When Moscow Mitch didn't have the 60 votes

[KS Toronado]

needed for judicial nominees, he carved out an exception to the filibuster to get what he wanted. Why shouldn't we
do the same for voting rights or anything else that needs to be passed?

[JohnSJ]

1. Because you still need Manchin and Sinema to go along with an exception to the filibuster

rules, and there is currently no indication that they will do that

[padah513]

2. And those are just the two we hear about

There are others. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

[paleotn]

6. True. Very true. We Dems are like herding cats.

We just don't do lock step, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It makes an insane, orange jackass takeover of the Democratic Party nearly impossible. With Republicans, Trump or someone like him was inevitable.

[KPN]

15. Yup. They are not leaders or even independent thinkers. They are all followers. They follow

money and/or the church.

[paleotn]

21. Granted, but how?

Simply saying get rid of it is easy. Actually doing it is another story.

[jimfields33]

3. Harry Reid got rid of the 60-vote threshold

McConnell got rid of it for Supreme Court.

[JohnSJ]

7. Yup. McConnell was blocking everything from President Obama. McConnell is truly a despicable

person

[mitch96]

9. He even admitted his job is to BLOCK any legislation from Obama and later Biden.. NOT legislate

or do his job as a senator.. He is a corporate puppet scumbag and that's being gentile..
m

[gab13by13]

4. I know what I would do,

I would carve up S1 into little pieces, stand alone bills, if I were Chuck Schumer. Bring up a stand alone bill that makes election day a national holiday, bring up a bill that allows same day registration. Keep doing that rapid fire, one bill after another and when the GQP continually votes those bills down then put on a campaign to end the filibuster for election laws, featuring Manchin and Sinema.

Simply saying oh we can't because you know Manchin and Sinema doesn't cut it with me.

Make Sheldon Whitehouse majority leader if Chuck feels his hands are tied.

[StarfishSaver]

17. You THINK you know what you would do

When in fact you have absolutely no idea what you would really do if you were in Schumer's. None of us here does since we don't have a clue of what he knows, what he's working with, what he must consider, or what's actually feasible or possible.

[paleotn]

5. Ask Joe Manchin.

and Krysten Sinema. Without their votes to change the Senate rules, Senate rules don't get changed. Dems majority in the Senate is paper thin.

[speak easy]

10. Add in DiFi

Dianne Feinstein backs fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on the filibuster
https://www.salon.com/2021/06/11/dismissing-gop-threats-dianne-feinstein-backs-fellow-democratic-sen-joe-manchin-on-the-filibuster/

[paleotn]

12. Yep, there are others.

They fear what would happen if Repukes regained control of not only the Senate, but the House and presidency concurrently. A legitimate fear, but I'd rather cross that bridge when we come to it. Life is risky and eliminating the filibuster is a calculated risk more than worth taking.

[Harker]

8. Eloi and Morlocks. n/t

[ShazamIam]

11. The Republicans had to be given a chance to do the right thing. /s

[bucolic_frolic]

13. That is the essence of the problem

Mitch never even had to articulate a reason for why he did what he did. It was just because he wanted to and said so. Mitch was his own filibuster. He didn't even have to ask the Parliamentarian, which we consult 3 times a month.

Why can't Schumer pull a Moscow Mitch? 'There will be no Supreme Court confirmations in election years' (for Obama) but in Trump year 4 it's ok?

Schumer should refuse to hear the filibuster. Just do your business and squash it on the floor. Refuse to entertain it, which is what Mitch did.

Republicans do not own the Constitution. It belongs to the country with the power derived from the people. Things are very out of whack in Washington.

[brooklynite]

14. Because he did have votes in the Republican Caucus...

Perhaps people complaining should think about how to convince Manchin, Sinema AND OTHERS, rather than talking about "getting tough", claiming that their RINOS, racists, etc.

