Passing thought

[catsittingstill]

Remember when the Republicans were whining because they couldn't get one half of one percent of their conservative activist judges seated because they were being filibustered?  Remember how awful they said it was?  Remember how they contemplated the nuclear option--using a straight majority vote to change the rules so 60 votes weren't needed anymore?

The Republicans have spent the past year filibustering pretty much *everything*.  I'm not calling them hypocrites or anything, just drawing your attention to this obvious inconsistency.

Their one half of one percent of the worst of the worst conservative activist judges weren't worth setting aside two centuries of precedent over.  I mean, look what their Supreme Court Justices just did, for goodness sake.  But fixing the second Bush recession is.  And Health Care really is.

Maybe we should take the nuclear option. 

It's not like our not taking it would stop the Republicans the next time they have 51 Senators and an axe to grind anyway.  It's only tying our hands--not theirs, because next time they have 51 Senators they'll once again put a knife to the filibuster's throat to get their way.

Not only that, but with the nuclear option we don't need 60 Senators or even 59--we only need 51.  So we can chuck the least democratic eight of the democratic Senators.  Bye-bye Ben Nelson.  Bye-bye Joe Leibermann.  Bye-bye attempts to to gut the public option and enslave women to produce unwanted babies .  

We pass a real Health Care Bill.

Face it, we're going to lose seats in the next election anyway--that's just how the pendulum swings.   At least we could accomplish something first.  And have, you know, a Legacy?  Lose seats for having done something good as opposed to for having accomplished absolutely nothing?

And I can't tell you how frustrated I am to hear Obama still talking about bipartisanship.  You can't be bipartisan with Republicans, buddy, because they won't be bipartisan with you.  Ever.  How many hands have you lost reaching into that buzz saw?  Okay, you tried; we all saw you try.  And try and try and try and try and try.

It would be nice to see you learn from experience now.  We in the reality-based community like that kind of thing.
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Comments

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. In this Congressional environment, "bipartisanship" is just another word for "negotiating with terrorists when you're the one with the weapons".

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I believe that a substantial majority of the country, including a large chunk of the people who voted for Obama and want to see health care reform, are Really. Pissed. Off. at Harry Reid and the slimy things he did to get 60 votes. If Harry Reid now changes the rules and puts something that is still identified with the current Senate plan through with a 51 vote majority, that majority of the country will be mad enough to remember it in November; the Democrats will lose control of both houses of Congress, and the Republicans will repeal it. They *probably* won't be able to pick up enough seats to override a Presidential veto of the repeal, but if Obama doesn't cave, they will delay the actual effective date of anything useful (by such things as not passing any budget allowing the executive branch to spend any money on implementing or enforcing it) until after the next Presidential election and Obama will lose over it. Even if they hadn't lost the Massachusetts Senate seat, Obama was likely to go down for it because none of the important things that help people come into force for years, because you know the poor insurance companies couldn't handle the shock of having to do their job in society right away. But with level of anger we have now, the only thing that is going to change the current trajectory of the whole medical system into the sewer is if at least a dozen partially-sane Republican Senators come out with what is perceived as a fresh start and the Democrats are humble enough to sign on to it. (At this point, it doesn't actually matter what the content of the reforms is. Nobody knows what's in any of these bills anyway. It's all about perceptions, and the current bill is irretrievably tainted.)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

The nice thing about the nuclear option is that we can take out the 8 slimiest things because we only need 51 votes.

if at least a dozen partially-sane Republican Senators come out with what is perceived as a fresh start

Where the hell are we going to find a dozen Republican Senators who are even partially sane? I've heard Olympia Snowe isn't *too* bad... but she's only one. And she wouldn't vote for health care, or even for cloture on health care, which was when all 60 Democratic Senators became necessary to pass it and the sliminess was unleashed...

So...a dozen Republicans? Real Health Care Reform. Okay, as long as we're playing this game, I'd like a English-trained gelding, about sixteen hands high, trained for dressage and jumping. Chestnut or Palomino preferred.

Chestnut. Definitely chestnut.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I didn't say I thought 12 Republican Senators *would* come out with a plan. I said it's what I thought would *need* to happen before a plan could become reality -- in other words, I think health reform is an ex parrot.

I haven't been closer to a horse than the description in a fantasy novel since about 1975. Should health reform pass, can I come visit yours?

Re: Chestnut. Definitely chestnut.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Sure :-) But I may still go for Palomino; I really like the colorway. I would get a buff coat for when I was riding in fancy dress, to match the mane and tail.

You would be welcome to visit my horse and even go riding if you wanted.

Re: Chestnut. Definitely chestnut.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Hey, if we're going to ask for ponies, or at least equines, why not the Lessig Amendment?

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

This morning on NPR, Jon Kyl claimed they weren't blocking the administration on everything. He pointed to the Afghanistan surge.

I can haz break nao plz?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

He pointed to the Afghanistan surge.

Well that ties in with Republican "values" doesn't it? "Promote war;" it's number three.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

All our institutional sins remembered, it seems.

Wouldn't the Senate would still be terribly conservative, even without the filibuster, though? It takes millions to get elected to the Senate; it's not going to magically become a populist house.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Obama got elected to the Senate. I grant you he's no farther left than the middle of the road but he's not conservative.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

<croak>Oh, sure, they're not all conservative. But the Senate Democrats are using the filibuster as an excuse: so long as they don't have a supermajority, they don't have to stand up and be counted. There weren't 40 liberal Democrats to filibuster the Iraq war, or the Alito and Roberts nominations. There may not be 40 51 Democratic Senators to pass a health care reconciliation bill which includes a public option. Abandoning some of the more feudal aspects of the Senate, including the filibuster, and the various devices that make it such a house of the wealthy and privileged, might improve matters, but I wouldn't count on it. For one thing, it might send the seats of some of the more corrupt and conservative Democrats to Republican challengers.

I'd like to hold out some greater hope, but I just don't see it. Until the country is near to revolution, like in 1932, I don't think the Senate will budge, and then the leadership will have to come from the House and the President.</croak>.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was written a sleep-deprived state, and grimmer and crankier, even, than it needed to be. I wish I could say it was just wrong, though. At best it made a bad matter sound worse.

Horses and design are much more fun!