We. Was. Right.

[cthulu2016]

The only argument for not deep-sixing the filibuster after it became an end-run around the Constitution applied to almost all legislative action was that we might need it when the new crazy-ass Teapublicans took over.

That was always a dumb argument in that it relied on the hypothetical Teapublican party of the future being judicious and reasonable.

I get a principled argument for a super-majority rule. I can argue that all day long.

But nobody can argue that the modern/future Republicans (post black-president, etc.) would opt to have less power out of some sense of fairness.

Fairness???

These people have manipulated Constitutional rules to the point they can win the House, consistently, in a majority Democratic/Dem-leaning-independent Nation.

So the argument has been that we should maintain the filibuster until Republicans take over and remove it, which is a bizarre unilateral disarmament argument. C'mon... the first time any Democrat blocked anything the filibuster would have been put right out the airlock.

We who called for this years ago because the counter-argument was a relic no longer applicable to judicial appointments were right, and it makes sense that the PTB would eventually come around to the view.

[Gothmog]

1. According to an expert, McConnell wanted Reid to use the nuclear option

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