McConnell Sings Very Different Tune On Nuclear Option Than In 2005

[Tx4obama]

McConnell Sings Very Different Tune On Nuclear Option Than In 2005

After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned Tuesday that going nuclear on filibuster reform for nominations would lead to the end of the 60-vote threshold for all matters, Democrats quickly pointed out that McConnell had supported a similar proposal during the 2005 filibuster battles.

Back then Democrats were in the minority and McConnell was part of the Republican leadership that was deeply frustrated with Democrats’ use of the filibuster against President Bush’s judicial nominees to fill coveted vacancies. McConnell supported eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court and appeals court nominations.

“The filibuster would be preserved for all legislative items, preserved for executive branch nominations, not for the judiciary,” McConnell said on May 23, 2005. “If we have to exercise the constitutional option tomorrow, it will be narrowly crafted to deal only with future Supreme Court appointments and circuit court appointments, which is where we believe the aberrational behavior has been occurring in the past and may occur in the future.”

It was one of several remarks from McConnell during that era defending the prospect of ending the filibuster for certain nominations with a bare majority vote — what’s known as the nuclear option. Today it’s Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) who’s flabbergasted with the GOP’s unprecedented use of the filibuster, and is threatening to go nuclear and end it for presidential nominations — but not legislation.

And now McConnell is making the opposite argument of what he said in 2005.

-snip-

Full article here: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/06/mcconnell-filibuster-nuclear-option-2005.php

[BlueDemKev]

1. Of Course!

[Parable Arable]

2. A Congressional Republican, Engaging In Hypocrisy? Impossible!

I've never seen anything like this before.