Do you really think the GOP was going to preserve the filibuster if they got back into power?

[CreekDog]

fat chance.

[onehandle]

1. It would have been nuclear on day one. nt

[Laelth]

2. They may not regain the Senate during my lifetime.

I am not terribly concerned about what they might have done. Now, it's time to ...

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-Laelth

[Faygo Kid]

3. Let's not let them back in power to keep it hypothetical.

Good point, though.

[CreekDog]

4. good point.

i changed it.

[Gothmog]

5. No, it is clear that the GOP wanted to get rid of the filibuster in all cases

Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein are two of my favorite authors and really now about the partisanship in Washington. According to Ornstein, McConnell forced Harry Reid's hand on the nuclear option http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/norm-ornstein-republicans-forced-reid-s-hand-on-the-nuclear-option

Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told TPM that Republicans forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to "go nuclear" after his Democratic majority took the historic step Thursday and ended the filibuster for executive nominees and non-Supreme Court judicial nominees.

"For whatever reason, the Republicans decided to go nuclear first, with this utterly unnecessary violation of their own agreement and open decision to block the president from filling vacancies for his entire term, no matter how well qualified the nominees," Ornstein told TPM in an email. "It was a set of actions begging for a return nuclear response."

He also speculated that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) secretly wanted Democrats to go nuclear so he could use the same tactic to end the filibuster entirely if and when Republicans take the majority.

"McConnell's threat, it seems to me, makes clear the strategy: let Dems take the first step, and we will then bear no blame when we entirely blow up the Senate's rules after we take all the reins of power," he said. "That other Republicans like Corker, McCain, Alexander, Murkowski and so on, went along, shows how much the radicals and anti-institutionalists now dominate the Republican Party. Which is sad indeed."

I agree that the GOP forced Harry Reid to use the nuclear option and I doubt that the GOP will respect Senate history or rules if they are in control of the Senate. The filibuster for normal bills will be done away with if the GOP gets control of the Senate

[Lex]

6. Exactly. nt