. But, to get to 50 votes he needs the support of some wishy-washy Democrats or non-Democrats, like:
Pryor
Hagan
Landrieu
Angus King (not even a Democrat)
Claire McCaskill
Heitkamp
Carper
Baucus
Tester
DiFi
Warner
Donnelly
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Fact is, the Dems in Washington have sold us out to their corporate masters.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)and other deep red states are not going to be as solidly partisan as those from Vermont.
dsc
(52,162 posts)and you don't have others that have been known holdouts. King, McCaskill, Tester, and Warner have publicly advocated total filibuster removal. Boxer, Leahy, and Levin have been well known holdouts.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)marsis
(301 posts)Last edited Tue Nov 19, 2013, 11:01 AM - Edit history (1)
" I dont care that it could come back to haunt the Democrats when or if they lose control of the Senate".
When have the Democrats ever shown enough backbone to use it, maybe once in a blue moon but rarely when needed.
Maybe they should change their party name to The Pink Tutus, NEVER met a fight we won't back down from.