OMG The Republicans are Obstructionist and Lying!!!
The left was whining about the fact that they "can't" get anything done in the Senate. Then they decided to blame the Republicans for asserting their rights as a minority coalition in the Senate. Now they are crying that the facts are being misrepresented.
You see, the GOP is effectively filibustering the Democrats on an amendment to defense authorization bill. Note that they are not "in fact" filibustering, because "filibuster" is not a legal term. It's more a threat than anything else, at this point. But that threat is certainly there, and the GOP Senators have said they are prepared to do what it takes to prevent the bill from passage, including preventing a vote.
So the Democrats, in a perfectly reasonable move -- though IMO useless -- says, fine, you want to filibuster? Let's actually filibuster. Let's have an all-night session. It is precisely what the GOP did in November 2003 when the Democrats were effectively filibustering the GOP's judicial nominees.
So the left is crying that some people are saying the Democrats are "filibustering" when it is the Republicans who are filibustering and the Democrats are just making it into a real filibuster. But note in that CNN story, Rick Santorum -- a member of the majority -- called the GOP move a "reverse filibuster," meaning it was "filibustering" the filibuster. So when the language was used to describe what the Republicans did in 2003, it was fine. No one cared. But when that same language is used to describe the Democrats doing the same thing ... OMG they are lying!!!!
Chuck Schumer said something instructive here, that still applies today, more or less: "All of this probably matters to 500 people: 100 senators, their staffers, and the 50 reporters who cover us, and no one else."
There's nothing new under the sun, Senator.
Granted, this is about the war, and so it matters more than four judicial nominees. But it does not matter to anyone who isn't already paying attention and hasn't already formed opinions. The only thing this might change is that it may improve the approval rating for the Democrats who are being hounded by the antiwar left for "not doing anything." But when, in the end, nothing gets done, their approval rating will slide back. The antiwar left already knows the GOP is obstructing legislation to bring the troops home: they don't care that the Dems cannot do it because they don't have enough votes, because they already know that. They want results, not excuses, and this dog-and-pony show will provide none of the former and more of the latter.
You see, the GOP is effectively filibustering the Democrats on an amendment to defense authorization bill. Note that they are not "in fact" filibustering, because "filibuster" is not a legal term. It's more a threat than anything else, at this point. But that threat is certainly there, and the GOP Senators have said they are prepared to do what it takes to prevent the bill from passage, including preventing a vote.
So the Democrats, in a perfectly reasonable move -- though IMO useless -- says, fine, you want to filibuster? Let's actually filibuster. Let's have an all-night session. It is precisely what the GOP did in November 2003 when the Democrats were effectively filibustering the GOP's judicial nominees.
So the left is crying that some people are saying the Democrats are "filibustering" when it is the Republicans who are filibustering and the Democrats are just making it into a real filibuster. But note in that CNN story, Rick Santorum -- a member of the majority -- called the GOP move a "reverse filibuster," meaning it was "filibustering" the filibuster. So when the language was used to describe what the Republicans did in 2003, it was fine. No one cared. But when that same language is used to describe the Democrats doing the same thing ... OMG they are lying!!!!
Chuck Schumer said something instructive here, that still applies today, more or less: "All of this probably matters to 500 people: 100 senators, their staffers, and the 50 reporters who cover us, and no one else."
There's nothing new under the sun, Senator.
Granted, this is about the war, and so it matters more than four judicial nominees. But it does not matter to anyone who isn't already paying attention and hasn't already formed opinions. The only thing this might change is that it may improve the approval rating for the Democrats who are being hounded by the antiwar left for "not doing anything." But when, in the end, nothing gets done, their approval rating will slide back. The antiwar left already knows the GOP is obstructing legislation to bring the troops home: they don't care that the Dems cannot do it because they don't have enough votes, because they already know that. They want results, not excuses, and this dog-and-pony show will provide none of the former and more of the latter.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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