Republican abuse of the filibuster

[Chris]

 

[occupied]

It's pretty bad but filibuster reform will never happen, no one wants to give up the only weapon the minority has in congress. It's also too bad that it has come to such a horrible pass, that a tactic that was once saved for important stuff is now used uniformly to make the other party look bad at the expense of the country. GOP uber alles.

 

[JoeB131]

It's pretty bad but filibuster reform will never happen, no one wants to give up the only weapon the minority has in congress. It's also too bad that it has come to such a horrible pass, that a tactic that was once saved for important stuff is now used uniformly to make the other party look bad at the expense of the country. GOP uber alles.

Your boy Barry should have thought of that before he blurted you "You got to ride in the back of the bus."

The biggest probelm Obama has is that he tries to pretend 2010 didn't happen.

 

[Sallow]

It's pretty bad but filibuster reform will never happen, no one wants to give up the only weapon the minority has in congress. It's also too bad that it has come to such a horrible pass, that a tactic that was once saved for important stuff is now used uniformly to make the other party look bad at the expense of the country. GOP uber alles.

Your boy Barry should have thought of that before he blurted you "You got to ride in the back of the bus."

The biggest probelm Obama has is that he tries to pretend 2010 didn't happen.

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

 

[JoeB131]

It's pretty bad but filibuster reform will never happen, no one wants to give up the only weapon the minority has in congress. It's also too bad that it has come to such a horrible pass, that a tactic that was once saved for important stuff is now used uniformly to make the other party look bad at the expense of the country. GOP uber alles.

Your boy Barry should have thought of that before he blurted you "You got to ride in the back of the bus."

The biggest probelm Obama has is that he tries to pretend 2010 didn't happen.

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

They were traitors.

They went along with a war they didn't agree with when the polls said it was popular and sandbagged it when they said it was not.

And in ten years, when the shit really hits the fan over there, expect the GOP to hit these jokers with a "Stabbed in the Back" claim. Kind of like Reagan was able to do after Vietnam.

 

[Sallow]

Your boy Barry should have thought of that before he blurted you "You got to ride in the back of the bus."

The biggest probelm Obama has is that he tries to pretend 2010 didn't happen.

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

They were traitors.

They went along with a war they didn't agree with when the polls said it was popular and sandbagged it when they said it was not.

And in ten years, when the shit really hits the fan over there, expect the GOP to hit these jokers with a "Stabbed in the Back" claim. Kind of like Reagan was able to do after Vietnam.

That doesn't make them traitors..that makes them spineless. And given the very clever way that the Bush/Cheney administration cherry picked and lied about intel..and merged it with patriotic fervor..it would have required a good deal of backbone to oppose it.

 

[Article 15]

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

They were traitors.

They went along with a war they didn't agree with when the polls said it was popular and sandbagged it when they said it was not.

And in ten years, when the shit really hits the fan over there, expect the GOP to hit these jokers with a "Stabbed in the Back" claim. Kind of like Reagan was able to do after Vietnam.

That doesn't make them traitors..that makes them spineless. And given the very clever way that the Bush/Cheney administration cherry picked and lied about intel..and merged it with patriotic fervor..it would have required a good deal of backbone to oppose it.

.... and the majority of Dems in Congress did.

As the house of cards that was the case for Iraq fell apart, so did it's support.

 

[JoeB131]

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

They were traitors.

They went along with a war they didn't agree with when the polls said it was popular and sandbagged it when they said it was not.

And in ten years, when the shit really hits the fan over there, expect the GOP to hit these jokers with a "Stabbed in the Back" claim. Kind of like Reagan was able to do after Vietnam.

That doesn't make them traitors..that makes them spineless. And given the very clever way that the Bush/Cheney administration cherry picked and lied about intel..and merged it with patriotic fervor..it would have required a good deal of backbone to oppose it.

Oh, horseshit. Any Democrat who said that he was 'fooled' by intel (actually the same intel Clinton had that they came to the same conclusion about) should resign immediately, as they are not up to the job.

They supported the war as a POLITICAL consideration. 70% of people in 2002 thought Saddam had something to do with 9/11. An impression both parties were happy to foster. That was the ONLY evidence they looked at.

Democrats in tough races voted for the war. Ones who were safe voted against it. It was all calculation. And if you really think it was otherwise, you are delusional.

When the war became unpopular, then they were all, "Well, I had no idea that the intelligence wasn't up there" when in fact, every caveat we heard about in 2005 was there for 2002.

And let's be honest, the only Democrat who nearly lost his job for supporting the war was Joe Leiberman, because he ignored the memo.

 

[code1211]

It's pretty bad but filibuster reform will never happen, no one wants to give up the only weapon the minority has in congress. It's also too bad that it has come to such a horrible pass, that a tactic that was once saved for important stuff is now used uniformly to make the other party look bad at the expense of the country. GOP uber alles.

Your boy Barry should have thought of that before he blurted you "You got to ride in the back of the bus."

The biggest probelm Obama has is that he tries to pretend 2010 didn't happen.

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

If the Democrats had a bone in their collective spine, maybe we could have avoided iraq altogether. They did not because they are a politically motivated, morally devoid party with no compass to guide them save re-election.

The Republicans disagree with the Big 0 and are opposing what he is trying to do.

Their opposition was not sufficient when the Dems had filibuster proof supermajorities in both houses, but it is now.

