I can't wait until the filibuster is gone

[Proud liberal 80]

Seems like a tool that was only utilized by conservatives anyway. Other than now when has a democrat used this tool. I should actually say when has a liberal or progressive used this tool, because the Dems who used it back in the day were Conservatives who would be republican today.

[OnDoutside]

1. And to add to that, if the Democratic Party can get

1 it's act together re candidates

2 their voters off the couch to get out and vote.

Good things can happen. Short term it might be tough, but from the medium term, it will pick up.

[annabanana]

2. If we could attend to the gerrymandering disaster, we could have a near unstoppable

majority well into the future.

[OnDoutside]

3. Exactly. Not easy in the short-term but the DNC have

Realized that you have to take it to them everywhere.

[annabanana]

4. Polling on every goddamn issue shows WE are in the majority. . . n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

6. That's been shown for decades

And it never affects the elections.

Party loyalty and propaganda drive people's votes.

The GOP has used the churches to spread their propaganda (My preacher wouldn't lie to me, would he? He's the guy that's advising me about getting into Heaven!)

How many times have you heard that Obama was the most radically liberal president in America's history. Do you believe that?? The GOP voters do.

The R's have mastered the BIG LIE and the Dems have not developed any defense against that. They assume that reason will win out.

It never does.

[OnDoutside]

7. Yes, pity it took a virtual coup to wake people up !

[kudzu22]

5. The current discussion is only on filibusters of Supreme Court nominees

If the reps "go nuclear" it will only mean that SCOTUS nominees can't be filibustered. The regular filibuster for legislation would not change. That would take 67 votes to amend the Senate Rules.

[MiniMe]

8. Then why doesn't it take 67 votes to scuttle the nuclear option?

It is a change in the Senate rules.

[kudzu22]

14. Not quite.

The reason it only takes 51 is that there is no precedent for a SCOTUS filibuster. There has never been a parliamentary ruling on how the cloture rules apply to SCOTUS nominees. The parliamentarian will rule that it takes 60 to invoke cloture, and then the Senate can overrule the parliamentarian in thios case with a simple majority. That's how Reid did it in 2013, and that's what McConnell did today. Once the precedent is set, you can't go back without the 67 votes to change rules. Hence, why it's called the "nuclear" option since once you invoke it there's no going back and everything is blown to hell.

[roamer65]

11. Which is why I hope the Rethugs nuke it.

The SCOTUS seats after 2018 will truly matter. Be nice not to have Repuke opposition to filling them.

[grantcart]

12. Going nuclear means that they throw away the rule book with 51 votes

The nuclear or constitutional option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the U.S. Senate to override a rule or precedent by a simple majority of 51 votes, instead of by a supermajority of 60 votes. The option is invoked by the presiding officer of the United States Senate ruling that the validity of a Senate rule or precedent is a constitutional question. The issue is immediately put to the full Senate, which decides by majority vote. The procedure thus allows the Senate to decide any issue by majority vote, regardless of existing procedural rules, such as current Senate rules specifying that ending a filibuster requires the consent of 60 senators (out of 100) for legislation, and 67 for amending a Senate rule. The term "nuclear option" is an analogy to nuclear weapons being the most extreme option in warfare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option

[kentuck]

10. They think they have a permanent majority.

Just as they thought the Democrats had a permanent majority when they were in love with the filibuster.

[grantcart]

13. It makes an undemocratic institution more undemocratic

And yes I hope that Senate Republicans use a simple majority to pass the legislation that they have been talking about all of this time.

This is the only way to unmask the real intentions of the Republicans to the American people

The filibuster (which was only used once the first 100 years and used to be 67 votes) has given cover for the Republicans to take extreme positions and then blame the Democrats for not passing their agenda.

Removing the filibuster will split the Republican party in two.

[marlakay]

15. After they get him in

Can they change to reinstate it?

Seems like a dick move they would do.