How Senate Dems bungled the filibuster thing [View all]
Interesting article in TPM today
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/chart-senate-democrats-filibuster-nuclear-option
Basically it argues that "They had to do it, but it sets a precedent".
It did not have to be this way. This is indeed a horrible precedent. It says that the Majority leader can change the rules any time he wants to (and can get 49 other votes). That is a very bad idea. And what is tragic is that it didn't have to be this way. They had their opportunity to do this correctly last January, when the new Senate was seated. That would not have been a bad precedent, not a precedent at all. And it would not have left the door open for Republicans to make really arbitrary rules changes at the drop of a hat in the future.
We don't know if Reid was too cowardly in January or if it was a case where he couldn't get enough votes because of the cowards in his caucus. What we do know is that absolutely nothing changed from January to November. The Republicans obstructed everything before and they obstructed everything after. So how is it they could do this in the sleaziest possible way in November, but couldn't find the courage to do it properly last January?
= new reply since forum marked as read