When the majority is working against the will of the Minority, the Minority can assert its beliefs or can just kiss ass as the Dems did.

The Democrat Party is truly a despicable party of political hacks.

 

[WillowTree]

tissue?

 

[Conservative]

Why the filibuster is OK for Democrats but not for Republicans. - Slate Magazine

To gauge the relationship between the filibuster and national majority rule—the kind where everybody counts equally, and the representatives of the majority carry the day—it's necessary to look at the data.

To do this, I downloaded records of all Senate votes on cloture motions—used to limit debate—from 1991 to 2008. For each of the 152 votes where a filibuster successfully thwarted a Senate majority, I tallied the populations represented by the senators who supported the filibuster. (A more technical explanation—including some significant details I've glossed over—is available here.)

What do these calculations reveal? First, over the past two decades or so, the senators who successfully filibustered something represented about 46 percent of Americans on average. Yes, that is a minority—but it is a far cry from the nightmare scenarios sometimes deployed by opponents of the filibuster, who worry that as little as 11 percent or 12 percent of the country could obstruct popular legislation. Since 1991, in fact, there have been only four filibusters—0.03 percent of the total—that thwarted senators representing more than 65 percent of the American people.

What's most striking, though, are the many cases in which the filibustering Senate minority has actually represented a majority of Americans. In fact, in 40 percent of the filibusters since 1991, the senators making up the "obstructionist" minority represented more people than the majority they defeated.

As this discussion gets under way, however, reformers should remember that the filibuster sometimes protects the kind of majority rule that it is usually assumed to undercut. We should do what we can to preserve this democratic function. That might mean pursuing the kind of moderate compromise—simply reducing the number of votes needed to end a filibuster—that has the best chance of succeeding anyway.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

It's pretty bad but filibuster reform will never happen, no one wants to give up the only weapon the minority has in congress. It's also too bad that it has come to such a horrible pass, that a tactic that was once saved for important stuff is now used uniformly to make the other party look bad at the expense of the country. GOP uber alles.

Your boy Barry should have thought of that before he blurted you "You got to ride in the back of the bus."

The biggest probelm Obama has is that he tries to pretend 2010 didn't happen.

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

2001 and 2002 for most of both years the Democrats controlled the Senate. 7 months in 2001 and 10 months in 2002. SO guess what buddy that excuse doesn't fly. Further the Republicans never had more then a bare majority in the Senate at any time under Bush. IF the bills being passed had been so bad WHY exactly did the dems not only allow it but vote for them? You are aware that the raq war was authorized by a Dem Controlled Senate right?

 

[Full-Auto]

tissue?

Wheres the abuse? Stopping the clueless should be cheered.

 

[Seawytch]

It's this bullshit that has Congressional approval ratings at their lowest levels EVER.

The majority of Americans want compromise. Republicans see that as a dirty word.

 

[Avatar4321]

First, there hasnt been an actual filibuster in years.

Second, the chart fails to explain how it determines what an abuse of the filibuster is? How does it eliiminate legitimate uses? Does it consider any legitimate?

Third, how is the filibuster misused if the rules are followed?

 

[Avatar4321]

It's this bullshit that has Congressional approval ratings at their lowest levels EVER.

The majority of Americans want compromise. Republicans see that as a dirty word.

No. What you said is the BS. Republicans have given Democrats plenty to compromise on. But you consider compromise simply agreeing with you rather than actually giving up something to compromise.

Take the payroll tax cuts. Democrats want them. Republicans are willing to pass them with an approval of the Pipeline. Democrats wont compromise.

Or the debt ceiling debate last summer. We were willing to raise the debt ceiling if Democrats got serious about reducing spending. Democrats refused to compromise and Republicans capitulated. and surprisingly our borrowing status was downgraded, just like the Tea Party said would happen if we didnt reduce spending.

No. Its the democrats who refuse to compromise. Republicans compromise and offer compromises all the time. Sometimes too often as in the above.

 

[bripat9643]

Nothing President Obama has done was anything near what the Republicans and Bush did to Democrats between 2001 - 2006. And Democrats (who I think were spineless), quietly excepted a good deal of Bush policy, lest they be called traitors.

The only policies they "accepted" where the ones that were overwhelmingly popular with the American people. Other stuff like Medicare Part D and "No Child Left Behind" were liberal Democrat ideas in the first place.

 

[bripat9643]

It's this bullshit that has Congressional approval ratings at their lowest levels EVER.

The majority of Americans want compromise. Republicans see that as a dirty word.

Compromise is a dirty word when it involves compromising your principles. In any compromise between good and evil, the later always wins and the former always loses.

Where is the evidence that Americans want compromise? What they really want is for the country's problems to get solved, and that wont happen by giving DimoRATs what they want. DimoRATs are the cause of all our problems.

 

[rightwinger]

It's this bullshit that has Congressional approval ratings at their lowest levels EVER.

The majority of Americans want compromise. Republicans see that as a dirty word.

Compromise is a dirty word when it involves compromising your principles. In any compromise between good and evil, the later always wins and the former always loses.

Where is the evidence that Americans want compromise? What they really want is for the country's problems to get solved, and that wont happen by giving DimoRATs what they want. DimoRATs are the cause of all our problems.

Another shining example of why the right wing has sunk as low as it has.

 

[Quantum Windbag]