[StarfishSaver]

16. Because, unlike the Democrats right now, he had the 51 votes he needed to make that happen

[usaf-vet]

18. Here is something I don't fully understand. (just one of many).

Why don't we just nuke (kill the filibuster) NOW and pass Biden's agenda?

if The GQP were to take the House, Senate, and WH won't McTurtle kill the filibuster so they can pass whatever they want without the minority party having a filibuster to stop legislation we disagree with.

We know McTurtle will break any rule that stops his agenda.

At the very least what don't we follow Al Franken and Norman Ornstein's plan to make the party that wants to filibuster take and hold the floor?

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

25. Because we can't

We don't have to votes to change the rules.

[NJCher]

19. we work at a tremendous structural disadvantage

Listen to this podcast by Ezra Klein in which it explains how the deck is stacked against us. We have to at least acknowledge that we need to do something about evening out the playing field. Many of the actions needed are difficult, but some are not.


Republicans Are Setting Off a ‘Doom Loop’ for Democracy


A new report by three voting rights groups found that 24 laws have been passed in 14 states this year that will allow state legislatures to “politicize, criminalize and interfere in election administration.” And a May analysis from the Brennan Center found that Republican-controlled legislatures in 14 states have passed 22 laws that made voting harder, with dozens of others currently moving through the legislative process.


This is an example of what I’ve sometimes referred to as the “doom loop of democracy”: highly gerrymandered Republican state legislatures in key swing states passing legislation that gives them more power to discourage Democratic-leaning groups from voting, throw out legitimate votes and overturn election results — all of it backed up by Republican-dominated courts.


But we also discuss the Republican Party’s minoritarian path to power, potential nightmare 2024 election scenarios, how voting rights became a culture war issue, whether the United States is becoming a “competitive authoritarianism” political system, why the biggest scandal in American democracy is what’s legal and even expected, what HR1 — even if it had passed — would and wouldn’t have fixed and much more.



Mentioned in this episode:


“What Georgia’s Voting Law Really Does” by Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein


“The Insurrection Was Put Down. The GOP Plan for Minority Rule Marches On.” by Ari Berman


“Call it authoritarianism” by Zack Beauchamp


“Statement of Concern: The Threats to American Democracy and the Need for National Voting and Election Administration Standards” by multiple


“Advantage, GOP” by By Laura Bronner and Nathaniel Rakich


“2020 Census: What the Reapportionment Numbers Mean” by Dave Wasserman

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/republicans-are-setting-off-a-doom-loop-for-democracy/id1548604447?i=1000526827484

[tirebiter]

22. So this is how we celebrate victory?

Last edited Sat Jun 26, 2021, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)

The Double Dog Deal, Trump Org gets indicted, Derek Chauvin gets to ponder his life for 22 1/2 years and the Giants beat the A’s in pitching duel?
I’m not in the mood for doom and gloom.
Moscow Mitch got outplayed in a game he thought he had fixed. REPUBLICANS IN DISARRAY

[maynard]

23. Differences

Republicans fall in line and Democratic fall in love.

[Snackshack]

24. Dems should get rid of it.

Majority rule (51-50) should be the threshold not super majority. But that apparently offends Manchin’s sensibilities.

If mid-terms give the Senate majority back to GOP and at this point there is no reason to think it won’t with all of vote suppression, gerrymandering and election rule changes by state GOP’s and the GOP finds itself short of the 60 but still the majority they will nuke the filibuster by lunchtime on their 1st day of being back in the majority.

The Dems are frittering away what could be their last best opportunity to make a change that would bring fairness back to our election system. Because they are either in denial thinking there are boundaries of process and precedent that the GOP would never violate or the Dems still simply do not understand who they are dealing with.

As much as I despise McConnell and how he treated President Obama and his actions on SCOTUS seats it would be nice to see Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi get some of that IDGAF what the GOP wants attitude and start using every tool in the box to advance the Dems agenda and start holding people accountable. Enough time has been spent trying to tame bipartisanship.